How To Create Psychedelic AI Art
The Re-awakening Of A New Genre
In May of 2015, Alex Mordvintsev (ML research scientist at Google) woke up from a nightmare at 2:00 am and decided to try an experiment.
He had been working on a neural net project outputting algorithmic images and wanted to try something new. He wanted the algorithms to detect patterns in hidden areas that humans typically don’t see… and then amplify those areas.
Tweaking his algorithm, his method produced something that had never been seen before. A mashup aptly named “nightmare beast.”
It was then that DeepDream was born
Mordvintsev applied his algorithm at multiple scales, producing big and small cat-like creatures simultaneously, producing images with fractal properties and a look that can only be called psychedelic. The crucial point is that the machine was producing images that were not programmed into it.
— Arthur I. Miller
DeepDream went on to produce a range of hallucinogenic imagery reminiscent of psychedelic art.
