Image Thinking after Artificial Intelligence

This article proposes that, through synthesizing language
acts with visualization processes, generative AI is currently altering
the architecture of human cognition, necessitating a new way of
understanding our relationship with images. The multifaceted concept of
‘image thinking’ offered in its title refers to: (1) our human thinking about
images – a key area of enquiry for Visual Culture; (2) image generation
through cognitive processes, be they human or machinic; and (3) images
themselves being agents of thinking. Both Visual Culture and Neuroscience
use the notion of ‘the mental image’, which is premised on the belief that
humans form internal pictures in their minds from words and concepts.
Those pictures subsequently facilitate how we see – and know – objects
and phenomena. Today a novel feedback loop between language, vision
and imagery has emerged, with machines being able to generate images
from textual prompts. This latest technological development blurs the
line between human imagination and algorithmic generation, thus calling
for a radical reassessment of how we perceive, imagine and understand
the world. Moving beyond the frequent dismissals of synthetic imagery as
average, banal or ‘mean’, the article offers a Vilém Flusser-inspired critical
approach that seeks cognitive opportunities for us within the current
cultural moment.