Catch me if you can AI Art

An AI Art review by an artist

Nuff* said about AI replacing artists. And the fiasco about an ai app's popularity in just 5 days after its launch with an insanely large investment by a tech. giant.

So I tried a paid AI art generator that is supposed to be the most popular one as of now and this is what I got. 

What was even more interesting is big brand names invested in it. Do they want this trend to continue or do they want to do away with dealing with human employees and go all automation and robotic? Is a real question I would like to be answered in clarity. 

So to do my initial take before I feel, this ultimate wish that we humans do not have to think or be intelligent anymore, this is what I found at least after my preliminary research. 

I put a search on this app that has a base membership of $20 per month, 

“Grandparents enjoying intriguing conversations with their grand kids" and one image that came up is this....

The composition is okay BUT.......

I am elated to know that..... 💪 as an artist I can still stay in business with intelligent people who do not fall for short-cuts and hope to make good with free offers. Those who still believe that "There are no free lunches".

Following is my quick-sketch with reference to the above.... just a quick one with no detail and no frills attached typical of what any human artist would create.

 

I see that not even the basic quality is reached by this so-called AI generated App* that charges a minimum of $20 a month on their online space. That too, as we all know with each search, our very dear ideas get instantly owned by the platform. We become part of their research for them to try and replace as much as what we behave based on our discretion. It is like a vacuum-cleaner soaking up we users information 24-7. Is that cool? I leave it to your own judgement.

So the above was the AI rendition whereas below is mine. Where I had to use discretion used by my own living blessed brain. ;o)

A quick sketch made by yours truly from the sketchy AI composition. 

Can non-artists make-do and make their own art with such an app? 2023 © rembrandz.com

Is this what we call making our lives easy and replace the artists, animators, content-producers? 

At this tiny size, I give it to this App*, one can pull it off to include this App* generated art (you see in outline) for your rough communication but... 

Come on now! Let us not think that "one size fits all" and get excited or even panic depending on which side of the convo. we stand on. We can agree that it is definitely not a replacement for a human talent who has invested in their passion to serve with art for decades on end or even centuries.

If an animator uses a $ 3000 software to create perfect animation with the animator’s natural and learnt intelligence and with decades of experience and education, then someone comes with an App* one day, stating "get an animator and the software for just $67 - lifetime membership" or "come to this marketplace and get world-class animation starting from $1. Wow! that would have been so ideal!?! 

I can’t even count the number of people to have tried all that and come back to me so annoyed by the low quality, non-committal behavior with faceless art and attitude they have been put through “in their own words”. I take them in "but" with some caution because if they are folks I would want to have a long-term work rapport with I don’t want to work with folks who at a bat of an eye let go of one service and run to another like choosing a commodity product. Little do they realize that they are part of the issue and no answer to a sustainable future.

Anyway, as we are still at a nascent stage for AI art although it has been a good more than couple of years of this trend... this no doubt saves a lot of time if we use it responsibly. With this, people are making good of the opportunity including me (without being cut-throat and being an opportunist and not being inclusive and use it fairly). 

Although by popular belief, it is said by thought-leaders that this technology should improve in a couple of years. I question is... and I can't get rid of the thought the longer I keep wondering.... "will it?" 

When ChatGPT is trying to replace even developers. The very developers who I dreaded writing codes to replace we artists! I would ask these developers, what will happen to you? If you give up the privilege!? Over the years since the 80s, as luck would have it for me I had opportunities to be a full-time entrepreneur, a full-time developer. But as an artist I could see from both sides to judge and use fair-play from all sides. So those developers and techies who want to live in the world of automation. This is my big question. :o)) Will AI replace these developers?

I believe faceless services can certainly be replaced. You may see my point after you read the following.

In a popular podcast someone asked Neil deGrasse Tyson “is he worried about AI replacing him?” and his prompt answer was “no”. 

Because AI maybe able to replace whatever he does but can never replace “Him”. He pulled out the example of the “Starry Night” a rendition of the 19th century Dutch Painter “Vincent Van Gogh*" Tyson being his ardent fan. He said AI maybe able to replicate Van Gogh’s style but without a Van Gogh where would that style have come from and so AI can never be a Van Gogh.

Another thing I noticed and feel it is important to mention and remind everyone who are going all gaga* over AI tech. is that these Apps* are not human organic creatures. Don’t get me wrong, although I am also excited that such apps are cutting down my work man-hours a lot, I don't want to forget that the usage of these tools are only limited to we human's own limitation and will not be the same between two different human beings. While these are robots (bots*) programmed by human beings like you and me from various ethnicities, race, creed, gender, region, culture, sentiments, mindsets, political leanings, various mental dispositions, woke* culture and are only limited to the humanness of the developers of these Apps*.

Check out the following for instance:

I searched for “ Smart cute girl doing sports”. Check out what result I got on the AI Art Generator while in my mind I was wanting cute girls like this….

But NO….this is what I got. Very basic and just not what I would have liked to see, it seems like the App* looked at addressing only a single set of viewers imaging cute girls to be looking like the below. 😩. Quite frustrating even on the first try.

On the AI Art Generator I did a search “ Smart cute girl doing sports”

I opine that this could only mean that there has been insufficient research that has gone into the making of these apps*…the developers have not given exhaustive parameters enough for the app* to generate, by addressing different permutations. But only it has obviously given us a generic stereotypical result.  Seeing such a huge gap only made me pleasantly surprised. Here lay my opportunity to think that my art career-passion and investment since the past 3 decades are still relevant. 

The missing answers mean, human imagination is still relevant and proportionately depends on how many more billions are pumped into this. 

This makes me think with concern, if this is not going to get humanity out of hardship, when billions of beings are suffering bare existence on this universe while we sit back and experience this privilege.  Are these AI innovation investments actually helping humanity. 

Where AI Art works for me:

Whereas, I found generic searches on these apps* are more to the point but quality and detail has still a long way to go except if we indicate specifically for example - impressionism or abstract feel, that could be used as is because of the nice color harmony AI generates. 

(Note: The scope of my discussion here is only art.)

So guess I have another couple of years to dabble as a normal real artist before AI catches up with me. 💪 

Hopefully by then, I will have moved to another level as an artist.

All said and done I am very excited at this new revelation in the whole equation of the world order in art, that is changing the way we live lives in so many levels.

Happy 2023 again!!! Looking forward to an even more innovative one for we users of technology.

Nuff* slang A phrase used to underscore or conclude one's argument about someone or something. "Nuff" is a colloquial shortening of "enough." Hollywood as an industry is totally out of ideas. Look at the huge amount of remakes and reboots coming out each year—nuff said.

App* COMPUTING

an application, especially as downloaded by a user to a mobile device.

"I've just installed the app on my phone"

* Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history

Gaga* very enthusiastic and excited about someone or something. Example "moviegoers went gaga over Harry Potter"

Bot* an autonomous program on the internet or another network that can interact with systems or users.

Woke*  (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination".