POTENTIALS AND CHALLENGES OF VISUALIZING A FANTASTIC UNIVERSE THROUGH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: LEMA, THE HIGHEST HILL

This study examines the visualisation of the linguistic signs of the universes created by fantastic narratives, which contain spatial definitions, through artificial intelligence. The universe of Haldun İlkdoğan's novel Lema, En Yüksek Tepe (The Highest Hill), published in 2025, is taken as a case study to investigate the potentials and limitations of AI-assisted visualisation processes. The scope of the study focuses on the intersection of fantasy literature, fictional universes and artificial intelligence technologies. Combining the disciplines of literature, visual communication, urban design and artificial intelligence, this study uses depictive prompts generated with ChatGPT to visualise spatial depictions in the novel. These prompts serve as visual expression creation process to transform the fantastic universe of the novel into artistic expressions such as illustration and cinematic imagery. While discussing the innovative opportunities offered by artificial intelligence in the production of fantasy universes, the study highlights three main problems: Inconsistency (variability in achieving coherent visual representations); lack of context (detachment from the novel’s aesthetic and cultural framework); unpredictability (uncontrollable variations in the creative output). In this context, this study evaluates the role of artificial intelligence in art production relations in the visualisation of literary texts and discusses both the possibilities and challenges of new narrative production processes.