Editor ' s Note
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Prompt engineering a perfect picture
As the 2022-23 school year began , a colleague sent an all-faculty email about an AI system called DALL-E 2 . This system creates visual images based on a written description .
My own interest in ChatGPT had been tempered by using SmarterChild in the 2000s , but DALL-E 2 appeared to be a gift for those of us who , despite years of summer art camps , struggle to master the art of painting and drawing . When it was time to publish the Fall / Winter 2023 issue of PRIMA , my mind turned to DALL-E 2 to create the magazine ’ s cover art .
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Certainly a bot could generate a useful image much faster than I could paint one , right ?
I started by considering myself as a client commissioning a piece of art . I knew what styles I preferred , that I tended toward bold uses of color and modern designs . Since DALL-E 2 was named in part after Salvador Dalí , why not a surrealist image of something to do with classics ? I typed in , “ a surrealist painting of a woman teaching Latin .”
It was a disaster . And it kept being a disaster .
OpenAI , the company that produced DALL-E 2 , provides 15 free credits every month to users with a free account . One search prompt costs one credit and generates four images . If you feel an image was close but not quite right , another credit will generate four variations of the image .
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The cover art used for the last issue of PRIMA was credit number 18 — a variation generated from “ thomas cole painting of aeneas standing on a pier in ancient carthage looking toward italy while the goddess venus watches above in a cloud .”
At issue was neither the AI nor my vision for something colorful and classics-related . It was the prompt . Despite constant improvements in artificial intelligence to “ understand ” natural language , DALL-E 2 struggled to create suitable images based on such open ( and often conflicting ) parameters .
Since this issue of PRIMA looks forward to the 2023 ACL Institute at Washington University in St . Louis , I looked to incorporate the city of St . Louis with classical imagery for our cover art . While DALL-E 2 could generate separate representations of the Gateway Arch and classical arches , the combination was tough . ( As for the text in the images : since most classical arches have an inscription , the AI produces random combinations of letters when copying the style .)
My colleague innovatively uses DALL-E 2 in her sixth-grade Language Arts classes to showcase to students the importance of precise and descriptive language in their writing . My own experience was a humbling reminder that , though new technologies enter education at an alarming rate and seem like another hurdle to jump , my real focus should be asking the right questions that make new technologies work for me and my students .
I hope you enjoy this edition of PRIMA , which features ETC news , original student work , and articles on topics from novellas to AI software . If you are attending ACL Institute , take a look at our recommended sessions on page 10 . You will also see ready-to-use resources in this issue : Megan DeGraff has provided engaging materials for use with Chapter 9 of the Oxford Latin Course . Happy reading , and we will see you at Institute !
This issue of PRIMA features a wealth of information for use directly in the classroom .
Nathalie Roy shares a lesson on Roman dice towers that will engage young learners in history and STEM .
John Young describes his experience utilizing the AI tool ChatGPT when teaching Latin composition .
And PRIMA is excited to share valuable resources by Megan DeGraff for teaching Chapter 9 of Oxford Latin Course .
C Hayward
C A T H E R I N E H A Y W A R D Editor
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