Adventures in AI - Part One

I've been playing about with AI recently. I don't use it for writing or for creating book covers – I believe true creativity comes from humans. However, like a lot of people, I am curious about AI.

I thought I'd begin by describing scenes, characters or events from my stories, to see how ChatGPT would visualise them. I wondered what it would get right... or how far wrong it would go.

This first session is based on my Short Horror Tale 'Ignition Source'. It features a disabled security guard, who lost an arm while serving in the military... He works at a warehouse, and one night faces a succession of nightmares... Armed intruders... A terrible fire... And something much worse.

In the first image I described him having a prosthetic arm... and as you can see, AI gave him a Terminator arm! This is a bit disturbing – it went straight into Skynet mode.

The robot arm was also annoying, because in the story I try to make him as real as possible. He's not an action hero, just a regular guy facing extraordinary events. Disability isn’t a superpower or something equally ridiculous, it’s a problem he had to deal with constantly.

A few attempts later, I had to give up on the prosthetic and just have his wounded arm visible. So, AI gave me this:

I asked for this to be corrected, and I must admit I like the final image. There are flaws – such as my security guard is very muscular (even his right arm), which I never asked for. The fire design and the giant shadow at the back are really nice. And the guard looks like he’s been through hell and is in fear for his life. He even has the right number of fingers and eyes.

Another oddity is this. At one point early on, I asked for a blood trail on the ground and huge claw marks in the concrete. This got refused because of a guideline about violence. I thought, “Well, okay there are rules that I don’t know, and I respect someone has put some safety measures in place” ...So I deleted the request for blood and claw marks... And in all the images afterwards, I got the blood trail and claw marks! Very odd.

So, could AI create a good book cover for me? Undoubtedly, and I imagine we will see lots of AI covers now. I’ll be sticking to images created by my team, although maybe these kind of pics could be useful in advertising? Most of all, it’s been fun seeing what Skynet AI can do. My only other experience of AI was (again for fun) a request along the lines of “show me a monster in a warehouse” – and this is an example of what I got...

It's pretty hilarious. Maybe it could be a zany creature in a Ghostbusters movie? No way could it fit into a Short Horror Tale though.

Lastly, here’s the 100%-human cover for ‘Ignition Source’. It’s more subtle, revealing a warehouse location, suggesting the fire and showing the danger via the blood trail. I guess it leaves more for the human imagination.

Next time: images for Mechincarnation. A killer robot – surely AI will love this one!

Any thoughts on my adventures in AI?