What's an image worth?
When anyone can generate one
I’ve read about or played with about half a dozen new AI image generators in the first two weeks of 2024 and I’m wondering when we’re going to hit some sort of saturation point. Do we really need another tool to make even more AI images? A year ago, this was the domain of cutting edge creatives and now I’m reading that Amazon’s new Fire TV can generate AI images as a custom background. Although now deleted, 9-to-5 Google reports that Bard will soon offer image generation inside it’s capable chatbot, which should put it at the same level of ChatGPT and Dalle-3. And Bing Image Creator is now just Image Creator and part of Microsoft Designer. If AI images are now everywhere, do they have any impact and do images still matter? The best article I read this week was AI Art is the the New Stock Image where the author points out ten uses cases to avoid for obviously AI images and I realized that I’m guilty of some of these crimes. In my excitement to get my newsletter out I frequently spew something out with Midjourney, so going forward I’m going to be more intentional about it.
Recraft: A promising tool for professionals
Recraft is really promising because it’s targeted towards creative professionals and it’s still free to use. It’s web based, has a simple and intuitive interface, and can toggle back and forth between Vector and Raster images. Furthermore, it’s trained on it’s own foundational model: a pre-trained, deep learning algorithm — to generate consistent design elements, such as icons and images, that can be tweaked and used within a brand’s particular style controls. I was unable to determine if it was trained on the work of current artists. While it’s not quite Midjourney quality, I was really impressed by it’s ease of use, custom color palettes, pre-existing styles, in-painting, and a text tool. Not text generation, just for headlines, the old fashioned way. Read about it on Techcrunch, read their blog, or just start using it.
What is unique about what we are doing is that we are not only providing image generation. We are also providing style control: the ability to create your own style and then generate images in your own style… This is important if you want to create a brand and grow it, create marketing materials, creating consistent adverts.
What’s going on in Davos?
As the World Economic Forum meets in Davos, many people are raising the questions about how Generative AI should be regulated. While Satya Nadella of Microsoft thinks the world is reaching some sort of consensus, I’m not as optimistic. Perhaps, they’re discussing two sides of the same coin, but Mustafa Suleyman had a much more dire warning.
I think [a global regulatory approach to AI is] very desirable, because I think we’re now at this point where these are global challenges that require global norms and global standards. But that said, I must say, that there seems to be broad consensus that is emerging. ~Satya Nadella
I think in the long-term — over many decades — we have to think very hard about how we integrate these tools, because left completely to the market and to their own devices, these are fundamentally labor-replacing tools. ~Mustafa Suleyman
Or, if you just want to know what AI skills business leaders are looking for, click here
RunwayML’s next film festival
Are you a budding AI Filmmaker? Runway wants to see your work. Here’s my advice, pay for their unlimited plan ($95 for 1 month) so you can prompt over and over again until you get what you want. Oh, and don’t forget to cough up $200 for Topaz labs so you can upscale it. Brooklyn Shugar, this is for you! Details below.
Runway's second annual international AI Film Festival is a celebration of the art and artists embracing new and emerging AI techniques in filmmaking. Last year saw an incredible range of talent showcased, from first time filmmakers to seasoned industry professionals. This year, 10 finalists will be selected and showcased at gala screenings in NYC and LA, with the top winners receiving cash prizes up to $15,000. Filmmakers of all levels are encouraged to submit their work for consideration from our panel of esteemed jurors.
Films must be between 1-10 minutes in length and leverage some component of generative AI. Submissions are open now through February 29th.
The current state of AI filmmaking
I can’t embed the video, so you’ll have to click on this Reddit thread to view it, but it’s an all AI generated preview for a soon-to-be-released feature film. Sure, it’s not perfect, and it has some of those AI hallmarks mentioned earlier, but it’s the first of it’s kind as far as I know. A team of three worked for an entire week and built it all in Stable Diffusion video. Check it out
Pika’s not free anymore, try Assistive
The Pika party was really fun, but now it’s over. I had a ton of fun in December and January doing whatever I wanted, but now I’ll have to fork over some cash. Or, if I was willing to go back to Discord, I could play with Assistive Video, the new kid on the block. The controls are minimal and the wait time is slow, but the quality is pretty good…and it’s still free. Also, they have a paid version if you’d like to prompt in the browser, but it’s not cheap. You can read a full review here.
That’s it for me. I hope you’re having a great time out there. As always, if you have any questions, suggestions, or requests, drop me a line.