AI (artificial intelligence) software is all the rage at the moment. From Midjourney to Dall-e to Stable Diffusion and beyond, the combination of machine learning and AI has made the internet a fantasyland in which prompts entered by users can conjure up endless combinations of new, unique images and even remarkably fluid and intriguing texts. This article looks at the philosophical and historical resonances of the art in artificial intelligence, considering elements like misuse while examining the myriad benefits of this new technology.

As part of our series of essays for VFXRio on synthetic art - metaverses, generative art and AI - this essay takes a more creative approach. Using Midjourney and ChatGPT, we created a series of imaginary letters sent by artists to the Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte as a starting point to consider questions about AI, creativity, and how we humans interact with machines.