  Image generation using generative AI is rapidly becoming a major new source
of visual media, with billions of AI generated images created using diffusion
models such as Stable Diffusion and Midjourney over the last few years. In this
paper we collect and analyse over 3 million prompts and the images they
generate. Using natural language processing, topic analysis and visualisation
methods we aim to understand collectively how people are using text prompts,
the impact of these systems on artists, and more broadly on the visual cultures
they promote. Our study shows that prompting focuses largely on surface
aesthetics, reinforcing cultural norms, popular conventional representations
and imagery. We also find that many users focus on popular topics (such as
making colouring books, fantasy art, or Christmas cards), suggesting that the
dominant use for the systems analysed is recreational rather than artistic.
