For this week’s Inquiry Post I wanted to use AI to create some origami prompts, and see how that turned out.

Using ChatGPT to Make an Origami Pattern

Starting off, I asked ChatGPT “origami pattern” but it gave me a crane, then a frog, and I wanted to make something I hadn’t already so I asked it: “easy origami pattern, not a crane or frog”

It responded:

“Certainly! Let’s try an easy origami pattern for a boat. Here are the step-by-step instructions:

Origami Boat:

Materials needed:

  • Square sheet of origami paper (or any square paper)

Instructions:

  1. Start with the colored side of the paper facing down.
  2. Fold the paper in half horizontally. Crease well and unfold.
  3. Fold the paper in half vertically. Crease well and unfold.
  4. Turn the paper over to the other side.
  5. Fold the paper in half diagonally from top-left to bottom-right. Crease well and unfold.
  6. Fold the paper in half diagonally in the opposite direction, from top-right to bottom-left. Crease well and unfold.
  7. You should have two diagonal creases forming an “X” on the paper.
  8. Bring the top edge of the paper to the center crease. Crease well and leave it folded.
  9. Repeat the same with the bottom edge, folding it to the center crease. Crease well.
  10. Fold both the right and left edges to the center crease. Crease well.
  11. You should now have a shape that looks like a kite.
  12. Fold the bottom point of the kite up to meet the center of the kite.
  13. Fold the right and left corners of the triangle down and out to the sides, creating the boat shape.
  14. Open up the bottom of the boat by gently pulling the two sides apart. Flatten it to create the boat shape.
  15. Your origami boat is complete!”

My Boat:

My boat did not turn out at all looking like a boat, so I looked up a video on YouTube on how to make an origami boat, and this one turned out much better.

Next I asked “Origami pattern not a boat, crane or frog. Something interesting and easy.”

It responded:

“Certainly! Let’s try making an origami butterfly. It’s relatively simple and has an elegant result.

Origami Butterfly:

Materials needed:

  • Square sheet of origami paper (or any square paper)

Instructions:

  1. Start with the colored side of the paper facing down.
  2. Fold the paper in half horizontally, crease well, and unfold.
  3. Fold the paper in half vertically, crease well, and unfold.
  4. Turn the paper over to the other side.
  5. Fold the paper in half diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner, crease well, and unfold.
  6. Repeat the same diagonal fold in the opposite direction, crease well, and unfold.
  7. With the colored side facing up, fold the paper in half along both the horizontal and vertical creases at the same time. This will collapse the paper into a smaller square.
  8. You should now have a smaller square with the open flaps facing up.
  9. Bring the top corners of the square down to the bottom corner, forming a triangle shape.
  10. Fold the outer edges of the triangle towards the center, creating a diamond shape.
  11. Fold the top point of the diamond down, leaving a small triangle at the top.
  12. Fold the bottom edge of the diamond up to create the butterfly’s wings.
  13. Fold the wings down along the center crease to give them a slight angle.
  14. Your origami butterfly is complete!

My Butterfly:

This pattern turned out a bit better than the last, as it actually resembled what it was supposed to be, however it still did not turn out great. Because of this, I also wanted to use a YouTube video for an origami butterfly to see the difference in the two projects.

Reflection

This was a fun experiment to see what random activities would show up, however my projects did not turn out the best, so I definitely think YouTube or other sources are better for origami patterns. I think maybe AI could be used to generate ideas of what to create, but for the actual project a different resource would have to be used.