How far into our headspace will we allow AI to go?
It kind of sounds like a broken record to say that AI doesn’t sound like a great idea when it comes to the many applications that humanity already uses it for. But how deep into our psyche do we want AI to go? That could sound a little paranoid since a lot of people depend on AI these days in several different fields and in a lot of different ways. And to be fair, the images that are derived from a text by the AI are kind of interesting and definitely carry a lot of detail. Plus, there are bound to be plenty of images among the more outlandish ones that can be said to carry some hidden meaning, depending on who you ask. The idea that AI can be overdone and that people rely too heavily on it smacks of a paranoid mind, doesn’t it? Well, to be fair, when too many people are ‘oohing’ and ‘aaaahing’ over something, there are those of us that like to remain diligent for that woolen blanket that someone might be trying to pull over our eyes. That sounds a little crazy, right? It sounds like the words might be something that would come from a true technophobe, but it can’t be helped. Blame pop culture or blame past mistakes with technology, but with advancement, there’s a need to look down and even glance back.
Granted, it could be that Imagen might not be any worse than DALL-E 2 when it comes to the application, but the lie has already been spent on this since Google currently has no plans in letting this AI out for a public demo. It was indicated that this technology might suffer a great deal of misuse if placed in the wrong hands, which doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, but definitely makes people wonder why anyone would create something and then make people aware of it only to say ‘Sorry, we can’t let you play with this, it’s not safe.’ Okay, so they didn’t say that exactly, but the general feeling of a lot of people is that this is exactly what they said. It’s like someone bringing out a rubber ball and apologizing for not letting anyone play with it because shit could happen. It’s also a little condescending when you think about it since there are those that might misuse the technology, but one has to think that we’re not all a bunch of assholes just waiting to abuse something.
The truth is that a lot of this technology is difficult for the average person to understand, especially when so many technical terms are thrown about when describing how it works and why an AI program is capable of creating something that up until recent times, machines would have never been capable of on their own. But being able to get a machine to paint a vivid picture by description alone feels like something that could be a wonder of science and technology or the prelude to something that’s using the artwork produced as a way to execute a strange but effective way to use misdirection on the populace. Yes, it still sounds like paranoia, but man, sometimes it’s not paranoia if you’re proven right.
Do we want AI in our dreams?
Has anyone seen the movie Fortress with Christopher Lambert? Yes, it was a prison movie and the inmates were being punished accordingly by an AI that was able to invade their dreams, and it doesn’t have much to do with this, but it’s still fairly relevant. How far are things going to go until we’re letting AI all the way into our every thought? It might sound like the type of fear that people don’t want to think about, or the type of thought that people might think was devised by kooks, but like it or not, AI appears to be growing in leaps and bounds, and people have already predicted, MANY TIMES, how that reliance has ended up making us a soft target for the same AI that has been cultivated for so long. You don’t have to listen, but man, you should at least leave it open to consideration.
From the movies to literature to just plain old common sense, technology has been something to wonder about and something to fear just a little bit since it’s not always fully understood by everyone. That feeling isn’t bound to go away that quickly, especially not since it’s been built up this much. Maybe it shouldn’t go away.
The patterns are a bit confusing, but they make some sense.
You might be looking at these pictures funny, but you’re not the only one to be certain. Some strange things come out for certain, and why they do this might have a serious explanation. But if you listen to the technical jargon without understanding it then your confusion is only going to grow until you’re completely mystified and possibly ready to think that it’s some strange technical magic that requires a fusion of magic and technology to produce this kind of image. It’s a little dizzying to be certain since the patterns that are present throughout the image manage to pull at the eyes and draw them in several different directions at once, don’t they? The fact that it’s an AI program making this happen isn’t hard to believe at all, but thinking that there’s something subliminal isn’t tough either.
Getting images like this makes a person wonder at the wisdom of relying on AI so much.
Being one of the many artists out there it’s fair to say that I’m one of those that look for a story in everything and a story in every instant of every day is wise. But there are times when the story can take over and things can become far more complicated than they need to be. You might wonder what the hell I’m talking about, but AI is a type of art that is now creating art, and one has to wonder how many layers deep we’re going to go before it becomes apparent that we’ve lost ourselves in the folds of our own creation. It might sound deep to some folks and irrational or ridiculous to others, but the fact is that relying on AI could be seen as beneficial to a lot of people, but there are times when it becomes unnerving simply because people do things that they think are great steps forward but at the expense of seeing the pitfalls that are just beyond the next rise.
It looks like a bad acid trip, seriously.
Just looking at the artwork that’s kicked out by this AI program one has to make certain that they don’t get motion sickness from looking at some of them. As the subtitle says, it looks like a bad acid trip that might make a lot of people ready to heave simply because it looks like it’s about to start rippling and waving. But when it all comes down to whether or not we want to keep relying on AI this much instead of on humanity, it feels as though priorities need to be assessed. Wanting to create a type of back and forth sharing that sees AI starting to take more of a solid and possibly permanent role in what’s created and why when it comes to artwork feels trivial in some ways. But when one looks at the different ways that art reflects culture, it becomes a little more serious since like it or not, art is culture, art is a part of society, and art is something that defines people in a big way. How does this artwork define people? How does this keep the various cultures moving forward? Is AI about to become a culture, or simply remain a part of it? It sounds silly, I get it, but I’m one of those that doesn’t marvel at every technological wonder that comes alone. It might be impressive, and it might be a breakthrough that people are proud of, but it still feels like something that might be a red flag in the making.
Why do they have to do Bob Ross like this?
It’s interesting to think of what might happen if Bob Ross had been able to stick around long enough to see this development. Would he have gone along with it? Or would he have just smiled and painted a few more happy trees? It feels as though he might have found it interesting to think that machines had come this far and were being used to do something that he’d become so good at through a lot of hard work and patience. But it also feels as though he might have had his own reservations, if only because like it or not, humans do feel like we’re willing and ready to take our hands out of the world at times, and let the machines do the work. Some would say that Imagen isn’t anything to worry about, that it’s only producing a bunch of paintings at this time and some interesting images and pictures. Most don’t want to give into paranoia, and that’s fair. But mind these words now, humans are already skilled at eliminating ourselves, we don’t need any help.
WTR? (Why’s That Radass?)
It does feel silly to even a little bit worried about AI, since at this time it’s well within the hands of the people doing the programming. But giving it a little more freedom here and there feels like a bad idea, no matter how much anyone wants to call it paranoia. The images are impressive, the technology is like ‘wow’, but looking up instead of watching where you’re going can be a bit dangerous.
