What Happens When Artificial Intelligence Creates Images to Match the Lyrics of Iconic Songs: David Bowie's "Starman," Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" & More

Lyricists must write concretely enough to be evocative, yet vaguely enough to allow each listener his personal interpretation. The nineteen-sixties and seventies saw an especially rich balance struck between resonant ambiguity and massive popularity -- aided, as many involved parties have admitted, by the use of certain psychoactive substances. Half a century later, the visions induced by those same substances offer the closest comparison to the striking fruits of visual artificial-intelligence projects like Google's Deep Dream a few years ago or DALL-E today. Only natural, perhaps, that these advanced applications would sooner or later be fed psychedelic song lyrics. The video at the top of the post presents the Electric Light Orchestra's 1977 hit "Mr. Blue Sky" illustrated by images generated by artificial intelligence straight from its words.