Zoom Zoom Zoom!

 I've been experimenting with the new zoom (outpainting) feature in Midjourney v5.2 and have made some zoom videos. I've been posting them on Instagram but here is one I made for YouTube.

https://youtu.be/bkLDPtGGlfE

Artificial Intelligence

As you probably know by now if you've read any bit of this blog, I am a synthographer. That is what we call an AI Artist. Someone who creates art using artificial intelligence. It all started about a year ago, I think, when I discovered an app called "Dream" by Wombo. It was rudimentary and each prompt I'd type would give me an almost oil-painting brush stroke looking image. I thought it was neat, though, that AI could do that. Then I started using others until I found Wonder and Midjourney. 

I am able to create the wildest dreams in my imagination by typing a description of what I want to see, and then the AI works it's magic and there we go, a rendering of what you wanted (mostly). It still is amazing to me and I've been using it for a while now. 

As with any new technology that seems to explode onto the scene (this particular scene being "the planet"), there are lovers, and there are haters. When photography was in it's infancy, it was scoffed at and not taken seriously, or people feared it would take away from traditional artists who paint on canvas or create sculptures. 

"Those who were excited about photography saw it as a way to capture reality in a way that had never been possible before. They believed that photography could be used to document history, to record important events, and to create art.

Those who were skeptical of photography were concerned about the potential for it to be used for negative purposes. They worried that photography could be used to invade people's privacy, to spread propaganda, or to create false images.

Those who were hostile to photography saw it as a threat to the traditional arts of painting and drawing. They believed that photography was a mechanical art that lacked the creativity and artistry of traditional painting.

Over time, the social opinion of photography has become more positive. Today, photography is widely accepted as a legitimate art form and a valuable tool for documentation and communication."

This is the same for AI art, and AI in general really.

The argument for using AI to create artwork is that it can be used to generate new types of artistic expression that would not be possible through traditional mediums. It can also be used to create unique pieces that are not limited by the skills or physical limitations of the artist. Also, AI can be used to create art that is highly personalized and responsive to the creator, and can be used to explore new forms of interactivity and engagement with the audience. AI-generated art can be used to push the boundaries of what is considered art and challenge our preconceived notions about creativity and authorship. 

AI art can be created using various techniques, such as machine learning algorithms that are trained on large datasets of existing artworks. In this case, the AI may generate new artwork that is similar to or influenced by the art it was trained on. This raises questions about authorship and originality, as the AI may be seen as "copying" the work of other artists.

However, it's important to note that AI is not creating copies of existing artworks, but rather, it's creating new artworks that are influenced by the data it was trained on. The AI is not simply replicating existing works, but rather it's creating new works that are unique and original.

AI-generated art can be seen as a form of remixing or reinterpretation, similar to the way that traditional artists have always been influenced by the work of their predecessors. It can also be seen as a new way of exploring the possibilities of art and pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

Also, I see people getting confused or arguing about who really creates the art. Is it the AI? Is it the person using the AI? Haters tend to think it's solely the work of the AI that creates, and thus should take ownership of the art. However, without prompting the AI with words, it cannot create a picture, and therefore is more of a symbiotic relationship. 

Right now we are in a grey area of legality for AI; each country has it's own rules for artificial intelligence, or none at all, and it can be tricky navigating the wordiness of any regulations that may be bandied about.

I am aware that AI is here to stay, and you can either choose to embrace it and use it as a powerful tool, or you can put your foot down and stubbornly push against it. The latter was me with cellphones, actually. I didn't have one until 2004, and it was free. I was against cellphones, thinking it was just a fad or were a trendy thing that "everyone had to have" which made me rebel. I got a job at AT&T Wireless (the actual AT&T Wireless, the one that Cingular bought in 2006) in 2004, and they set me up on an employee plan with a phone, and then I realized how convenient and necessary they were.

So my advice to those who have arguements against AI art: Go try it for yourself. Check out Leonardo.AI (http://leonardo.ai) where you can sign up and they give you 150 credits a day as a free user to experiment with. Try it out. Taste it. See what it can do for you. Check out all the potential it has. Don't rub against the grain; you'll only be kicking yourself in the end.

                                            Created by me, using Midjourney

*Artificial Intelligence helped me write this blog entry. 

Ooooo Look What You Made Me Do

In my last post, I explained all about how I am getting into AI art, and how I felt about it. I detailed how I come up with some of the images, and showed some images too. I even gave a short list of engines that I used to generate these images. But I didn't mention... Midjourney.

That's because I hate Discord. It's, as I said below, for the children. But the Midjourney Bot is only on Discord, and I finally broke down and re-downloaded Discord so I could check out Midjourney. And... now I am addicted.

Some say it is easier to come up with that you want from a prompt, I say it is slightly better than the others, when it comes to channeling your creativity properly, but it still has it's hangups. I tried to create pictures of my cats, as an example, and only one out of 4 came out the way I had wanted it to. I had to complete the other 3 using Starryai.

 Midjourney's art even looks different, unless you tell it not to. It will look like a painting. Here is an example:

 

I am enjoying playing around with it, but I'm not going to lose interest in the others that I like to use, either. Also, I am now creating a story using AI art, we'll see how that goes.