Blue Willow

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? … Continue reading Blue Willow

Canonical Dance Party

I've been playing around a bit with setting poetry to music, especially canonical works that incorporate rhyme or rhythm in a way that offer themselves as being more friendly to the definition of "song" in a pop sense. There are poems rendered here that you will recognize pretty easily: "Prufrock," "Stopping by Woods on a … Continue reading Canonical Dance Party

Another AI & Tech Experiment

I took an old poem of mine, "Liketown," and imported some complete stanzas and other reworked phrases into MURF.AI to act as pre-chorus and chorus elements (the verses are original stanzas). The voice I selected was dubbed "Terrell," who is described vocally as a "middle-aged male." My favorite voice on murf.ai In GarageBand I tried … Continue reading Another AI & Tech Experiment

The Wayzgoose Experience

Over the past few days, I attended Wayzgoose 2022, held at one of my favorite destinations on the planet: The Hamilton Woodtype Museum. What is a "Wayzgoose"? It's an annual gathering for print culture enthusiasts. Spoiler alert: it was an incredible experience. I was definitely a fish-out-of-water, because I am really someone who writes and … Continue reading The Wayzgoose Experience

The Moon is Always Miraculous

As I found myself in Pulaski, Wisconsin, walking out of parent-teacher conferences, I harvested a quick picture of the moon. Celistial body via iPhone Since I have been playing with AI art generators, I figured, "why not upload this photo, which is simultaneously mundane and cosmic sorcery?" So I did, using technology which also might … Continue reading The Moon is Always Miraculous

When the Bot is Just Better

As I continue to play with AI-generated images, text, and voice I thought I would put my own work to the test. Spoiler: the bot is better than me. The experiment: I took the first half or so of my poem "Argus" (full original reprinted below) and dropped as much as was allowed into Writesonic, … Continue reading When the Bot is Just Better

The Nadir of AI Art

Well, today was a deeply dispiriting one for "chuck rybak" self portaits using AI art. Behold the below. This is what algorithms think of me and there is nothing I can do about it. Prepare... Stable Diffusion's renderings of "chuck rybak" Dall-E's renderings of "chuck rybak" And for the record... Chuck Rybak's rendering of "chuck … Continue reading The Nadir of AI Art