06 - The AI That Painted Nightmares

In this episode of "AI Freaky Facts" we dive into Google's DeepDream experiment, where AI turned images into eerie, nightmare-like art blending surrealism and horror. Explore the uncanny valley effect, pop culture ties to films like "Alien" and "Inception", and ethical concerns over emotional manipulation, bias, and AI's role in creativity. Is AI a true artist or just a mimic?

References:

1. DeepDream - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeepDream

2. The Ethics of AI Art - Deep Dream Generator

https://deepdreamgenerator.com/blog/ethics-of-ai-art

3. Ethical and Philosophical Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence-Generated Art

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/393140935_Ethical_and_Philosophical_Perspectives_on_Artificial_Intelligence-Generated_Art

4. The Ethical Implications of AI in Creative Industries

https://arxiv.org/html/2507.05549v1

5. AI, art and morality | AI and Ethics

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-025-00735-3

6. Shape of the Uncanny Valley and Emotional Attitudes Toward Robots

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12369-022-00905-x

7. Signatures of the uncanny valley effect in an artificial neural network

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563223001620

8. The Moral Uncanny Valley | Philosophy & Technology

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-025-00865-w

9. Pupillary Responses to Robotic and Human Emotions: The Uncanny Valley

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00774/full

10. Assessing the Ethical Implications of Artificial Intelligence Integration in Media Production

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384831429_Assessing_the_Ethical_Implications_of_Artificial_Intelligence_Integration_in_Media_Production_and_Its_Impact_on_the_Creative_Industry

Music Credits:

1. "Cherry Blossom" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

2. "Facile" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

3. "Tech Live" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This podcast is narrated by the host's own voice, powered by AI.