The visual content of neural networks as a return to the third-order simulacrum

This article is part of a larger study of design as a cultural phenomenon. In this part of the study, the author examines the process that is currently taking place in the semiotic structure of design, associated with the active introduction of neural networks into the creation of visual content. Artificial intelligence products stylistically take the design away from the fourth-order simulacrum (from the flat design style) and return the design to using the third-order simulacrum as the main iconic form.The object of the research is the transformation of the semiotic design system. The subject of the study is a return to the third–order simulacrum in modern design. The purpose of the study is to show and try to explain how in modern design there is a return to the use of a third-order simulacrum.  The research method is a semiotic analysis of modern design based on the methodology of R. Barth's semiotic analysis. The study is also based on J. Baudrillard's theory of semiosis in hyperreality and three orders of simulacra. The author sees the philosophical justification of the art of neural networks in the concept of flat ontologies. The study of the semiotic structure of design allows us to see that the logic of design development carries this phenomenon through successive stages of semiosis associated with a decrease in meaning and a diminution of being. In its development, the design consistently uses first index signs, a second-order simulacrum, then a third-order simulacrum as the main sign form. Nowadays, the main iconic form in design has become a fourth-order simulacrum. Next, design had to either end as a profession and phenomenon, or move into a new cultural paradigm that was not related to simulation. However, unexpected transformations have begun to occur in design, due to the active involvement of non–human agents - neural networks – in the creation of visual content. Neural network products are a typical example of a third-order simulacrum. Thanks to the use of neural networks, modern design finally acquires the vector of transhumanism and closes in simulation.