You've all seen this photo of Olga before. I blogged it several weeks ago when we went to Fortune Green to see the daffodils, then just coming out. I'm blogging it again today because it was the subject of an experiment.
Have you seen this trend involving tweaking photos to look like Japanese anime? It even made the front page of The New York Times web site. Supposedly people are using Chat GPT to turn their photos into scenes that look like they could have been taken straight from "My Neighbor Totoro" or "Spirited Away" -- specifically Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli films, according to the Times.
Being a Miyazaki fan, I decided to try it with Olga. But when I went to Chat GPT, it wouldn't let me modify my own photo. (Maybe I need a different version or a pay subscription?) The best I could do was upload the photo so Chat GPT could describe it, and then render its own version using that description. Here's how Chat GPT saw the photo:
"A white staffordshire terrier with brown spots standing among bright daffodils in a sunlit park, surrounded by whimsical European-style buildings."
It didn't like it when I asked for that scene to be rendered like Miyazaki -- it gave me a warning about violating the site's policies. Maybe I was too specific since Miyazaki is still alive and his films are copyrighted. So I asked for the scene in Japanese anime style, and here's what I got:
Not quite what I was going for. A little too cutesy, particularly that second one. So I tried another AI program called Artguru, where I could modify the photo itself, and I got these:
Who is that dog? It's not Olga. Nor is this, the product of another AI website called Fotor:
That dog needs a diet!
(By the way, I am aware that uploading my pictures to an AI website adds to the vast pool of information that AI will use to generate future images. I'm fine with that. AI is probably scraping them from my blog anyway!)
I decided to try again with a picture of Me, Dave and Olga. We took this during our trip to the dog pub on Green Park several years ago, back before the pandemic.
I skipped Chat GPT this time and went straight to Artguru with an instruction to render the photo in a Japanese anime style. Here's the result:
Remember the song "I'm Turning Japanese" by The Vapors?
As Dave said when I showed him the results, "Who the hell are those people?!" And also, why do I look like Dave's grandfather? How did I get hair? Where did that living room behind us come from?
Let's try Fotor:
Well, this looks more like us, but I'm not sure why we look like someone died when we're both smiling in the original photo. What's with the gloomy color palette? Once again, Olga needs a diet. And we both need surgery to remove those extra fingers.
Lol about the extra fingers. It sounds like you had a bit of fun. I quite like the Artguru efforts. I also like the cutesy efforts by Chat GPT.
ReplyDeleteHilarious of you two.
ReplyDeleteI think real life is much better in every way
This is why I will never do such things to any of my pictures. I know I am old, but they'd have me with snow white hair and wrinkles besides the extra fingers. The real thing is always the best in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteHa-ha! Useful experimentation. These are the early days of A.I.. Things will surely advance and improve. By the way, I almost forgot to say - Happy Liberation Day!
ReplyDeleteThe AI is not very Intelligent if you ask me. I had no idea you were both polydactyl. How unusual.
ReplyDeleteWhen I tried LightX it took around 30 years off me, smoothed out all my wrinkles and straightened my wonky teeth. I like it!!
ReplyDeleteThat Vapors reference is spot on—seems like the AI is turning everyone sort of Japanese but in the weirdest ways. And those extra fingers? Maybe it's trying to give you some secret anime superpowers. Either way, this was a fun ride—maybe next time AI will actually recognize Olga instead of reinventing her.
ReplyDeleteI think I must be the only person on the planet who shares Miyazaki's sadness about this trend. All that work and creativity replaced by AI. And I admit I'm biased: my own job as an editor/writer is being replaced by an AI program.
ReplyDeleteNon of these do Olga justice, and those last two of you and Dave just made me laugh and go, "WTF?" You all are so much better looking in real life!! :)
ReplyDeleteIt’s great fun isn’t it ?
ReplyDeleteYou have been having fun, though I still think the originals are the best. Your comments are hilarious. Cartoons usually remove a finger, not add one.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why but this gives me the horrors.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Mary. I had to scroll by fast. I did notice the programs didn't understand about dog breeds.
ReplyDeleteYou're turning into Elderly Japanese ... I do like the second one of Olga where she's been Disney-fied!
ReplyDeleteMy two cents -- stick with your photos! If you want to go crazy, go waterlogue! You two and Olga are all MUCH better looking in real life!
ReplyDeleteYou are out of my knowledge zone today Steve. I have no exposure to Japanese anime in my life. I'm sure both of my kids do though as they sometimes play some popular game online that looks like it has Japanese anime at its root. I have never modified any of my own pictures using A.I. but as you know, if I don't have a picture to go with a post, I use A.I. to create one. I use Microsoft's Image Creator and because I'm a fan of Salvador Dali's work, I always end my description with "in the style of Dali" which as you have seen, tends to add extra appendages to human bodies as well.
ReplyDeleteYuck
ReplyDeleteWell that was a hoot - thanks for making me laugh this morning!
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun experiment. The programs wanted to change Olga's look/breed entirely. How odd! You and Dave were close to unrecognizable. Enhancing a photo would be nice but adding 20 years or changing ethnic background seems a stretch.
ReplyDeleteI like the real, current day Steve, Dave and Olga.
those are all pretty hilarious!!! LOVE them all. Six fingers might come in handy, ha ha. There used to be an ap that turned every one Chinese but looked more Korean. These take the mochi- they are great!
ReplyDeleteVery weird! They seem incapable of rendering Olga anywhere near her real self. Or you for that matter. I guess your bald pate translates to old man while Dave is rendered younger and given very attractive hair.
ReplyDeleteYou had fun but I don't think you got close to anything you were looking for.
ReplyDeleteDidn't work! I like your original photos much, much better!
ReplyDeleteVery messed up and very creepy. To be honest, I had no idea you were part Japanese:)
ReplyDeleteHow fun! Those first two remind me of on of the styles on my photo editing app. It disappeared from the app a while ago and I haven't been able to use it since.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun playing with all these new ways to edit photos.
By the way, that's a great photo of you and Dave and Olga.
You are turning Japanese??!! You really think so??
ReplyDeleteThank you for the first full-on uncontrollable laughing fit I've had since my husband died. The pictures were hilarious but it's your comments (and Dave's) that sent me into overdrive with tears of laughter and a sore stomach from the laughing. (I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you - who the hell are those people, indeed! Also, where did Dave get glasses from??? third photo from the end) Thank you again, I wasn't sure I'd ever laugh like that again, and it was sorely needed.
ReplyDeleteWell..... the first one of Olga seems to be the best, but none of the others (especially you and Dave) work at all.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha thanks for the laugh! The problem with human hands is still not solved, then. Apparently, the generative AI applications you pay for have much improved over the past year, and now rarely get hands and arms wrong. I was recently shown a few results from a guy I know who works in advertising, and their agency have been using one of the rather expensive picture generating AI apps (I forgot the name). They usually go for photorealism, not anime/Manga or any other cartoon style, and it has become really hard to distinguish between genuine and generated pictures.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a nice Japanese gentleman!
I like the original photo of the three of you!
ReplyDeleteWell this was a much needed laugh!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the different versions of the 3 of you, especially the extra fingers. I suppose additional digits could come in handy.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Fun to experiment with it but those photos look nothing like Dave and you. I don't want any program that makes me look 20 years older!
ReplyDelete