Week6 Assignment
Tingyu Zhang
Dr. Pullman
February 24, 2025
What are your thoughts about how AI will and won’t change how you write and read and think? Here are a few ideas to help you ponder your answer, in case you want them.
If you have been playing around with AI for a while now, make a list of the things you ask it for and what you tend to do with what it offers.

Defining Visual Rhetoric and Generative AI
In AI and Writing, Sidney I. Dobrin defines visuals and visual rhetoric with great clarity. He explains that visuals include photographs, videos, symbols, icons, charts ,tables and comics— all provide information (Dobrin). Because they convey information, we can say that these visual elements are rhetorical, and that how we choose to use them is a rhetorical decision(Dobrin). Visual rhetoric refers to the ways in which we use visuals to communicate information and meaning to our readers. We all make choices about how to obtain and integrate visuals(Dobrin). When you chose to post one selfie rather than another, you’re making a rhetorical choice(Dobrin). Even our small typographical decisions — such as whether to use bold, italics, a specific font, or a specific placement on the page or screen— affect how our readers receive and interpret the information we convey(Dobrin). Visuals can be used to increase readers’ comprehension, to clarify information, illustrate details or examples, gain readers’ attention, high-light key information, establish authority, and tailor our communications to different audiences(Dobrin).

From my perspective, AI-generated visuals can be incredibly useful for oral presentations, multimodal lectures, and workshops. Colorful visuals stimulate both the audience’s and presenter’s interest in the topic. What makes AI-generated images unique is their ability to combine writers’ different arguments or elements into a single visual—something that may not exist in reality. While these images can sometimes appear unusual, they often provoke deeper reflection and understanding.

AI-Generated Visuals and Their Impact on Writing
Beyond enhancing presentations, AI-generated images and videos can help writers develop diverse perspectives on their work. By visually representing key ideas and their broader implications, AI tools provide new ways to approach writing and revision.
One notable benefit is that AI-generated visuals encourage writers to craft clearer, more detailed prompts. As Dobrin notes, getting GenAI to return visuals that are effective and aesthetically pleasing requires careful and detailed prompts. This leads to a rather different first step in the process of creating a visual work: instead of conceiving of an image visually in one’s mind, it’s necessary to clearly articulate the image in writing.

Using AI for My 3-Minute Thesis Presentation
I experimented with AI-generated visuals for my 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Presentation on The Rhetorical Analysis of Feminist Ideas in Lu Xun’s “The Divorce” and Its Influence on Contemporary Chinese Feminist Thought. Since “The Divorce” is a century-old Chinese short story, no real images of its protagonist, Ai Gu, exist. To visualize her, I used ChatGPT to generate an image.

ChatGPT’s First Attempt: A Vague Prompt
I initially prompted ChatGPT:
“Could you design a visual slide about the stigma of divorce or divorce shame on a Chinese woman?”

The result was disappointing. The image combined a young woman wearing Hanfu from 100 years ago with a background of modern people’s profiles. This inconsistency made the image feel disjointed and historically inaccurate.

ChatGPT’s Second Attempt: A More Precise Prompt
To improve the image, I refined my prompt:
“Could you design a visual slide about the stigma of divorce or divorce shame on Ai Gu, a Chinese woman from 100 years ago in the short story The Divorce by Lu Xun?”

This time, the results were much more satisfying. The image depicted a consistent historical setting, accurately representing the time period in both the female character and the passersby. Unexpectedly, the AI even included a Confucian figure in the background, symbolizing how Ai Gu was oppressed not only by her husband but also by centuries of patriarchal ideology.
Seeing this image prompted me to revise my 3MT script to incorporate Confucian influence. I added the line:
“Rooted in 2,000 years of Confucian tradition, divorce brought shame, isolation, and financial hardship.”
This experience demonstrated how AI-generated visuals can refine my arguments, pushing me to consider additional historical and cultural contexts.

Creating a Video with AI Studio
Beyond images, I also experimented with AI Studio, a text-to-video platform, to generate a three-minute video summarizing my research. I simply copied and pasted my 3MT script, and in less than a minute, AI Studio produced this video for me.
https://app.aistudios.com/editor/67bd3501be118cab69c10ac6?type=automation

Unexpected but Insightful AI Choices
Watching the video felt astonishing. The AI mimicked a live TV news broadcast, with an American female host introducing the rhetorical analysis of a Chinese literary work. The platform also selected an impressive portrait of Lu Xun, emphasizing his frown —a visual cue symbolizing his critique of social injustice in early 20th-century China, as shown below.

Additionally, the AI-generated image included Chinese characters translating to “learning from his revolutionary spirit.” This phrase, often associated with Lu Xun, perfectly suited the Republic of China’s historical context.
However, one AI-generated image puzzled me.The word “hypocrisy” was prominently featured, seemingly extracted from my original sentence:
“His work exposes the hypocrisy of a system that claims to uphold justice but protects male privilege.” While “hypocrisy” is important, other rhetorical techniques—such as irony and satire— are written in the script. I was curious why the AI chose to emphasize this particular term over others, as shown below.

Final Visual and Its Influence on My Writing
One of the closing images in the video depicted people sitting on an open book—a powerful metaphor that resonated deeply with my conclusion:
“In short, literature can challenge societal norms and remain a powerful tool in confronting gender injustice—both then and now, East and West.”
This image shown below reinforced my belief that literature plays a crucial role in social transformation, inspiring me to explore this theme further in my script and my oral presentation.

Conclusion: AI as a Tool for Writing Enhancement
Overall, AI-generated visuals have significantly impacted my writing practice. By requiring clear and precise prompts, AI pushes writers to refine their ideas before the writing process even begins. Additionally, by analyzing AI-generated images and videos, writers can gain new insights, revise their work with fresh perspectives, and explore deeper layers of meaning.
For me, AI is not just a tool for generating visuals—it is also a generous helper in the writing process, helping me craft more compelling arguments and engage with my writing in unexpected ways.