Picturing Aphou, a Lost African Mystic

As an art historian, I figured it was time I learned for myself whether images generated by artificial intelligence programs constitute a revolutionary advance or just an accelerated manifestation of humanity’s insatiable, misdirected desire. So after signing up and paying a small monthly fee, I was thrown into a beginner’s room for AI image generation at Midjourney. It was a headfirst dive into the collective unconscious. I was immersed in a stream of images: idealized childhoods, Pixar-style family barbeques, personal coats of arms, bearded bartenders with bulging biceps, and idealized World War I battlefields. Images of stereotypically hot women and men were followed by a plate of hot wings appealing enough to activate my salivary glands.