Enjoy AI art from Amazon's Alexa on the Omni QLED Fire TV

Amazon's Alexa-powered TV created an image of a castle on mars (Image credit: Future / Hamish Hector)

If you’ve been wanting to dip your toes into the world of AI art but found that existing platforms are a bit too obtuse then Amazon will be able to help you out, as it’s launching a new AI art tool sometime in the coming year. 

At an event announcing a slew of TVs coming to the UK including the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED and all-new Amazon Fire TV Series-2, Amazon also unveiled a new power coming to Alexa on its Omni QLED TV: AI art background generation.

Unfortunately, Amazon representatives weren’t able to let slip exactly how it works behind the scenes. But we do know that by starting an instruction with “Alexa, create a background…” and then providing a description like “that shows a medieval castle on mars” or “that shows a close-up of a feather” the TV will create a background inspired by your prompts.

If you don’t like the image it provides, you can select from one of the three pictures Alexa produces. Alternatively, you can refine your input by asking the image to look like a watercolor painting or be more like what artist Vincent van Gogh would create.

Alexa bringing AI art to everyone

Speaking with Emma Gilmartin, Amazon’s Director of Fire TV and Fire Tablets, she explained that Amazon hopes this generative art tool will democratize AI art.

Tools like Dall-E Mini and others are impressive, but getting access to them and then actually using them can be a challenge. The aim of Amazon’s art generation tool – especially with its Alexa voice-powered commands – is that it will be easy for anyone with an idea to see it imagined as a background for your TV, whether you’re 4 or 94.

It’ll be a little while, though, before Amazon’s AI art tool actually becomes available to the public, with Amazon representatives telling us it’s expected to launch sometime “in the coming year.”

Image 1 of 2

A selection of four images showing the Northern Lights over London's Big Ben (Image credit: Future / Hamish Hector)

A large image showing the Northern Lights over Big Ben, in the style of van Gogh (Image credit: Future / Hamish Hector)

The main reason for the delay is that the limitless possibilities of what large language models can produce are both a blessing and a curse. Before unleashing the tool on the world, Amazon wants to make sure appropriate guardrails and limitations are in place so that users – especially younger kids trying out the tool – aren’t subjected to inappropriate content.

Amazon also wants to make sure the results are up to a solid standard. That’s not to say every creation will look like a masterpiece, but the company wants to make sure people are excited by the results rather than disappointed by the images it produces.

We’ll be sure to let you know when Amazon launches its AI art tool on its TVs, but for now, you can check out Bing Chat’s new Dall-E-powered art generation functions, which have started rolling out to people with access to the service.

See more Television news