DALL·E 2 Explained

Have you ever seen a polar bear playing bass or a robot painted like a Picasso? Didn't think so. DALL·E 2 is a new AI system from OpenAI that can take simple text descriptions, like a koala dunking a basketball, and turn them into photorealistic images that have never existed before.

DALL·E 2 doesn't just create images from text descriptions; it can also realistically edit and retouch photos based on a simple natural language description. It can fill in or replace parts of an image with AI-generated imagery that blends seamlessly with the original—a process called "inpainting."

In January 2021, OpenAI introduced DALL·E, a system that could generate images from text, such as an avocado armchair. DALL·E 2 takes this technology even further, offering higher resolution, greater comprehension, and new capabilities like inpainting. It can even start with an image as input and create variations with different angles and styles.

The creation of DALL·E involved training a neural network on images and their text descriptions. Through deep learning, it not only understands individual objects like koala bears and motorcycles but also learns about the relationships between these objects. For example, when you ask DALL·E for an image of a koala bear riding a motorcycle, it knows how to create that or anything else with a relationship to another object or action.

The DALL·E research has three main outcomes:

It helps people express themselves visually in ways they may not have been able to before.
An AI-generated image can tell us a lot about whether the system understands us or is just repeating what it has been taught.
DALL·E helps humans understand how AI systems see and understand our world. This is a critical part of developing AI that is useful and safe.

However, DALL·E 2 has limitations. If it's trained with images that are incorrectly labeled, like a plane labeled as a car, and a user tries to generate a car, DALL·E might create a plane. This is similar to someone who has learned the wrong word for something. Additionally, gaps in its training can limit it. For instance, if you type "baboon" and DALL·E has learned what a baboon is through images and accurate labels, it will generate a lot of great baboons. But if you type "howler monkey" and it hasn’t learned what a howler monkey is, DALL·E will give you its best idea of what it thinks it could be—like a howling monkey.

What's exciting about the training approach used for DALL·E is that it can apply what it has learned from various labeled images to new images. For example, given a picture of a monkey, DALL·E can infer what it would look like doing something it has never done before, like paying its taxes while wearing a funny hat.

DALL·E exemplifies how imaginative humans and clever systems can collaborate to create new things, amplifying our creative potential.

Keywords

Polar Bear playing bass
Robot painted like Picasso
DALL·E 2
AI system
OpenAI
Text descriptions to images
Photorealistic images
Edit and retouch photos
Inpainting
Neural network
Deep learning
Relationships between objects
Express visually
AI-generated image
Useful and safe AI
Training limitations
Labeled images
Creative collaboration

FAQ

Q: What is DALL·E 2? A: DALL·E 2 is an AI system developed by OpenAI that can generate photorealistic images from text descriptions and can also edit and retouch photos.

Q: How does DALL·E 2 differ from the original DALL·E? A: DALL·E 2 offers higher resolution, greater comprehension, and new capabilities such as inpainting, which allows it to edit or replace parts of an image seamlessly.

Q: What is inpainting? A: Inpainting is the process where DALL·E 2 fills in or replaces parts of an image with AI-generated imagery that blends seamlessly with the original.

Q: How was DALL·E 2 trained? A: DALL·E 2 was trained using a neural network on a combination of images and their text descriptions, learning not just individual objects but also the relationships between them.

Q: What are some limitations of DALL·E 2? A: DALL·E 2 can get confused by incorrect labels in its training data and may produce inaccurate images if it hasn’t been trained on certain objects.

Q: How can DALL·E 2 be useful? A: DALL·E 2 helps people express themselves visually in new ways, provides insights into AI understanding, and helps develop AI systems that are useful and safe.

Q: Can DALL·E 2 create variations of existing images? A: Yes, DALL·E 2 can start with an image as input and create variations of it with different angles and styles.