Science Tidbits #6

[Lupine]

^Mostly AI, which started with hints from me.

This one I'm happiest with being a potential cover (if it were bigger) for Urth Fall if I ever self-publish it.


This one, with some work, might make it for a novella I'm currently poking at called All Mothers

[RJDiogenes]

^Mostly AI, which started with hints from me.

Small images is one of the drawbacks of many of the generators, especially free ones. Luckily there are also AI upscalers, like this one. There are also AIs that do "outpainting," which expands on the image, and "inpainting," which can change specific parts of the image. I'll put together a list of the best stuff I've found. Also, this guy has great info on AI developments.

Do we need to be worried about ChatGPT and these AI art generators taking the place of humans, or taking the "humanity" or human element out of art?

No more than artists needed to worry about photography or color photography or movies or special effects or Photoshop-- it's just another tool that will allow for greater artistic expression for more people.

[Lupine]

^Mostly AI, which started with hints from me.

Small images is one of the drawbacks of many of the generators, especially free ones. Luckily there are also AI upscalers, like this one.

That works great!

[scottydog]

Google now has its own AI chatbot rival. The old search engines are becoming obsolete.

[RJDiogenes]

Google now has its own AI chatbot rival. The old search engines are becoming obsolete.

That's good. The old search engines were mindless and gave answers based on trending searches and individual history-- an AI should be able to give more valid answers and make it harder for people to be exposed to misinformation. Hopefully.

That works great!

Cool. I'm glad it worked for you.

Here's a little list of the best stuff that I use right now:

https://starryai.com - This is the best one. And in addition to the web page, there's an app, which you can log in to with different credentials-- this is good, because they only give you five credits a day for free (the app also lets you watch a commercial for two more). The best model to use on the app is Lyra, which is not yet available on the website, but Argo 2 is also very good.

https://runwayml.com - This one has a bunch of different utilities, including an outpainting model that you can use to expand paintings (or photos, for that matter).

https://www.mage.space - This one is simple and quick, but may be better now. When I just looked at it, the site had changed and it looks like it offers a lot more options-- a lot of them are paid options, but it looks like the free options have expanded, too. I'll have to check it out again.

[scottydog]

Here's a little list of the best stuff that I use right now:

Thanks for this list. So from now on, in order to be "competitive" in creating prose, poetry, or artwork, one must enlist the aid of artificial intelligence. I'm not sure I like where we're headed....

[RJDiogenes]

I don't think so. I may need AI help to create cool paintings, but Michael Whelan doesn't. On the other hand, I wouldn't need to use AI to write a story, but some people may have great ideas and not have a talent for writing. Believe me, I've encouraged a lot of people to write their ideas and they haven't, claiming that reason. I've also read stories and articles on websites that are so bad they cause me physical pain. And if these people ask an AI to rewrite their stuff in proper English, they may actually learn something from the changes made and eventually not need the AI anymore.

[scottydog]

...if these people ask an AI to rewrite their stuff in proper English, they may actually learn something from the changes made and eventually not need the AI anymore.

You have a far too pollyanna view of human nature. While I admire your hopeful attitude, i think you'll agree that if someone is doing your homework for you, and they're doing it for free and doing it better than you could ever do it, there's absolutely no incentive for you to ever do your homework on your own again

[Lupine]

^Then again I ran your post through an AI writer and it completed your post thus...

You have a far too pollyanna view of human nature. While I admire your hopeful attitude, i think you'll agree that if someone is doing your homework for you, and they're doing it for free and doing it better than you could ever do it, there's absolutely no incentive for you to ever do your homework on your own again . If you don't like your teacher or the subject, you can always go to the school district and find out what they want to do about it. And if you're not happy with what you see, don't go back and do more

I think we have a ways to go yet.

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Now that's what I call a good guidance counselor.

You have a far too pollyanna view of human nature. While I admire your hopeful attitude, i think you'll agree that if someone is doing your homework for you, and they're doing it for free and doing it better than you could ever do it, there's absolutely no incentive for you to ever do your homework on your own again

Yes, I'm sure in most cases that's how it will work. But there are some people who will use the AI to learn. We can look at it as a test of character, I suppose.

[scottydog]

I think we have a ways to go yet.

Good God that was bad. Is it called Artificial Intelligence or Artificial Stupidity?

But there are some people who will use the AI to learn. We can look at it as a test of character, I suppose.

Yikes. Any time humanity's character is tested, we're in a lot of trouble

[RJDiogenes]

Good God that was bad. Is it called Artificial Intelligence or Artificial Stupidity?

I imagine one has to come before the other.

Yikes. Any time humanity's character is tested, we're in a lot of trouble

I disagree. Sometimes I think that even I underestimate how well Humanity has done. Lately I've been wondering if there might be something along the lines of a moral singularity.

[scottydog]

How would you describe a moral singularity?

[Lupine]

I think we have a ways to go yet.

Good God that was bad. Is it called Artificial Intelligence or Artificial Stupidity?

I tried again with the first few hundred words of my novella, Severance Pay, and the AI at this website just put out gibberish.

[RJDiogenes]

How would you describe a moral singularity?

A graph on a curve that increases exponentially until it reaches infinity. If you think about the progress of civilization in terms of a graph, it increases just the same way as technology does-- it's pretty flat for a few thousand years, then it angles up for another thousand, then starts to curve up more steeply. Just think of the last couple of centuries, then the last century, then the last half century. The changes in standards are staggering compared to historical norms, even accounting for setbacks like the current Culture Slappy Fight.

I tried again with the first few hundred words of my novella, Severance Pay, and the AI at this website just put out gibberish.

I've gotten mixed results at this site. Here's one where I asked for a story about an abandoned robot:

The Abandoned Robot

Once upon a time, there was a robot who was abandoned by its owner. The robot was left to rust in a junkyard, until one day a group of scientists came by and took it away to study. The robot was excited at first, but the scientists only wanted to study how it worked and how it could be improved. They never actually gave the robot any new upgrades.

The robot became lonely and depressed, especially when it saw how other, newer robots were being constantly upgraded with the latest technology. The abandoned robot just wanted one new upgrade, even just a small one, but it seemed like that was never going to happen.

One day, the robot heard about a competition for abandoned robots who wanted an upgrade. The prize was one new upgrade for the winning robot. The robot was so excited that it entered the competition immediately.

The robot worked hard to try to win the competition, and eventually it did. The robot was so happy to finally have an upgrade, and it immediately went to show off its new feature to all the other abandoned robots.

Might be a good seed for a kid's book for a Pixar movie.