Inventing like Da Vinci with AI

There were so many things I loved about working on the PBS South Florida post-show experience, Da Vinci Genius, and playing with AI prompts ranks right up near the top! As part of this immersive show, we wanted guests to have the chance to bring their own imaginative inventions to life through generative AI, producing an image in the style of Da Vinci himself.

The challenge? Crafting the perfect prompt formula that would allow guests to describe their invention in a way that would yield satisfying results. The goal was to balance creative freedom with enough structure to ensure the AI could generate something that truly felt like a Da Vinci sketch.

Our original formula was this: A machine that [what it does] and [how it works]

Here are a few of the images I created to test our prompting formula:

A machine that can be filled with dishes and automatically cleans and dries them.

A machine that can automatically cut the grass, pull out weeds, water plants and replace dead flowers.

Although this prompt worked, we decided that something less structured and more flexible would be better - something that encouraged guests to think about Da Vinci's creative process, letting them dig into materials, mechanics, and purpose while leaving room for artistic flair.

We created a two part challenge asking them to first describe an existing invention (without mentioning the name of the object!) and then to "imagine a NEW invention that does not exist yet. What would it do? What problem would it solve? Or is it just for fun?"

Seeing their ideas come to life - everything from flying roller skates to futuristic time travelling machines - was so much fun!

Want to try it yourself? Scan the QR code below. You'll get three tries to bring your innovative invention to life in the style of Da Vinci!