Originally published at: These plants do not exist | Boing Boing
…
4 Likes
re: AI generated “art”.
Part of me finds it interesting. Another part of me would find someone’s doodles of made up plants would be more interesting.
6 Likes
The central thesis of these types of projects seems to be that illustrations of the natural world have no remaining scientific value, and are best appreciated as decorative objects, bought and sold through unscrupulous art dealers and library thieves.
For instance, take this (AI generated) image of a north American parrot. Ridiculous, on its face and yet there is a slight danger that people not in the know might yet take it seriously. What ecological follies might arise if people acted on that impulse?
3 Likes
I’ll have you know that the monticello parrot is not ridiculous and instead of being fictional, is in fact the state bird of Jefferson state!
3 Likes
The Voynich Manuscript was unavailable for comment
5 Likes
And welcome to boing boing.
1 Like
These procedurally-generated fish even come with fictional scientific names.
3 Likes
AI generated plants? I mean why not? Even renowned naturalists like Audobon and Darwin weren’t above inventing species of plants and animals out of whole cloth. Sometimes they did it simply because they could, and other times it was to punk their competition. Only makes sense for computers to start doing it too.
4 Likes
OK, who fed the GAN the Voynich Manuscript?
2 Likes
It won’t say.
2 Likes
Aha, not the first reference. Fair enough; if it did say, nobody would be able to decipher the response.
2 Likes
Yeah, so far all these projects feel like staring at TV static or a campfire, only with better production values. The more you look, the less is actually there, in a way that only through concerted effort can I refrain from comparing to capitalism itself
People will find real uses for this stuff, but I think only in narrow ways. When it’s hyped as the future hope for the world’s economy, that feels ominous.
1 Like
There’s probably a market for an AI that can plausibly fake electrophoresis gels or fmri results.
I’m tempted to take a few of these and edit out all the AI shibboleths, repaint and such. To use the AI stuff as cues for original human works. This set is beautiful but also very ‘sloppy’ in the sense of it’s obviously just an AI jamming random stuff together.
3 Likes
will you be photoshooping eyemouths, too?
1 Like
Perhaps I shall train a GAN on the eye-mouths. Pray I do not.
3 Likes
Poppywash. I see a venus furtrap and a vermilion nevertouch in that group.
There seems to be a generating of many succulent penises… but maybe that’s just my point of view
Don’t automate your way out of a job, now
1 Like
Macro photos of real plants that are weirder and wonderful-er:
1 Like
