As we fall asleep the body often checks that we are in fact edging towards somnolence and not simply dying. It does this by twitching our limbs, activating itches, and in the case of last night: reminding me that I had forgotten to write my blog for the first time in 160 days.
That got me up in short order.
It didn’t get me out of bed and to my computer, but it did make me uncomfortable and unhappy enough to take some time to get back to sleep.
That got me up in short order.
It didn’t get me out of bed and to my computer, but it did make me uncomfortable and unhappy enough to take some time to get back to sleep.
For the past fifteen nights I’ve been staying up ‘til midnight, when our internet automatically shuts off on my orders, to play a text based RPG, but last night had an additional digital distraction. It was something a lot newer than the almost forty year old MOO that has been my obsession since the beginning of the Trump administration.
Side note: I have always found the orientation of time via presidential administrations to be kind of hilarious. It feels like something the conservative jerk wad / affable villain from Planes Trains and Automobiles, or Home Alone, might say when flaunting his alma mater.
What so thoroughly distracted me last night was AI art. I have been eager to learn more about it for some time, withholding judgment or any real opinion until I’ve used it more and read more about it.
It’s certainly fascinating, literally.
I was enthralled enough to forget about my actual writing practice, at least until I was woken up by the mistake. This, I think, is the real danger our AI.
That being said, it is a compelling thing and the results equally so. Nothing really unique is being produced by AI art, I don’t think. It relies too heavily on reference, aka -stealing- to be unique. It is not capable of novel thought.
That being said, the process is more engaging than I might’ve guessed. Many people, I think, believe that making AI art works thusly: you go to the AI, you ask it for a thing, it makes it.
And while that’s partially true, it’s a bit more like slam poetry than oratory. You ask the AI to make something, then you ask it to make it again, change a word, ask again, add a word, again, change the order, again, select a favorite of four, harp on that, change a word, upgrade, harp, remove a word, add a word, harp, redo, redo, redo, select, upgrade.
Usually it’s about 25-50 iterations of frequently astounding difference before something fitting is produced, and that fitting thing is not usually what I had in mind when I started.
Usually it’s about 25-50 iterations of frequently astounding difference before something fitting is produced, and that fitting thing is not usually what I had in mind when I started.
I am using AI to write simple vertical comic books. I do not approach them with a story beforehand, I let the AI and the landscapes dictate the beats of the story.
My best friend who is an illustrator hates AI and not because it is taking his job. But at the same time he understands it is an “irresistible market force.” This is really the only reason I am engaging with it. Because it can make me money.
See my previous post.