Cantrell Betancourt is supportive of the use of AI in the arts and other creative endeavors.
Cantrell Betancourt
In a press release issued in mid-April, community-building startup Groundfloor announced that it would host an in-person event with renowned artist and author Kantrell Betancourt focused on “exploring the intersection of AI and art.” The 90-minute gathering was exclusive to Groundfloor members and was hosted by the company at its Los Angeles space.
Regular readers of this column will remember that I've covered Groundfloor a few times over the last few years, most notably in conversation with the company's co-founder and CEO, Jamie Snedden.
In an interview in late April, Betancourt explained that her latest book, Dreaming In Digital, was conceived and developed as a step-by-step guide on how to use Midjourney. On its website, Midjourney describes itself as an “independent laboratory exploring new mediums of thought and expanding the imagination of humanity” made up of a “small, self-funded team focused on design, human infrastructure, and AI.” The company employs 11 full-time staff and an “incredible group of advisors.” As Betancourt's work suggests, Midjourney is an artificial intelligence-powered tool that allows people to create their own works of art.
“It took me a while to figure out how to use text prompts to get the results I wanted,” Betancourt said of discovering MidJourney and what inspired her to write the how-to book. “My experience made me want to help others get started quickly. I feel like a lot of people don't know about this… I came across this technology on Instagram, so if it weren't for an algorithm putting it in front of me, I might not even know this technology exists.”
Betancourt said MidJourney is doing its best to make the platform accessible to more people, and that the company has an alpha program that allows users to create directly from the website without logging into Discord. He added that MidJourney is a great way to get exposure to AI, and that while his experience began in 2022, last year was when he “made his mark.” He praised MidJourney's tools as “so amazing,” and continued, “I just wanted to let people know that this is here, and as someone who loves art and creativity, I wanted to spread the word that people can do it themselves.”
The idea that “people can do this themselves” is inspiring in the context of accessibility. Betancourt said he believes that AI-based tools like Midjourney can be extremely empowering for the disability community. These tools allow people with disabilities to “create using typing, input what they imagine, and save the image.” Betancourt further noted that Midjourney has a speech-to-text feature for people who can't type, and people with disabilities can interact with Midjourney in almost any way they interact with a computer, including typing, voice, and Braille. Additionally, Betancourt highlighted that a key aspect of Midjourney's appeal is that the company lets creators retain copyright ownership, meaning one person's material is theirs alone.
Meanwhile, Bettencourt shared an anecdote about her aunt, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and seizures, using MidJourney. On the platform, Bettencourt said, it's something she can do at her own pace and in her own time. It can take her a week or two to create something, but she does it at her own pace. Drawing on her aunt's experience, Bettencourt said she feels MidJourney gives people with disabilities “a sense of independence and self-worth” for creating artwork using AI as a way to expand their imagination. As Bettencourt told me, the images are created from their own “ideas.” [and] AI is a technology that assists with “vision,” but in this context, AI is truly an assistive technology.
“I'm these [AI-powered] The tools are very helpful,” Betancourt said.
Betancourt’s views were shared with me a few weeks ago, but publishing this article today dovetails very well with the news announced this week at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino. To take one case in point, the company’s new Image Playgrounds app for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS uses on-device machine learning technology to generate images based on text and visual prompts. The software is part of the Silicon Valley tech giant’s upcoming Apple Intelligence feature set, meaning content created in Image Playgrounds will be available across the system, including Messages, Pages, and Freeform. My understanding is that Apple Intelligence is integrated with accessibility features like VoiceOver, which, as Betancourt says, will make Image Playgrounds as accessible to people with disabilities as Midjourney.
Bettencourt acknowledged that there has been a constant stream of bad and, frankly, very cynical media coverage of artificial intelligence, noting that people worry that society's future robot overlords will take jobs from countless industries and make humans obsolete. For his part, Bettencourt decided to take a decidedly more optimistic stance, saying that many of the AI platforms that exist today are merely tools to “enhance creativity.”[augmenting] “AI allows you to become even better at something you're already passionate about and love,” she said, adding that with its help, it will level the playing field, so to speak, allowing average people to compete alongside “the huge, old-school companies that have dominated for centuries.”
Now, independent artists (yes, including those who identify as disabled) can use AI to express themselves, and Betancourt says the work is “just as professional and high-quality” as the work coming out of multi-million-dollar studios. She adds that people who love the look of old-school Kodak film can create something in that visual style even if they don't own an actual Kodak camera.
When asked about the future of tools like Midjourney and OpenAI's ChatGPT, Betancourt was keen to offer a crystal ball prediction. She said this kind of technology will “open a lot of doors” for people, so that they can “achieve things and [send] They always had a message in their heart, but they never had the skills or resources to express it and show it to everyone.”
“I am a [AI tools] It will be a communication tool that will allow people to tell stories they have never heard before and see things they never imagined. [The art] “It doesn't come from a huge studio, it comes from a unique experience. I think it opens the door for people, especially those with disabilities, to be able to tell their stories and express themselves more fully.”
