What is DALL-E and how does it create images from text?

DALL-E can paint a picture for you and create photorealistic images, but it is neither a painter nor a photographer. It is an AI model. For many of us who can’t draw for a living, DALL-E is a fun tool that you’ll want to try at least once.

What is DALL-E?

With just words, you can describe exactly what you want to see, and DALL-E will create an image for you in seconds. What appears to be magic is actually a generative AI model developed by Open AI to create images from a text prompt.

Since you only need a basic knowledge of English to use this tool, and not years of painstakingly learning to draw or paint, it attracts a lot of attention. It is used by all kinds of people and for many things. From impressive world-building scenes for their D&D campaigns to freelancers on Substack looking for jazzy, free-to-use images for their posts.

With its incredible ability to accurately depict objects, landscapes, people, animals – you name it – AI art has sparked a whole new genre of art. It can even render these ideas in a specific art style such as oil painting, digital art, photorealism and much more.

DALL-E was one of the first generative AI models to popularize this technology around the world as early as 2021, but it is not the last. One of its main competitors is Midjourney, which is an incredibly powerful AI generator and a personal favorite, not to mention plenty of alternative AI art generators to explore as well.

How does DALL-E work?

In order to achieve this level of “artistic ability”, DALL-E underwent his own form of training. It was fed incredibly large data files containing hundreds of millions of images plus captions describing the image. From a technical perspective, Open AI describes DALL-E as a transformer language model.

For those interested, you can read about artificial intelligence explained simply.

How to use DALL-E in ChatGPT

The latest version of DALL-E lives inside ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that can perform all sorts of tasks for you. If you don’t have a ChatGPT account, this is the first thing you need to do.

Once inside, it looks very similar to a messaging app. You can start with a little role playing and imagine that you are talking to a graphic designer. In the text box, things get started with a simple request: “Can you create a logo for my coffee shop?”

First, ChatGPT will ask for a few more details. After replying with a better description, several images were created as per my requirements. This way you can talk back and forth as much as you like and slowly narrow down the image you want to create.

Alternatively, you can jump right into describing the image you have in mind and describe it in as much detail as possible.

Perfecting your challenge is the key to creating fantastic images with DALL-E. If you don’t like some elements, experiment with the words you choose and play around with the word order. A little trial and error is definitely part of the process.

What can you do with DALL-E?

Since the introduction of AI image generators like DALL-E at the very beginning of the AI ​​boom, I have witnessed a strong community of like-minded people adopting DALL-E and other AI art generators as a hobby. Part of the fun is figuring out how to make the best shots, sometimes referred to as “prompt engineering.” Like any hobby, there are ways to get better at it.

There are real practical uses for other people. From graphic design to creating logos, concept art, web design and images for your newsletter, the list goes on. Sometimes hiring an expert is out of the budget, so a do-it-yourself approach helps along with an AI system that can generate very convincing images.

DALL-E is a powerful AI image generator and one of the first to popularize this new technology. It couldn’t be easier to use; all you have to do is write a description of what you want to see. It could hardly be called a skill, but over time people have shown us that it can become a hobby worth investing time in if you really want to create stunning AI art.