The technology is constantly evolving, along with the creative abilities of artificial intelligence. Now there are even AIs that can create really cool or funny images from written texts, winning Twitter over.
Which AI are we talking about? There are several AIs capable of creating images from written texts. Two of the most well-known are Dall-E from openai.com and Midjourney (via midjourney.com). The third AI in the group is Craiyon, for which a dedicated Twitter account has been created.
Each of these three AIs is capable of creating an image from a written text. Some of these images look really good, while others are just incredibly funny. Like this very special Pikachu:
AI Artist as a Discord Bot
How can you let the AI draw for you? For both Dall-E and Midjourney, you need to request access to the beta test on the companies’ websites. This access is granted in waves, so it may take some time before you find out whether you can test the AI.
If you receive access – which will be communicated to you by email – creating images using AI is very easy. You enter a few words into the text field, wait a couple of minutes while the AI creates your image, and you have your own artwork. Midjourney even offers a Discord bot that you can integrate into your Discord server.
If you don’t get access to Dall-E or Midjourney, Craiyon is still freely available at craiyon.com. Craiyon was previously known as Dall-E mini but changed its name at OpenAI’s request to avoid confusion with Dall-E.
From Demogorgons to Mushroom Cities in Snow Globes
How does social media react? The internet is thrilled by the works of the AIs. On Twitter, there is even a special account called Weird Dall-E Mini Generations (@weirddalle via Twitter) with over a million followers, posting the crazy creations of Dall-E mini or Craiyon.
The various images and collections from Weird Dall-E Mini Generations regularly receive thousands of “likes” and retweets.
The pinned tweet from the account, for example, shows the Demogorgon known from the hit series Stranger Things holding a basketball and received over 160,000 likes and was shared over 13,000 times.
But not only Craiyon creates fascinating images that are shared on social media. Twitter user @fabianstelzer showed, for example, an impressive comparison between Dall-E and Midjourney.
He fed both AIs with the words “A mushroom city in a snow globe sphere, stunning detail, hyperreal rendering” and shared the different images.
AI Creates Images from Memory
How does the AI work? On the website of the company Weights & Biases (via wandb.ai), Boris Dayma and Pedro Cuenca explain how the Craiyon AI works. According to craiyon.com, Boris Dayma trained the AI. Pedro Cuenca worked on the backend. Regarding the operation of Craiyon, they say:
- The AI would be trained by looking at millions of images from the internet with their corresponding captions.
- The AI learns over time how to draw an image based on a text prompt. In doing so, the AI learns some concepts from memory because it may have seen similar images.
- The AI can also learn to create unique images that do not yet exist. As an example, they mention an image from the text “the Eiffel Tower lands on the moon.” For this, the AI combines multiple concepts. To achieve this, it must combine multiple models. According to them, these models include:
- an image encoder that transforms raw images into a sequence of numbers, along with its corresponding decoder
- a model that converts a text input into a coded image
- a model that assesses the quality of the generated images for better filtering
What is all this good for? The question that naturally remains is: what is all this good for? Besides creating funny or interesting images, there must be a practical use.
How the AI will work in the distant future and what humans will use it for is of course still pure speculation, but functions like drawing composite sketches are certainly conceivable.
What do you think about the AI that can draw a picture for you? Do you find it an interesting and potentially useful technology, or do you think it’s just an unnecessary gimmick? Feel free to let us know in the comments!
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