For my first ever experience creating with AI, I prompted the AI tool on Shutterstock to create an image of “West Virginia and the scales of justice.”

I was expecting maybe an outline of the state map with an overlay of Lady Justice and the scales. None of the generated images looked like that. All of the images had pictures of the scales of justice, but most didn’t represent West Virginia at all.

The image above was the most interesting. The statue is oddly distorted and there’s something that looks like a random flame at the top (an out-of-place reference to the Statute of Liberty, perhaps?). And there’s something that looks kind of like Phineas Flynn photobombing along the right edge. But, in fairness, I didn’t refine my prompts or edit the image at all.

And, conceptually, I actually find this more nuanced and clever than what I would have drawn myself. I love that West Virginia is only referenced, not depicted, through the blue and gold and the subtle reference to mountains.

This 15-second experiment is enough to make me at least curious about AI as a potential creative partner.