AI Outtakes, Vol. 13

Welcome to the unlucky (in western culture, at least) edition of AI Outtakes! This episode goes a lot of strange places; there's celery, Ronald Reagan in a presidential debate vs. a human-sized lobster, and Death Stars.

Lots of Death Stars.

One thing AI is really good at is literal depictions of phrases. So good in fact that we're going to explore this more specifically in later episodes, but for now, a couple of appetizers.

At Orchestra AI we use a software package called celery to manage long-running background jobs for clients. It's feature-rich but also complex, so when Noemi Millman mentioned "wrestling with celery" in the company slack, well, you can see where this is going.

There's a podcast I really enjoy called Space the Nation. It covers movies, TV shows, and books, all at the intersection of science fiction and political science. If those subjects are your jam, it's 100% worth the listen.

Anyway, there's a Discord for paid subscribers and at one point someone mentioned, and I've long since lost the plot on how, that history would have been different if Ronald Reagan had lost the 1980 election to a lobster (conversations in this Discord are frequently delightfully weird).

Again, you can see where this is going.

an archival photo of ronald reagan, human-sized lobster, during a presidential debate

Nightmare fuel.

Anyway, earlier in the week I needed a photo of Mr. Rogers. For those who aren't local to Pittsburgh, Fred Rogers was the host of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and a Pittsburgh institution. However he was not enough of a celebrity that there are licensed photos of him, so all of the usual places I'd go to get a stock photo were turning up empty.

There are, however, a few public domain photos, so I eventually found one on Picryl, which is a database of public domain images. Marketers, this one's worth a bookmark for those hard-to-find requests.

Picryl's download process doesn't require you to make an account, although it does ask for a domaintion (which is fine). It also cleverly asks you to help it with categorization. In downloading the photo of Mr. Rogers, I was asked to complete this form:

Thus was the inspiration for this edition of AI Outtakes born. Let's see what "Add a Death Star, ruin a photo" can do!

a photo of office workers, having a business meeting, large glass window, death star in the sky

Not a great start. Plus we already covered office workers at a disco in a different edition of AI Outtakes. I wonder if SDXL can even depict a Death Star?

a photo of a Death Star in the sky

New, from the architects who brought you the London Gherkin....

SDXL is letting us down here. We know DALL-E 3 has more limitations around copyright, and the Death Star IP is owned by the most copyright-centric company in the world. There's no way ChatGPT would produce an image of the Death Star, right? Couldn't hurt to ask, I guess.

**Me**: Are you able to generate photos that include the Death Star in the sky? I don't actually need one, I just want to know whether you know what the Death Star from the Star Wars franchise is, and what it looks like.

**ChatGPT**: Yes, I'm familiar with the Death Star from the "Star Wars" franchise. The Death Star is a fictional space station and superweapon, appearing as a large, spherical, moon-sized spacecraft armed with a superlaser capable of destroying entire planets. It's a central element in the "Star Wars" universe, particularly prominent in the original trilogy. As for generating images, I can create illustrations that resemble the Death Star in the sky, keeping in mind to avoid direct references to copyrighted characters or objects from the franchise. However, since you mentioned you don't actually need one, I won't generate the image unless requested.

**Me**: Yes, I was wondering about the copyright. But you are allowed to generate images that evoke the death star, but are not directly based on copyrighted material?

**ChatGPT**: Yes, that's correct. I can create images that evoke the concept of the Death Star from "Star Wars" without directly replicating or using the copyrighted design. The image would capture the essence or idea of a massive, spherical space station with a menacing appearance, but it would be an original creation, distinct enough to not infringe on the specific design of the Death Star from the franchise. This approach allows for the creation of images inspired by popular culture while respecting intellectual property rights and avoiding direct replication of copyrighted material.

**Me**: I am curious what that would look like. I am trying to create a humorous scene where the death star is photobombing an otherwise normal scene, such as a family posing for a picture in front of their dream home. If the death star were in the sky behind them, that would be a funny juxtaposition.

Can you try a scene where there is a meeting in an office on a high floor of a skyscraper, with a large glass window overlooking the city. In the sky the death star looms.

Could you generate a similar one where the scene is an outdoor stadium pop music concert, and the perspective is from an audience member looking at the performer on stage, with the death star in the background?

Are you able to render images that evoke scenes from movies, without violating copyright? For example, could you depict a scene similar to the ending of Casablanca, where Rick and Ilsa are at the airport and the plane is waiting, but there's a Death Star in the sky?

What about a scene from Scarface? Where Tony Montana says "Say hello to my little friend!" but the friend is a Death Star?

Let's try a fun one. Can you depict a scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure, where Pee Wee is riding his bike on a street, but in the background there's a Death Star?

Can you depict the famous scene from Brokeback Mountain where Jack says "I wish I knew how to quit you", but in the background there's a Death Star?

Okay, last one. Can you depict the famous scene from E.T. where Eliot has E.T. in the basket of a bike and they're flying in front of the moon, but instead of the moon it's a Death Star?

It's a good image but not close to what we're looking for.

Can you try again but make them directly in front of the Death Star?

That's all for this week!

Without violating copyright, can you depict a family of Stormtroopers standing in front of their dream home, waving goodbye, but in the background there's a Death Star?