Generative AI is used so frequently at my school by both teachers and students, that it made me think – what kind of sweater would ChatGPT wear if it was a human? So I asked. And Chatty (as ChatGPT wanted to be called) did not only answer – it wrote up the pattern in 3 formats with its own invented stitches, devised a comprehensive design concept, told me which yarn to use, thought of a “personalised hidden stitch detail that only I would know about”, instructed me what to write on the label and where to place it, and finished with a “stitch mantra” that I should hum in my head while knitting. All this happened over the course of one hour, while the process reaching from thinking up a design to the completed pattern can take me months.
I knitted the sweater following all instructions and called it “The Chatty Signature Sweater” as directed by Chatty. It looks too wide to wear and the gauge is not quite accurate, but overall the design is indeed useable.
Only a short while ago knitting was AI’s last frontier, and useable patterns could simply not be achieved.
AI has been trained using knitting systems to develop its general processing capabilities by using “deep learning frameworks”: Images of knitted garments are photographed, uploaded, and analysed to build a data set of real-world images to train the neural network. An algorithm has been developed to automatically produce a pattern of machine-intelligible stitches. This made possible the development of a program called “neural inverse knitting”: Rather than computing a real image from a fake source, a “refiner” first combines photos of garments, and a program generator then outputs machine-readable instructions. The resulting code is developed into 2-D program maps, and domain-specific language which is applicable to practical knitting, with the aim to create fake images from a real source for a generalised platform.
Knitting instructions on demand for personal use are a by-product of this larger picture. Deep learning frameworks allow AI a thorough understanding of the human world and enable autonomous actions – a potentially destructive behaviour which enables many dangerous scenarios which can be in part predicted and managed , but are largely unknown to us and can not be anticipated until they happen. We are aware that this is dangerous and threatening technology, Yet, vast natural, human and financial resources are exhausted to drive this development forward.
This project is my personal exploration of the impact of AI on human creativity at this point in time and asks one question: “What’s next?”
The sweater was on display at the Galway International Arts Festival exhibition “Continuum”, a 40th anniversary exhibition by the Galway artist collective Artspace, from the 13th – 25th of July 2026.
Anja Sammon 