Ai generated photos / art

Here's the thing I have been musing over. It may just be my lack of understanding how AI works these days, but... all of these tools are fed - "trained" if you will - preferably large quantities of inputs - images, text, etc. The output is quite dependent on the inputs (GIGO) and clearly derivative, which makes sense. Yet this also means you are not really going to get anything original. So let's say it kills the arts and nobody is creating new images anymore. Will we end up stuck in the artistic norms of the past? I recognize most art is somewhat derivative. But not all of it. Someone occasionally breaks the mold and their style catches on and becomes a movement and a new norm. This extends to many areas, beyond the arts.

There are people who believe machines will one day achieve sentience, the singularity will arrive and the stuff of sci-fi becomes reality. Personally I am not sure sentience will happen. It may appear that way, but that conversation almost inevitably reaches conclusions arising from your philosophy on the nature of life and existence itself. We can still have a singularity without sentience though, in fact I would say we are pretty close to that now. And that has huge implications, whether we manage to maintain control of it or not. We really need to have a close look (worldwide) at what is happening and whether it should proceed unchecked. Not to mention the use of said tools for ill intentions. There have already been AI experiments between instances that were shut down because they were spinning out of control.

Perhaps I am veering too far off topic for a photography site, though. Maybe I generated this post. How would you tell? :jedi: 🤔
 
Here's the thing I have been musing over. It may just be my lack of understanding how AI works these days, but... all of these tools are fed - "trained" if you will - preferably large quantities of inputs - images, text, etc. The output is quite dependent on the inputs (GIGO) and clearly derivative, which makes sense. Yet this also means you are not really going to get anything original. So let's say it kills the arts and nobody is creating new images anymore. Will we end up stuck in the artistic norms of the past? I recognize most art is somewhat derivative. But not all of it. Someone occasionally breaks the mold and their style catches on and becomes a movement and a new norm. This extends to many areas, beyond the arts.

There are people who believe machines will one day achieve sentience, the singularity will arrive and the stuff of sci-fi becomes reality. Personally I am not sure sentience will happen. It may appear that way, but that conversation almost inevitably reaches conclusions arising from your philosophy on the nature of life and existence itself. We can still have a singularity without sentience though, in fact I would say we are pretty close to that now. And that has huge implications, whether we manage to maintain control of it or not. We really need to have a close look (worldwide) at what is happening and whether it should proceed unchecked. Not to mention the use of said tools for ill intentions. There have already been AI experiments between instances that were shut down because they were spinning out of control.

Perhaps I am veering too far off topic for a photography site, though. Maybe I generated this post. How would you tell? :jedi: 🤔
Machine sentience refers to the hypothetical scenario where machines possess self-awareness and consciousness. The singularity is the point in time when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence and triggers a rapid acceleration in technological progress, leading to a future where machines are significantly more intelligent than humans.

While there is still much debate among experts regarding the likelihood of machine sentience and the singularity, some proponents argue that such developments could lead to a wide range of benefits, such as increased efficiency, reduced poverty and disease, and enhanced human capabilities. Others, however, warn of potential dangers, such as the loss of jobs and control over machines, and the potential for misuse by malicious actors.

Given the uncertainty surrounding these developments, it is important to approach the topic of machine sentience and the singularity with caution and continue to engage in critical discussions about their potential consequences and ways to mitigate potential risks.

(I didn’t write a lick of the above - a machine did)
 
I know I’m totally veering off topic from AI art to AI in general, but this chatgpt is impressive. My latest exchange…

AC14E263-03ED-4BB8-9D37-C774C7CA84D9.jpeg

DA27EF54-4200-405F-98D0-BB8A1F7A5DEF.jpeg

😳
 
I have been using OpenAI for several months to generate all kinds of inconsequential blah-blah. It's a nice tool for that purpose. However, I always do at least a bit of manual rewrite and editing to put a personal touch on it.

Also OpenAI now has a text classifier that has a potential to detect AI-generated text: OpenAI API
 
Here's the thing I have been musing over. It may just be my lack of understanding how AI works these days, but... all of these tools are fed - "trained" if you will - preferably large quantities of inputs - images, text, etc. The output is quite dependent on the inputs (GIGO) and clearly derivative, which makes sense. Yet this also means you are not really going to get anything original. So let's say it kills the arts and nobody is creating new images anymore. Will we end up stuck in the artistic norms of the past? I recognize most art is somewhat derivative. But not all of it. Someone occasionally breaks the mold and their style catches on and becomes a movement and a new norm. This extends to many areas, beyond the arts.

There are people who believe machines will one day achieve sentience, the singularity will arrive and the stuff of sci-fi becomes reality. Personally I am not sure sentience will happen. It may appear that way, but that conversation almost inevitably reaches conclusions arising from your philosophy on the nature of life and existence itself. We can still have a singularity without sentience though, in fact I would say we are pretty close to that now. And that has huge implications, whether we manage to maintain control of it or not. We really need to have a close look (worldwide) at what is happening and whether it should proceed unchecked. Not to mention the use of said tools for ill intentions. There have already been AI experiments between instances that were shut down because they were spinning out of control.

Perhaps I am veering too far off topic for a photography site, though. Maybe I generated this post. How would you tell? :jedi: 🤔

You are exactly correct, these AI models can only regurgitate variations of what they were trained on. So, for example, if you train an AI on Gothic art, it would only spit out variations on Gothic art -- it would never progress to the Renaissance. It takes a real mind to invent something new.

Also they are no more sentient than a rock. Yes, it is a very clever algorithm, but there's nothing magical in it.
 
Also they are no more sentient than a rock. Yes, it is a very clever algorithm, but there's nothing magical in it.
I agree, and I do not personally believe they will ever become sentient. As a recovering developer going back to the 1970s, despite appearances I also think it is still a series of algorithms, however 'clever' it appears to be. I like the ideas about AI becoming an assistant of sorts, but there must be safeguards put in place - ala Asimov's laws - and I am not sure that is happening. And there will be huge implications with the existence of such assistants.

Sorry, did not mean to open a can of worms. All too often I tend to think out loud on social media.
 
Interesting discussion guys. As far as Art/Photography is concerned, just like Camera Lucida, I suspect AI will be just another tool, in the toolbox, for many.

Will entirely AI artworks have to fight for recognition, as “real” art, like Photography did, in the past? Perhaps not. However, sometime in the near future, in many cases, we probably won’t be able to discern the difference, anyway. I can envision AI controlled robotic painting machines and AI 3D printing machines producing sculptures, as just two such examples.

One thing’s for certain, the AI Pandora’s box has been opened and there’s no going back.
 
On what service/website? Again, I only get terrible images of people on the couple sites I’ve tried.
Starryai, Dream and Midjourney are all quite straight forward and capable of producing “mostly” realistic images of people. With all the videos available for the above, and some recent updates, it’s now easier than ever to produce very human like images.

I think if you spend even a modicum amount of time(on any of the above) and, if necessary, view a few videos, you’ll be able to create plenty of images you’ll be pleased with. If you do, please post some of them here. I’d love to see them!
 
It's a bit concerning to me knowing one can effectively type in whatever one wants to see a picture of laid out how you want. Lets be frank, it doesn't take much imagination to guess what the number one thing being downloaded would be.
 
It's a bit concerning to me knowing one can effectively type in whatever one wants to see a picture of laid out how you want. Lets be frank, it doesn't take much imagination to guess what the number one thing being downloaded would be.
I’m guessing you’d be in violation of some T’s and C’s by using their service for creating any elicit or explicit derivatives, but I’m sure someone’s tried it.

The service may even flag or block certain key words?
 
Back
Top