Scammers are upgrading their tactics. The latest scam uses enticing ads featuring AI art, making everyone think they too can be a content creator.
Is Meta's new AI art tool worth checking out?
My artistic skills don’t paint a pretty picture. That’s why I am utterly astounded by AI-generated images. Today’s AI art looks more and more like the real thing, and Meta just unleashed its CM3leon AI art tool.
Listen, we all know Mark Zuckerberg and his Meta corporation have questionable judgment and sell our data to anyone he can, but they might just be onto something here. Let’s break down the hype. By the end, I promise you’ll understand a lot more about AI art.
Karma CM3leon
Meta says CM3leon (How do you think it’s pronounced? I’ll tell you in a bit, so make your best guess now.) is one of the best AI art tools for text-to-image generation. It can also generate captions for images.
It’s all about the process. OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 and Google’s Imagen use “diffusion” to create art. An image starts as “noise” and is refined to make it more of a match for the target prompt.
Say you type in “cat biker with tattoos.” In Imagen, it’ll start as a cloud of dots that morphs into that cool kitty.
Meta’s CM3leon is what’s known as a transformer. Transformers use “attention” (aka complex algorithms) to decide how important the text or image prompts are. Transformers can get better and more accurate over time, plus they’re faster and less expensive than diffusion generators.
To train CM3leon, Meta used a collection of millions of licensed images from stock photography giant Shutterstock. The best version of CM3leon so far has over 7 billion parameters, more than twice as many as DALL-E 2.
Give AI a try
Whether you’re brand new to the world of AI art or want to try a new program on for size, there are plenty of options.
- OpenAI’s DALL-E-2 is still the O.G. when it comes to AI art generation. It’s known for being user-friendly. Get 115 credits for $15.
- If you’re looking to create photo-realistic art, try Midjourney. Plans start at $10 a month.
- On a budget? Check out Craiyon. It’s free to use.
- Want to use AI art for professional projects? Jasper Art might be your best bet. Monthly plans start at $39.
CM3leon is pronounced “chameleon.” I can kinda see how they came up with that.
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🎨 AI prompt fun: The next time you have a few minutes, try your hand at creating art using AI. Whether it’s a logo or an image of a superhero for your autobiography, drop by here. Tap into the tutorials, too. Super fun!
The biggest heist in history
What’s the backbone of chatbots like Gemini or ChatGPT? It’s the art, science, and hard work of real humans — humans who may never get credit or compensation.
27 bids later: The first painting by a humanoid robot just sold for $1.08 million. Auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York, it was expected to go for $180,000, tops. The piece, titled “AI God,” is a portrait of Alan Turing, a renowned mathematician and computer scientist. The buyer got ripped off.
$40,000 selling price
For art created by robot dogs. Artist Agnieszka Pilat is teaching Boston Dynamics’ bots Basia, Vanya and Bunny to paint by holding brushes in their “mouths.” He just sits back and watches. Pretty farfetched, eh?
Why AI is so bad at creating hands
AI can write essays, diagnose illnesses and even develop software. But there’s one thing AI can’t seem to get right: Human hands. Ask an AI art program to create a photo of hands, and the results are usually pretty darn weird. Why is this?
This art is for sale on Amazon. Can you find the hidden tiger?
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So your grandma’s memorial tattoo has six fingers: Tattoo artists are fuming over the rise in AI-generated tattoo designs, calling them the “steroids of tattooing.” AI can churn out designs in seconds, but there’s more to tattooing than that. Some designs are so intricate, they’re impossible to recreate on human skin.
🖥️ Pricey pixels: Get your hands on a rare piece of digital art by Andy Warhol … for a cool $26 million. The portrait of Blondie’s Debbie Harry was made on a 1985 Commodore Amiga 1000 computer. Only two copies are believed to exist. NFTs from restored Amiga images sold for $3.38 million back in 2021.
King Henry had two axe wives: Art historian Adam Busiakiewicz spotted a missing portrait of King Henry VIII while scrolling on X. The painting was in the background of a photo at Warwick’s Shire Hall in central England. I’m sure it will end up at the British Museum, along with everything else stolen in the world.
How to use ChatGPT to make art
Did you know ChatGPT can create images from descriptions? Just tell it what you want to see, and it’ll bring it to life.
7% of adults
Say “please” when asking for something. And half the time we use it, science says we want to guilt the other person into doing something. Kids say please about 10% of the time. Reminds me of the time Ian’s middle school art teacher told me, “Ian says ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ too much.” Yeah, I schooled her on that. I worked hard to be sure he was a gentleman, and he is to this day.
Try your hand at AI art: Describe the design you’re after in your prompt and watch your creations come to life. The more details you can give Microsoft Designer, the better. And it’s free. Nice.
Earth without “art” is just “eh“: Apple’s new iPad Pro “Crush!” ad is … disturbing. It shows a hydraulic press squashing symbols of human creativity — musical instruments and art supplies. Then, voila — a new, super-thin iPad Pro appears. The message? Tech trumps all. Apple apologized: “We missed the mark … we’re sorry.” Ya think?
3 tips for creating art with ChatGPT
Get the images you’re looking for — just follow these simple steps.
Western Digital announced they’ll be shipping a 4TB SD card next year. That one little card will hold 41 million Word docs, 820,000 photos or 5,800 movies. No price yet. Dang, I remember when a 3.5-inch floppy disk was state-of-the-art!
Flex your creative muscles: Try the free, open-source digital painting program Krita. It’s got a clean interface and is super-easy to use, especially considering how much it can do. If you’re brand-new to digital art, check out the tutorials. Hello, new hobby.
You won't believe how prolific AI art can be
Artwork created by artificial intelligence (AI) has taken off over the last year. It can generate virtually any image you can think of. But it doesn’t always match exactly what they were picturing when artists make a request. One artist took it upon himself to change that by using his artistic skills to work with AI and create some incredibly stunning images.