My first experience with AI image description was both mundane and profound. I was reclining on the bed in our East Village sublet, writing and drinking afternoon coffee—”Prousting,” as my partner Alabaster and I call it—when a new app landed in my inbox. I downloaded it and snapped a picture of the room, crammed with the owner’s things. Seconds later, I received a reply. Like an art historian pointing out details in a Renaissance painting, the AI told me about the red paisley blanket in the foreground, the door with an orange curtain beyond, and above that, a “decorative piece with the Om symbol.”Article continues after advertisement
I couldn’t remember what the Om symbol looked like, so I used the “Ask more” function, and learned that it “resembles a numeral 3 with a tail swooping inwards and a small curve with a dot above it.” A vague image floated before my mind’s eye—not so vivid as the room with its tangible objects—but it made enough of an impression to recall another sense memory. I’ve taken my share of yoga classes that sometimes finish with the chanting of “Om,” and remembered how the sound vibrates bodily tissue as it moves from belly to lips. Maybe this is what translating between the senses and language feels like: a spark that takes on new associations as it travels perceptual byways.
