Embroidery and AI

Today’s post comes about because of someone else’s blog post on AI and embroidery. The author has said she wants more people to read it, and I am linking to it here as I also want people to read it.
https://lolliandgrace.com/blogs/blog/artificial-intelligence-in-the-embroidery-space

The author, Anne Oliver, lists a number of things that you can look for to see if something might be AI. She mentions things like deep shadows and branches that go off in odd directions. She also mentions a lot more, but these ones, I’d like to talk about.

When I photograph my whitework, I often have deep shadows, because when photographing whitework that’s how you can show the pattern and texture of the actual work. However, as it happens I haven’t really seen many whitework AI “embroideries” – though now I’ve said that, we probably all will!

Branches that go off in odd directions can very well be a sign of AI, but they can also be just a sign of stylised design or poor design! I so often see designs that have leaves and flowers thrown together in odd ways that don’t really work in terms of nature. This is particularly true in crewel embroidery and goldwork embroidery, both of which are often quite stylised. Sometimes these oddnesses work in terms of design, but often they don’t work design-wise either! When my sister, Prue Scott, and I wrote our book Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature, Prue drafted all the designs for the first edition. As well as being an embroiderer, Prue is a trained botanical artist. She knows how plants work, and how they fit together, and drew the patterns accordingly.

A number of the points Anne mentions are not always indicators that something is AI – just to be clear. However, they ARE things to check for. I would suggest that the more of the things Anne has listed that you find in any one piece, the more likely it is that it is AI.

If you haven’t already read the article from when I linked to it at the top, please go and read it now.
https://lolliandgrace.com/blogs/blog/artificial-intelligence-in-the-embroidery-space