Friday, April 7, 2023

Whipped Cream and Unicorns


And now for something completely different.

Have you ever heard of Microsoft Image Creator? It's a product using Artificial Intelligence that will create artworks based on any description. I hadn't heard of it until yesterday, when my friend and co-worker Mark came by my desk and showed it to me. He was particularly pleased with the results of his request for an image of Robert Plant riding a unicorn (above).

I asked him to prompt it for an image of Marilyn Monroe riding a tiger. Here's what we got:


Not bad, though her face is a bit askew and her hair is longer than Marilyn's ever was.

Each request actually produces four artworks -- we chose our favorites above -- and you can be as creative or wacky as you want. You can also prompt it to produce artworks in certain genres (impressionist, cubist, etc.) or in the style of a well-known artist.

I played around with it more when I got home. Here are four images of "a woman in a purple dress eating green beans, Art Deco style":


One dress is green, but never mind.

It had trouble with "a goldfish attacking a unicorn on water skis":


Clearly it wasn't sure who was the unicorn. I don't know how everything became a fish, although that goldfish at upper right does have weird, equine legs/fins.

I asked Dave for a prompt and he said, "Olga riding an octopus" (which I generalized to "Staffordshire terrier riding an octopus"):


The dog at top right looks a lot like Olga, but none of those octopi really look right. They look more like ticks or mites under a microscope. That one at bottom right is especially mind-blowing:


There's a sort of Acid Trip element to all of this, isn't there?

Here's one of my favorites:


That's "four fish playing poker in the style of Picasso." And what's cool is, Mark used the same prompt and got four different artworks. So it's not like the system cranks out the same ones over and over.

My absolute favorite was another prompt from Dave:


That's "whipped cream attacking a turnip in the style of Salvador Dali."


As Mark said, "Just another invention to make a career in art even LESS profitable!"

26 comments:

sparklingmerlot said...

Now that is a bit of fun. Off to have a look.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Amazing! I will play around and hopefully post a few weird pictures of my own.

Moving with Mitchell said...

I hate to admit it, but Mark is absolutely right. Some of these are brilliant and frameable.

Andrew said...

Your blog headlines do seem to appear that to indicate that you have newspaper headline writing experience.

I listened to a podcast about this art creation last week. It is interesting to see the results.

Yes, the top right pic of Olga on an octopus is good.

Dave certainly worked out some challenging questions.

Michael said...

It never ceases to amaze me how far technology has come even in the last 10 years. I just went back and read your old posts. You sure had a day with the debit card debacle. Hopefully you'll get a new card soon! Enjoy spring break. Mine was this week and I have enjoyed every minute.

Janie Junebug said...

They're very pop art-ish.

Love,
Janie

Ed said...

I haven't played with that one but another one that came out awhile back. However it limited me to only four requests. I haven't checked out this link yet but hopefully it is unlimited.

Ms. Moon said...

I think my favorites are the green bean lady.
Weird. Sort of scary.
I am not sure I'm capable of keeping up with this world any more.

Bob said...

I had never heard of this but then just last night Jeopardy contestant says he does these kinds of mages,. and who you just enter some key words and the image is created.
Bizarro world.

Ellen D. said...

These are a bit weird. As the Mom of a graphic artist, I'm not so impressed with them. :)

ellen abbott said...

pretty freaky., some the stuff of nightmares. clearly it does not know what an octopus looks like. I think my favorites are Dave's whipped cream attacking a turnip in the style of Dali. I wonder what it would come up with in the style of Hieronymus Bosch. As a person who made her living as an artist I'm not sure how I feel about this. it's a novelty for sure and fun to play around with but it's hard enough to make a living as an artist as your friend Mark pointed out.

NewRobin13 said...

That is so interesting and a little bit creepy. I have been seeing headlines about how AI could take over everything, and now this... ART! What is the future going to look like? Only AI knows the answer.

gz said...

I can't say that I feel easy with this sort of art.. but it does have its place.
An octopus ridden by Olga...I wonder what she would make of that!

The Bug said...

Fun! And weird! I think my favorite is the green bean lady in the green dress - very cool!

Allison said...

I like the Dali styled art, it captures the essence of what he used to do. It's an interesting thing, but I don't see the point, yet. Of course, I missed how important QR codes would become, so what do I know?

Kelly said...

I do NOT need to click on the link you provided since I can imagine all the time I would waste playing with it! While I think some of these missed the mark, others are brilliant!

Margaret said...

This website is incredible and quite habit forming! Loved looking at the creations.

Sharon said...

What a fun post! I like the Dali and Picasso creations but actually, they are all pretty interesting. I'll have to give this a try. I agree about making art less profitable. It's getting harder and harder to know what's real and what isn't.

Coppa's girl said...

How strange - I've just come over from Yorkshire Pudding's blog and he's blogging on the same subject!
The one of Marilyn Monroe doesn't look anything like her, does it, but the top right of Olga and her octopus is spot on! I like the Dali creations and am a great fan of Art Deco in all it's forms. Must try this out sometime.

Jeanie said...

These are wild. The fish are my favorite, although "Olga" is a hoot, too.

jenny_o said...

I'm with the folks who find these creepy, and I'd add another word: soul-less. But not every "thing" in the world is going to appeal to everyone. To each his/her own!

On yesterday's post, I forgot to mention how much I liked that fox painting. The perspective is very good and overall it is just so pleasing.

John Going Gently said...

Are you on drugs ?..lol

John Going Gently said...

Seriously fascinating …have I gone to spam

Catalyst said...

As I commented to YP, "Good grief".

Debby said...

I prefer the fox on the scateboard from yesterday.

Steve Reed said...

Caro: I hope you had some interesting successes!

YP: It makes an easy blog post, doesn't it?!

Mitchell: I agree! But some others are just weird.

Andrew: It's interesting to try to come up with something totally bizarre.

Michael: Thank GOD for Spring Break! How did I ever survive back when I only had two weeks of vacation per year?!

Janie: They are!

Ed: It hasn't limited me yet but I haven't done many more than are posted here.

Ms Moon: It would be great for a low-budget musician trying to design an album cover. (If anyone even releases albums anymore.) But yeah, not great for artists.

Bob: Maybe that's where Mark heard about it?!

Ellen D: Yeah, if I were in the arts field I'd be unimpressed too! I'm sure they're fine if you just want a fun approximation of something, but if you have a very precise idea of what you want it's probably not going to deliver the way a human would.

Ellen: I didn't even think of Bosch. I'll have to try that! LOL

Robin: It is weirdly soulless, though. You can tell a person's not behind it. (Except maybe for the last two.)

GZ: Ha! What would the octopus have made of it?!

Bug: It's interesting how it came up with four very different styles, all supposedly within the Art Deco description. (Though I think that's debatable.)

Allison: I'm not sure there is a point, except that it's fun. Or I guess if you needed low-cost artwork you could generate something.

Kelly: I didn't get THAT sucked in, but it is fun, for sure!

Margaret: It's fun to see what it comes up with.

Sharon: And that IS scary. Pretty soon we won't be able to tell content created by a person from content created by a machine.

Coppa's: That's no coincidence. YP got the idea here, as he said in his post. :)

Jeanie: The poker-playing fish or the unicorn fish? I'm pretty amused by the unicorn fish even though they're not what I asked for.

Jenny-O: Yes, it is soulless, I agree. You can tell a person isn't behind it.

John: You did go to spam. I guess Blogger didn't like your suggesting that I was on drugs. LOL

Catalyst: Charlie Brown's expression is very useful, isn't it?

Debby: I do too!