The Dreaming State

Day two of playing with the text-to-image AI called MidJourney, and I have another thought to share. What will this technology bring to the future of creativity and copyright?

One of these is a photograph I took, and the other is an AI generated image based of a vague description that I gave the AI. Something like, “A large black feather stuck in the sand at a beach at sunset, photograph, telephoto, shallow depth of field.”

If you look closely you can probably tell what is my photo and what is computer generated, but they are damn close, and as AI advances, who knows if anyone will be able to tell real from fake. Maybe in a year? In five? It’s going to be insane.

In my free time (especially late at night on weekends) I go into VR and fire up Microsoft Flight Simulator – an airplane flying sim that literally has the entire planet mapped out, some cities down to the houses and trees in full 3D. I pick a new place, like Paris, and fly through the clouds and streets. It is honestly the most crazy and breathtaking feeling… from just sitting in my office.

Anyway, I love those views. Being above the clouds. This image began with a shot from a real airplane, but I had the idea to flip it and see how I could make a scene work with a “two worlds” kind of idea. I tested out a few top images mixed with a few bottom, and this combination felt right. The foggy marsh mixes with the grassy farmlands – now just imagine if that was a thing?

I can tell I am going to get deep into this new AI imagery. The technology is just mind blowing, even when the outcome isn’t quite perfect. Just blows my mind that we have the power to turn text into imagery in seconds. These are pretty awful, but hilarious. Just wait until you see the more advanced AI models… Here are four fun AI creations based on text I sent:

Here is:
(1) A Rocket In Outer Space With A Planet Made Of Pizza
(2) Salvador Dali Hugging Brittney Spears With R2D2 In The Background
(3) A Pig Snorting Lines Of Cocaine
(4) A Mountainous Landscape At Night With Stars In The Sky And An Old Telephone Booth In The Foreground

It’s been quite a while since I got out to a big concert, especially since the whole Covid thing and such, so this was a big deal for me. My favorite band Phish came to my city, so I had to go. I got my Divided Sky and Piper, danced in the back with a bunch of wooks, and handed out free 4×5 prints of Charleston sunsets to random people all night. Also climbed to the way top to snag this sunset photograph.

So… meet Willow Dog, the 8 week old, fluffy, 3.5lb tri corgi. She’s going to grow fast!