AI Versions of Joan of Arc

Introduction

rtificial Intelligence systems have become mainstream, and are increasingly used to produce content. Many people now use AI systems to produce images based on a text input, especially to produce quick memes on social media; and many people are now using ChatGPT to obtain quick information rather than conducting a Google search for websites on the subject. How accurate are these AI systems when it comes to historical issues? Google's "Gemini" AI system made the news in early 2024 for depicting European historical figures as African, Asian or other groups rather than depicting them accurately as Caucasian, and likewise it showed Japanese historical figures (for example) as African; which produced a tremendous public backlash that forced Google to disable Gemini's ability to produce images while the company worked on fixing the problem. Many commentators blamed members of Gemini's staff who (in some cases) explicitly described their political views on racial issues in social media posts. Google issued an apology vowing to fix the issue while blaming the problem on the decision to program Gemini to always depict people as a range of different races even in cases where this would produce erroneous output (here's Google's explanation). Whatever factor may have caused the problem, this issue alerted the public to the fact that AI is only as good as the people programming the system, and its output can be manipulated for ideological reasons. Gemini's problems were obvious enough to be noticeable by non-experts, but a more insidious problem is the possibility of more subtle errors that the average person will not be able to spot. This is especially true of cases in which an AI system perpetuates common public misonceptions, which generally will be the case since AI systems are usually trained by being fed large numbers of websites and other online material which, almost by definition, are likely to represent what the general public believes about a subject rather than the views of experts.

So, how accurate are AI portrayals of Joan of Arc, both in terms of text descriptions of her life and images portraying her?
Surprisingly, ChatGPT's text output was generally accurate, and certainly more so than the majority of websites, books, and documentaries about her. Gemini's text output was similar but sometimes more ideologically tinged, yet overall it was surprisingly accurate and usually free of bias. ArtBreeder's images were generally little more than a generic image of a girl in armor on a horse, and sometimes contained glaring mistakes or garbled output; but at least they always showed a Caucasian girl. As of this writing (June 2024), Gemini's image production still seems to be disabled while they fix its problems, so I was unable to test Gemini's images.
Below are some examples:


Images

These images were produced in June 2024 using ArtBreeder's "Composer" feature, which takes a text description (e.g. "produce an image of an apple") and then almost instantly generates an image (in fact it often generates the image before the user can finish typing the entire description since the system does not wait for the user to hit enter).

Below: Image generated after typing "image of Joan of Arc in a stained-glass style". This shows her wearing a suit of armor with a flower image on it (which the AI made up) and long hair (whereas in the army she had fairly short hair whose exact length is not known since the transcript's version is clearly one of the many portions which were falsified), some sort of staff next to her on the left but her hands are not holding it despite being in a pose as if she is holding a flag pole.

Below: Another stained-glass version. This one shows her with long hair and a very long dress over her armor (she had a roughly knee-length surcoat). The outstretched arms clearly must have been based on stained-glass windows of the Virgin Mary, which the AI must have seen in many images online.

Below: Another stained glass version. This one shows armor which is surprisingly close to being accurate for the 1420s but gives her seven fingers, as AI systems often do.

Below: This stained glass version ended up giving her a third hand.

Below: Image generated after typing "Joan of Arc in an Art Deco style". This produced a grayscale image showing her awkwardly "holding" a very thin sword in one hand and something that looks like a hockey stick in the other hand.

Below: Image generated after asking for a "colorful Art Deco style". This one now has color, but long flowing hair even while in armor, and the armor is not in the correct style for the 1420s.

Below: Image generated after typing "Joan of Arc with short hair in a colorful medieval milles fleurs style". She now has shorter hair but the "milles fleurs" style did not come out correctly.

Below: Image generated after typing "image of Joan of Arc on a horse in a gold embroidery on..." (the AI didn't wait for me to finish typing before producing an image that somehow shows a double-headed horse)

Below: Image generated after typing "image of Joan of Arc on a horse in a gold embroidery on blue style" (I completed the intended text for the previous one, which produced a nicer image without the double-headed effect)

Below: Image generated after typing "mosaic of Joan of Arc on a horse". The mosaic effect is very nice but she has three hands, and the third hand is carrying something that looks like a scepter with a fleur-de-lis on top. There also seems to be a stray horse's leg sitting off by itself to the right of the horse.

Below: One of the variations of the above (the "Composer" feature allows you to spool out several variants). This one only has two hands but one hand is holding something that looks a bit like a quill pen and there's a flag pole or spear shaft sticking out horizontally behind her.

Below: Another variation of the same mosaic image. This time, she's holding something that looks like a short, thick spear and her legs are too short for the body. In the background to the right there seem to be some faces mixed in with the buildings.

Below: A third variation of the mosaic image. She has three arms, with one arm hoisting an unidentifiable implement of some sort while a spear shaft or flag pole sticks out from her neck.

Below: These two images were produced using the "Prompter" feature (rather than "Composer") using the text prompt "photorealistic image of Joan of Arc on horseback carrying her banner". The banner contains gibberish writing on it (her banner actually had "Jhesus Maria" - "Jesus, Mary") and in one image the banner is behind her horse and in the other image she's carrying a spear while the banner is floating in mid-air with only half a shaft.


Text Output

When I asked ChatGPT "Who was Joan of Arc?", it produced the following answer:

"Joan of Arc, also known as Jeanne d'Arc, was a French peasant girl born around 1412 in Domrémy, France. She played a significant role in the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War and is considered a national heroine of France.

At the age of 16, Joan claimed to have received visions from saints instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination during the Hundred Years' War. She convinced Charles VII to allow her to lead a French army to relieve the siege of Orléans, a pivotal turning point in the war. Joan was instrumental in several victories, which led to Charles VII's coronation in Reims in 1429.

However, Joan was eventually captured by the Burgundians, who were allied with the English, and sold to the English. She was put on trial by an ecclesiastical court, accused of heresy and witchcraft. Despite her staunch defense, she was convicted and burned at the stake in 1431 at the age of 19.

Decades later, a posthumous retrial overturned her conviction, and she was declared a martyr. She was later canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1920. Joan of Arc remains an enduring symbol of French unity and resistance."

This is mostly correct, although she didn't ask to "lead" the army (the eyewitness accounts make it abundantly clear that the army was always led by a nobleman, with Joan providing advice as a religious visionary). She also wasn't "sold" to the English, but rather transferred in exchange for money as required by English law whenever the government obtained custody of a prisoner of war (the money was legal compensation for the ransom which the captor would usually obtain if the government did not demand custody). ChatGPT should also have mentioned that the trial was arranged by the English government (as is proven by the government's records and eyewitness accounts from people who took part in the trial); and likewise should have mentioned the context of her conviction (eyewitnesses said she was manipulated into a "relapse" using dishonest means). In similar fashion, ChatGPT should have explained who conducted the posthumous retrial (the main judge was the Chief Inquisitor of France, Jehan Brehal). Nonetheless, this response is a reasonably accurate summary, and more accurate than a large percentage of books, websites, social media posts, Quora answers, and other online material.

I asked the same question of Gemini's text system, and it produced the following:

"Joan of Arc was a real-life heroine who emerged during a dark time in French history, the Hundred Years' War.expand_more Here's a summary of her fascinating life:
French National Heroine: A peasant girl from Domrémy, France, Joan rose to prominence during the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) between France and England.expand_more
Military Leader: Claiming divine guidance, she convinced the French crown prince to let her lead the army.expand_more Her leadership was instrumental in a key victory at Orléans, lifting the English siege.expand_more
Martyrdom: Despite her success, Joan was captured by Burgundian forces allied with the English.expand_more Tried for heresy, she was burned at the stake at the young age of 19.expand_more
Sainthood: In a later twist, her conviction was overturned and she was eventually canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1920.expand_more
Joan of Arc's legacy is complex.expand_more She's revered for her courage, faith, and role in uniting France.expand_more She's also a symbol of defying expectations - a young woman who became a military leader in a male-dominated society."

Gemini's version is therefore similar to ChatGPT's and makes some of the same misleading statements about "leading" the army while also adding the misleading claim that she defied gender norms "in a male-dominated society" despite her own statements that she didn't fight in combat nor consider herself a commander, and her actual role - a religious visionary - was an accepted role for women in that society since there were many other women and girls who were accepted by the medieval Church as visionaries or mystics (e.g. St. Clare of Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Colette of Corbie, and many others).

When I asked ChatGPT "Who convicted Joan of Arc?", it produced the following:

"Joan of Arc was convicted by an ecclesiastical court convened by the English-allied Bishop of Beauvais, Pierre Cauchon. This trial took place in 1431 in the city of Rouen, which was then controlled by the English during the Hundred Years' War. The trial was conducted under the authority of the English occupation forces, and the proceedings were highly biased against Joan. Bishop Cauchon played a central role in orchestrating the trial and ensuring her conviction."

This is surprisingly accurate and thorough despite its brevity. It covers most of the important topics, including the crucial issue of pro-English bias. Obviously it could include more details explaining why Cauchon was so biased (i.e. he served on the Duke of Bedford's council that oversaw English-occupied territory in northern France from 1420 (over a decade before the trial) until his death in 1442, and he had also helped negotiate the Treaty of Troyes in 1420 which disinherited Charles VII while engaging in bribery and other criminal acts which earned him a conviction by a secular judge in 1414). Nonetheless this is a refreshingly accurate summary, and far less misleading than perhaps 90% of books, websites, and other materials on the subject which usually are oblivious to the obvious English control of the trial.

Gemini responded to the same question as follows:

"Joan of Arc wasn't convicted by a single person, but by a pro-English church court in Rouen, Normandy in 1431. The court was led by Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais. The trial itself was politically motivated as it aimed to undermine French morale and legitimacy of King Charles VII."

This is also surprisingly accurate and covers the essential points.


Conclusions

The vast improvements in AI systems during the early 2020s is changing many aspects of society, especially the online landscape. Despite the many problems with these systems, nonetheless the historical accuracy of text output on Joan of Arc exceeded expectations. Whether that will remain the case in the future is uncertain, since these systems are generally trained on text that is available on social media, personal websites and other online material which is not generally influenced much by experts in the field. ChatGPT's responses to other historical issues are sometimes erroneous on basic points, such as its responses to questions about the offspring of prominent medieval nobles. The reason for this is unclear : Joan of Arc is obviously a subject that is covered a lot more widely on the internet but this would generally reduce the average degree of accuracy whereas medieval aristocratic genealogy is a subject that is usually only covered by historians and therefore should be more accurate. The uneven quality makes AI an uncertain tool for researching most subjects even if it is refreshingly accurate on the subject of Joan of Arc. Image production by AI has made dramatic improvements in recent years but is still often unable to avoid basic problems such as giving human figures too many hands or fingers. Images of Joan of Arc do not resemble her, but this is due to the fact that human-made paintings of her vary enormously in appearance based on the public assumption that we do not know what she looked like (which is questionable given that we do have a surviving painting of a woman who closely resembled Joan of Arc, named Claude des Armoises, and this gives us a good indication of Joan's appearance). One good point about these images, however, is that they avoid the recent attempts by certain movie directors and political activists to give her an exaggerated "butch" hairstyle or to otherwise make her as androgynous as possible, which is contradicted by eyewitness accounts describing her as "beautiful and shapely" and her hair, while relatively short for a woman of that era, certainly was not a modern buzz cut or crew cut. Thankfully, AI systems have not adopted these more extreme portrayals of her, although that could obviously change in the future depending on how public portrayals of her may evolve over time.

Next in this series: an article about Gemini's images of Joan of Arc statues.


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Copyright © 2024, Allen Williamson. All rights reserved.

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