DALL·E 2 and The Origin of Vibe Shifts (9 minute read)
Around 2015, there was a vibe shift in web design due to illustrations becoming more rare and expensive relative to photos. Sites like Unsplash that offered free photography ruined photography's function as a costly status symbol. The use of photography exploded in low-end websites but almost went extinct at the high end, which turned to using illustrations. The creation of AI-generated images makes art accessible to everyone in the same way that Unsplash did for photography. This could result in a similar vibe shift in web design.