SO automatic image generation is a controversial thing I think about a lot. Perhaps I should comment on it sometime. Regardless, I thought I’d show off the challenges that come from using this technology using a simple example. If you recall, I did a recent post with a warped bookstore picture, and attempted to regenerate it using generative AI with Midjourney. Unfortunately, the prompt
a magical three-dimensional impossible bookstore in the style of M.C. Escher
me
failed to pick up the image for some reason. After a few iterations with the Midjourney Discord interface, I got the very nice, but nonsensical and generic, AI generated image you see up top. After playing around with the API, I realized that I likely had formulated my prompt wrong, and tried again to include this image:
On the second pass, I got another, more on-point, yet still nonsensical image as you see below:
These systems do LOOK impressive. But they work like … amateurs who’ve learned to render well. They can produce things that are cool, but it’s very hard to make them produce something on point.
And this is above and beyond the massive copyright issues that arise from a system that regurgitates other people’s copyrighted art, much less the impact on jobs, much less the impact on the human soul.
-the Centaur
