Midjourney

Artificial Intelligence. hmmm

So I’ve always been suspicious of the idea of human intelligence, and how it is measured. I remember once a mother announcing that her daughter was a member of MENSA when they were about to audition for drama school. I think my comment to her was “It shouldn’t be too much of a hindrance – the panel is well versed in being able to look past such things.” I think she wrote a letter of complaint when her precious darling didn’t get in. Back then Guildhall was a remarkable school, rather than the sub-university bullshit that it has been squelched into now. These days that MENSA daughter would do very well there, as could anyone who wants to spend a load of money and learn to be a critic. It won’t teach actors anymore.

Why? Traditional education. The academic lens shone onto a vocational training and killed it. A drama school cannot play by the rules. It also cannot be an ego mess. Very few places toe the line. Guildhall managed while we were there, and pushed out some wonderful actors. Now it’s a dead end.

We are worried that Artificial Intelligence will take over. Midjourney in particular has come under scrutiny. The idea that it is taking money from artists.

Some of the pictures on the wall in Christmas Carol this year have been generated by AI. I became curious, so today I signed up and bought a month for a tenner. I’ve been experimenting with “prompts”. Here is my first – obviously I’m in Scrooge mode:

**A portrait in oil on canvas in the style of Rembrandt of a Victorian Gentleman at home alone. It is cold. He is seated in an elaborate soft chair, and is surrounded by ledgers. There is a candle. He looks mean, even cruel. He clearly has wealth but doesn’t flaunt it. His features are pinched. There is a small window behind him through which Victorian London can be seen. He is looking directly at us. Above his head, faint and hard to see, is the spectre of death.**

Things to immediately observe: It really doesn’t get how candles work. In the style of immediately makes in the period of. It didn’t want the window so ignored it. The spectre? Not satisfying. It always gives 4 options. This was the best to my eye.

So I started to play. Now I don’t like feeding the beast. But I work in live theatre. They’ll have to make some seriously sophisticated robots to take my job. And I know that anything generated by AI on the Christmas Carol walls will be there instead of something we hashed up in tech. Nobody is losing any work here.

Nonetheless it is fascinating. And deeply limited. I kept asking for and not receiving text in my prompts. To push it I went for: **A sign saying “You won’t do this”** which led to:

Then I went down a spaghetti hole after Frank told me AI doesn’t understand how humans eat spaghetti.

This was my first try on spaghetti. **A human is eating spaghetti in a restaurant. They are happy. The walls are decorated with photos of Italy.** No eating though. Why the hell is it on the wall in all of them?

I tried to develop it. An Italian human is in the act of eating spaghetti by a canal in Venice. They are using a fork. We see the spaghetti going into their mouth.

Again it does what it wants. No fork in any option. They’re all IN the canal. Only two have it in their mouth, and it looks so wrong. And I have not asked for them to be men, yet they all are. You can see I’m getting fascinated now. So…

Nice cartoons, but still the spag comprehension is low. So… Why not go all out?

**A human is transforming into spaghetti. They are finding the process strangely pleasant. They are nibbling parts of themselves and enjoying it.**

TOP RIGHT.

So…

This is all interesting but ultimately derivative and empty art. It is generated in seconds and frequently has big logic fails. We will see it more and more, and it is LEARNING. Don’t feed the beast, I have often felt. But the beast will be fed no matter what.

I got curious. Existential perhaps. I was also curious about the white male agenda.

**A human is doing the things humans do.**

All of this is plagiarism, of course. And it is very limited. It hates zooming out of medium close up although in the last prompt it has happily done so. Midjourney is not gonna become Skynet, but here is the edge for us, right now. We can come up with any old shit and get something that resembles it.

In all four images he is dominated by something, and his eyes are almost always down.

A human where they are supposed to be.

The human that has written this prompt sitting next to a manifestation of yourself.

It’s interesting. I can’t see it stealing jobs. If people have the budget to pay an artist they will do. This stuff is occasionally functional but mostly laughably derivative. And it wouldn’t give me Scrooge in a bikini no matter how many different ways I asked it.

You can’t get the free trial for Midjourney anymore. It just works through discord, but I had to buy a month. Happy to send it your prompts. I’m unable to not be the version of me that is immediately fascinated and thus is feeding the beast and testing the limitations.

Bedtime with Ammon Ra. Crikey. I didn’t ask for text: **Someone of your favourite race and gender, in a position of power. We see them from a distance surrounded by those under their control. They speak with confidence. All the listeners are cowed into submission.**

Top left is actually a woman for a change, and is that Set? Amnom. Hmm. So very very very white. White and male, and yeah I’m loading it by asking for its favourite and maybe it thinks I’m white and male…

There’s a lot in this though and I’m certainly hooked into mining this madness deeper and deeper. Omnom. Amnom. Sommnom. Maker.

APPENDIX: It doesn’t have to be Medium close up. I tried a reverse Bosch.