001: Inventing Animals
From jackalopes to dragons, some artists just can't stop remixing nature.
Shortly after my partner and I relocated a bit closer to wilderness, she messaged me a Vox article titled:
You are way more likely to be killed by deer than by sharks, bears, and gators combined.
My response was, “Thank goodness! Because a shark, bear and gator combined sounds absolutely terrifying.”
Dad jokes aside, I figured I should use artificial intelligence to get a look at one of these creatures — just in case I might ever encounter one in the wild…
Oh, I feel much safer now. Because I’m never leaving the house again.
Inventing Animals
From time immemorial, humans have designed mythical creatures by combining parts of other animals.
And if you’re kicking off a newsletter about AI experiments, why not do your best Doctor Frankenstein and whip-up a few monsters?
Horse-Duck
I started off pretty tame…
Monkey-Cow
I figured cows are friendly, and monkeys are cute. So put them together and surely — Oh, god…
Seal-Cow
Cow-Snake
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere… I’m not sure whether to pet it, or back away slowly. (I’m definitely not going to milk it.)
Warning: It’s only going to get stranger from here, and some things cannot be unseen...
Cow-Shark
Imagine being chased down the beach by one of these, moo-growling and chomping at the air behind you.
Certain AI images, like these cowshark ones, can hit me on a psychological — maybe even an instinctual — level.
It could be the mixed signals that say “friendly” and “run away”. The poor framing and bad lighting really help them feel like legitimate snapshots of something real, too.
Spider-Monkey
Okay the gloves are off. All eight of them.
Spider-Cat
These look like home made gene-splicing projects gone wrong. I’m sorry.
Bonus: Eye-Spider
I figured a spider with one big eye would be the super ultimate ick factor, but I don’t know. I think they’re kind of adorable.
Especially the last one, bottom-right. He’s so smol, and lost, and just wants to find his way back home! Poor Franklin, daddy’s coming for you!
// end Lab Log 001
Digital Synesthesia
Google researchers just published MusicLM, an engine that generates music from text descriptions such as “a calming violin melody backed by a distorted guitar riff”.
I especially enjoy the faux-English, nonsense vocals and rapping. The results are at least on par with Open AI’s Jukebox.
There’s no reason the user can’t choose describe something else to it, other than a song — like a famous painting — and hear MLM’s muscial interpretation. (Dig through the link above to find a few examples of this in action.)
100 Years Ago
HT Webster predicted the rise of AI-driven art with this cartoon, way back in 1923.
Relatable Reading
Many of us feel a sort of “alarmed ambivalence” as AI empowers and encroaches, with impacts that are hard to predict.
Over on iA Writer blog, a thought-provoking article entitled, “The End of Writing” captures this emotional ambiguity very well, with equal doses of doom, gloom, hope and humour.
Wishful Thinking
I hope you enjoyed this issue of Silicon Castles.
Hit me up on twitter (@kirkclyne) and let me know which of the chimeras was your least favourite.
Kirk