Electric Sheep by Scott Draves

Described as a “collective intelligence,” this early example of machine learning in art was inspired by the evolutionary art work of Karl Sims. Scott Draves’s software art Electric Sheep is a distributed screen-saver-as-art and pivotal advancement in AI, artificial life and fractal art that originated from the Fractal Flame algorithm. Electric Sheep leveraged a distributed system with a client/server architecture, transforming computer screensavers into dynamic, networked canvases for fractal animations. Each “sheep” in the system consisted of 128 frames and a genetic code defined by 160 floating-point numbers.

An early AI-driven art project, Electric Sheep enlisted 450,000 participants globally, pioneering machine learning art and AI. The Flame algorithm mirrors contemporary neural networks' vector floating point approach. The collaborative rendering system allows computers worldwide to contribute, guided by human votes for the fittest animations. Each computer follows Draves' Flame algorithm to create a segment of the collective artwork. Open source and constantly evolving with contributions, Electric Sheep showcases family trees and resemblance through electricsheep.org. Draves serves as head Shepherd, overseeing this dynamic, participatory project in AI-driven art.