In continuing to play around with various AI interfaces, I encountered Blue Willow, which feels a lot like Midjourney in terms of usage and style. The first serious test any AI image generator must pass, of course, is the “chuck-rybak-self-portrait” test. None have successfully done so, which I consider a failure of significant magnitude. Why? Well, here is Blue Willow’s rendering:
Is there something in the mere words “chuck rybak” that invokes old, white, low-key serial killers? I hope not. Come on, Blue Willow, do better! Otherwise, how will you keep up with our Jetsonesque AI flexividual future?
As I explained to the kind folks at Midjourney, this is the proper response:
When will the future finally arrive?
I did try another prompt, as the keynote speaker at yesterday’s World Futures event was talking about robot dogs. (Note: there are no such thing as “robot dogs.” Dogs are dogs. Robots are robots that might look like other things, like dogs.) So, the prompt for Blue Willow was “kids running with robot dogs.” (Did I mention there are no such thing?). Result:
Here is Midjourney responding to the same prompt. And the winner is…
That is all of the enlightenment I have for today.
I’ll have to check out Blue Willow. I had fun making images for this blog post with Midjourney. https://timlepczyk.com/2023/03/01/the-hunt-they-didnt-need-fancy-amenities-or-a-state-of-the-art-medbay-but-a-waste-recycler-would-be-nice-which-spaceship-did-they-choose.html
Ha! These are great.
We love goldens here, so let’s hope that day never comes! (My mother-in-law had a series of goldens.)
Chuck, thanks for this, including the image from Midjourney. The Great Danebot made my day. There may come a time when a doggish-looking robot is smarter than you or me and will make a wonderful companion in ways different from my two golden retrievers, Bolt and Izzy. But I hope that day does not come too soon….