Simon Willison implements photo painting simulation with Claude Opus 5.5
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On October 24, 2026, Simon Willison released an experiment called Quick Study. Using a prompt, he had Claude Opus 5.5 High build an artifact: after opening a photo, it can reproduce a painted version of that photo within seconds using a canvas element and a simulated brush. Technically, Quick Study uses Sobel edge detection and relies on no external libraries other than Google Fonts. The experiment demonstrates Claude Opus 5.5 High's ability to complete complex front-end builds from a prompt, and is the latest case in Simon Willison's ongoing testing of AI models' real-world coding skills. Current coverage is limited to the release notes of the experiment; there are no reports yet of follow-up progress or third-party feedback.
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- Simon WillisonQuick Study
Simon Willison used a prompt to have Claude Opus 5.5 High build an artifact: after opening a photo, it can draw a painted version of that photo within seconds using a canvas element and simulated brush strokes. Quick Study uses Sobel edge detection and, apart from Google Fonts, relies on no external libraries.
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