COLOGNE, GERMANY: Two visitors contemplate the painting "Nighthawks" (1942) of US-artist Edward Hopper at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, 07 October 2004. The museum will show a comprehensive retrospective of the American painter from 09 October 2004 to 09 January 2005. His work is amongst the best-known and most important works of American 20th century art.
Amidst the contentions surrounding the usage of AI and art, an X (formerly Twitter) user has boldly chipped in with the conversations by sharing a way in which AI can "improve" one of the most beloved paintings in the world, Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks," last Friday, Nov. 17.
X user Sonch, or @soncharm, started his now infamous thread by posting a jpeg copy of the piece, mentioning that he made the Hopper painting "better," saying in the caption, "Using AI, I was able to take some old painting and make it better."
In the post, currently amassing over 5.7 Million views, Sonch further berated the painting's qualities.
"Where even is this? Who are the people? Huh? You're too far away to really see the setup. Whole left side blank. Nothing here to grab onto," the X user complained.
Continuing the thread, Sonch then explained his process, which involved having the AI "parse the image," in order to create a "full description" of it, before using said description to generate an image that, in his words, was "way better."
The image was an AI reimagining of the "Nighthawks" painting, but instead of depicting a somber composition of a night scene at a diner, the AI-generated photo's depiction was set during the day and more people were illustrated, albeit in a "weird" manner that AI is now known for.
I had the AI parse the image, & create a full description of it. Using that description, I had it regenerate an image and it was just way better. Instead of night, it's a gorgeous sunny day. It went ahead & moved the people outside. Everyone's smiling; this is a welcoming place. pic.twitter.com/bI4eUkVqbx
— sonch (@soncharm) November 16, 2023
Sonch continued the thread with further iterations of a photo that is going farther and farther away in terms of resemblance to the original painting. One such iteration features a group of people having what can only be described as a "modern-day brunch," accompanied by a couple of dogs that are generated in the familiar AI "style."
"The AI keeps showing an inexhaustible ability to add more details and nice little touches that enhance everything about the picture from the rather drab 'seed' pic we started from," Sonch said in the caption for one of the posts.
The thread now has over a thousand comments from disgruntled users who called out Sonch for seemingly "ignoring" the original meaning of the painting, which the X user continued to deflect in his replies.
In a comment, photographer Joshua Ryan Williams wrote, "If you want to recreate a piece then do it, but saying it is better is totally subjective," to which Sonch replied by saying, I have a spreadsheet open right now of the ways its better and there's at least 4."
Although the posts have mostly garnered responses from art enthusiasts brandishing the internet equivalent of "pitchforks," with comments like: "Congratulations, you completely ruined the entire point of Nighthawks," a user with the handle @yo_watson saw through Sonch's "trolling."
"One of the cleanest trolls in a while. Fair play," the X user tweeted.
