AI image generators are becoming increasingly popular with artists, designers, and other creative professionals as well as students and other individuals who lack traditional art training.  Many students may be using these tools for school projects or just for fun. This SmartSocial guide will review the best AI art tools and list the pros and cons that both parents and students should be aware of.  

Educators and parents: Guide your students' reflection and discussion with this student worksheet. (Log in to your Google account and select File-->Make a Copy)

What is an AI Art Generator?

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) art generators are online programs or apps that generate images and digital artwork from a text description
• These programs can be used to create a wide range of artistic styles, from photorealistic to abstract and surreal, and can be trained on a variety of inputs, such as photographs, sketches, and other images
• Some tools also allow users to edit and manipulate the ai art generation using a variety of parameters and settings

Why do students want to use AI Art Tools?

• These art generators give students the tools and techniques to help explore their creativity and self-expression
• Most of these generators are pretty user-friendly, so it can be easy for students to create unique, high quality images
• AI art generators can help teens explore and discover different artistic styles, techniques, and mediums, enabling them to experiment with new interests and skills
• These tools can be a fun and entertaining way for teens to create art and then share it with others, whether it be on social media platforms (such as Discord), online art communities, or in-person art shows

DALL-E 2 pros and cons

• DALL-E 2 is owned by OpenAI, the owners of ChatGPT
• This AI image generator is a web-based program available only through a web browser 
• DALL-E 2 is free to register and use. The first 15 images created a month are free, and after that users can purchase more credits to use if desired
• DALL-E 2 has content filters that prevent users from creating images that violate their content policy, including violent, sexual, self-harm, or political content
• Users are able to upload existing images to DALL-E 2 and quickly edit and make multiple versions of the original image
• Users should use very detailed text descriptions in order to get the best possible images and avoid wasting credits
• It generates 4 image options for every text description and it produces very realistic images
• Some reviewers say that it has some biases built in and it may have difficulty producing more than one human in the same image (Source: ZMO.AI)

Dream by Wombo pros and cons

• Dream by Wombo is a text-to-image AI art tool available via browser or through apps by both Apple and Google Play
• There are a variety of built-in styles to start with or users can use a prompt to generate their image
• Dream allows users to save created artwork in an online gallery to access and use later
• This tool has its own Discord server and makes it easy to share artwork with others 
• Dream is free to download and use, but there is a paid subscription to access premium tools 

Craiyon pros and cons

• Craiyon is an AI art tool that was formerly known as DALL-E mini, available via a web browser or as an app for Android devices
• After submitting a text prompt to the site, Craiyon will generate 9 different images 
• Although Craiyon is free to use, there are subscriptions available that offer ad-free use
• Images generated from the free site may be shared and will appear anonymously in the search results. The paid subscription offers that images will remain private
• Reviewers report that often Craiyon will generate unrealistic-looking faces and body parts
• There are times when there may be too many people trying to use Craiyon and the server cannot handle the amount of traffic and will not be able to process your request at that time (Source: Business Insider)

Stable Diffusion pros and cons

• Stable Diffusion is a free AI art tool that runs online or as an extension on your browser
• This program offers a prompt search engine that contains more than 12 million prompts gathered from AI artists all over the world. The search engine allows users to browse through images and their prompts to gather ideas or to use in your project
• Stable Diffusion has a built-in content filter that prevents the creation of explicit content, but it can be unreliable and sometimes still allow violence and gore (Source: PC Guide)

StarryAI pros and cons

• StarryAI is another option for AI-generated art creation and is available online or on iOS and Android mobile devices
• The program is free to use but creators only get 5 free art generations daily but users can upgrade to a Pro account to receive more image credits and other features
• With each creation, StarryAI will generate 4 different images and the user can choose to adjust the image, make it public, share it across social media, or download and save 
• The free version of the program only creates images in a (1:1) square ratio, but other image sizes are offered through the Pro accounts

Conclusion

AI art generators offer many benefits for teens interested in exploring their creativity and expressing themselves through art. These different tools can provide easy and fun ways for teens to experiment with different artistic styles and techniques while developing their understanding of artificial intelligence.   

More resources for parents, students, & educators

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