Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.On a factory shelf in Stoke-on-Trent, a white glazed ceramic tile, cooling from the kiln, bears all the hallmarks of antique delftware. Except for one thing. In the middle, drawn in painterly cobalt blue brushstrokes, is an astronaut. The tile, one of many equally improbable designs like it, is not the result of a time-travelling Dutch master craftsman but something just as sci-fi: artificial intelligence.Frustrated with a lack of expressive architectural and interior decoration, historian-turned-computer scientist Adam Davies, 25, and London teacher Jack Marsh, 26, are on a mission to put ornamentation back in buildings using 21st-century technology. Their company, Not Quite Past, founded early this year, is an AI start-up that generates tile designs in the style of long-dead artisans and historic genres. Bespoke designs are powered by machine learning together with customer prompts. After inputting a word or phrase, it takes less than a minute for Not Quite Past to create a pattern.Currently offerings are in the manner of the Dutch Golden Age, Spanish painter Joan Miró, and abstraction pioneer Wassily Kandinsky. More styles are in the works. Designs are digitally printed on to tiles and fired in a Staffordshire pottery. They sell for £9.99 each. The idea for the company began in Birmingham when Marsh and Davies were admiring the florid facades of the city’s grand old institutions, designed by Victorian architects such as Aston Webb and Frederick Martin. “We were stunned by the delicacy of the ornament,” says Davies. “In the 19th century, industrialisation was used to create beautiful things — then, at some point, ornament was stripped away.”Not Quite Past is not quite the first seeking to revive the marriage of industrial processes with architectural ornament. In 2018, Turner Prize-winners Assemble used a 60-tonne hydraulic press to squidge encaustic tiles into existence, intending to make products that felt handmade while rolling off UK production lines at affordable prices. Marsh and Davies are, however, pioneers in throwing AI into the mix.“AI helps foster a new localised aesthetic,” says Marsh. “It can help anyone put their own decorative ideas, their own identities, into objects.” Playful and charming, the tiles are a witty expression of the evolving relationship between AI and architectural design. From mainstream image generators such as Dall-E and Midjourney, to specialist architectural tools including XKool and Veras, the variety of AI software now readily available enables anyone with internet access to visualise imagined buildings and cityscapes — even governments. In March, a white paper appeared on the UK government’s website featuring uncanny images, more Parisian than East Anglian, depicting an imagined future Cambridge. But in many cases, these tools are limited to the fantastical. I don’t see it as a situation where AI takes over art. People thought photography was going to kill paintingA few AI architecture tools are pushing the boundaries, however, such as digital platform Architechtures, which is exploring the use of AI to design three-dimensional digital models of buildable housing schemes. The climate impact of this revolution in machine learning is substantial. Google reported a 48 per cent increase in its greenhouse gas emissions, driven by rising AI use. Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, told the World Economic Forum this year that there is “no way” to meet the future energy demands of AI without nuclear fusion. Marsh and Davies agree that machine learning comes with challenges. They are also acutely conscious of the concerns it raises in relation to creativity. But, says Marsh, “I don’t see it as a situation where AI takes over art. People thought photography was going to kill painting, and it developed into its own art. I think they’re going to coexist very happily. AI is a tool. It’s just going to be its own department.” The pair are looking to the future, with plans to branch out into generating William Morris-style wallpaper.This raises the question: what would the 19th-century Arts and Crafts pioneer have made of AI-powered interior design?Perhaps Morris would have admired Not Quite Past’s democratising vision. A Socialist, he believed everyone had a right to “some pleasure for the eyes”, declaring: “I do not want art for a few, any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.” A world where everyone can afford bespoke tiles would surely have resonated with his egalitarian instincts. But Morris was also an environmentalist, aghast at how industrial expansion was destroying nature. Shown the ecological impact of AI, even in the service of creating charming fake delftware, he might have been appalled.Find out about our latest stories first — follow @FTProperty on Twitter or @ft_houseandhome on Instagram
