Imaging The Not-Real From The Imagined

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I got an email from Phil today with the results of some tinkering he'd been doing with Google Gemini AI, on a photo of the two us taken two or three years ago - not the image above I hasten to add - which was taken amid the chaos of my studio workshop, which he then upscaled. Although the AI had taken quite a on a photo of the two us taken two or three years ago - not the image above I hasten to add - which was few liberties with the actuality of my mate and myself - in our ego's favour I have to admit - the removal of the clutter and the complex lighting from the image was as good as the very best Photoshop wrangler's work. It even included subtle shadows that would indicate that the photo was taken in front of a standard studio scoop background.

OK, I thought, and downloaded the Gemini app to have a play with it. First, I chucked it a trivial task: create a logo from my own logotype in the manner of pre-WWII Soviet design, which it duly did. I then thought I'd try something non-trivial and asked it to come up with a proposal for a modular, energy-passive home constructed of natural materials that would comply with UK building regulations. Two minutes later, I had a credible - if outline - proposal for just that, including a visualisation of what such a home might look like. Impressive. Then I thought I'd get a bit more abstract and asked it to visualise the transformation of humans in Dahlquist's Dream Eaters trilogy; specifically volume two, "The Dark Volume". It came up with the above: not quite my imagining of it, but taking its cues from the books and coming up with a plausible interpretation of its own. Very impressive. There's mileage to be had playing with the thing, methinks: by the way, if the thing's just nicked someone's artwork, apologies to the originator... 

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