Supermodel Bella Hadid joins photographer Carlijn Jacobs [IG] and Vogue Italia in a May 2013 cover story driven by AI. Imruh Asha styled Bella and was part of the team working with AI artist Chad Nelson. / Hair by Mustafa Yanaz; makeup by Sam Visser

The team worked on the DALL-E artificial program. Carlijn Jacobs describes a bit of the process:

After coming up with a rough concept for each photo, we shot Bella in the studio, then tried to generate background images with the AI program. I found myself having to translate my vision to the camera into a few key words, called "prompts": a far from easy undertaking for a photographer used to working with images rather than words. At first I tried to give random inputs, but I soon realized that the precision of my instructions was crucial if I was to get anywhere near the idea I had in mind.

Actually, hit translator if you don’t speak Italian and remember that everyone is a ‘he’ including Carlijn Jacobs on Vogue Italia translated to English. [I complained two years ago on this issue w/Vogue Italia translated, so silence is my middle name today].

This team shares very specific challenges they met along the way using the AI. Because I’m experimenting first with AI writing and just now moving onto images, I have nothing to offer on the photography.

As Jacobs advises, the input prompts are critical. But as Carlijn reminds people, delivering grade A prompts is driven by one’s knowledge of how to get best results from the AI system, even when one is sitting next to an AI artist like Chad Nelson [IG]. Not yet is the AI system a mindreader.