Experimenting with AI (artificial intelligence)

In the last few months I have found myself experimenting and generating images using different AI methods. Among these I have tested VQGAN + CLIP.ipynb, ArtBreeder, NightCafè, Dall-e, MidJourney, and at the moment the latter is the one I prefer, thanks also to the new algorithms that have been recently introduced. Many say that in general they make the images all similar to each other, but it is not true, it depends on how you make them interpret what you ask of it. Generally to bind it to a certain type of images and language, trying to keep my style, I prepare photographs to be submitted to it, weighing for example the relationships between the textual part and the photos submitted. To achieve the desired results, countless trials and attempts are required, in some cases even weeks. But once you find the right key and method, the results are truly impressive. By refining the technique, a good level of customization can be achieved.

Here are some results obtained with the very first experiments, which began in May 2022.

The image below, I got it using NightCafè. I called it "Human Storage".

Meanwhile in parallel I experimented using Artbreeder, very useful for creating more or less realistic faces.
Here are some examples.

Using this tool, Artbreeder, I also tested the possibility of creating frame by frame animations, achieving this result:

As for Midjourney, my favorite, because it is versatile and with a beautiful interface, at the moment I have generated thousands of images, partly intended to be used cutting and inserting them elsewhere, animated, or used as they are.

Below are my very first experiments:

Right now, many are tearing up their clothes in the face of this new phenomenon, screaming that machines will replace artists, and it will be the death of art.
Exactly as it happened almost 200 years ago, where, due to photography, the category of painters would be extinguished forever.
And instead it seems that it is still alive and well, letting photography have tried on its own to find its place, as a further form of art.

Moreover, the arrival of photography only did good to painting.
If it hadn't been for it, now we would have found ourselves still painting portraits, landscapes, saints and madonnas.
And instead, thanks to it, other forms of painting have sprung up, thanks to the Impressionists, Expressionists, Surrealists, Dadaists, Cubists, etc.
Otherwise we would never have had a Cezanne, a Matisse, a Picasso, just to name a few.

Art is a spontaneous ecosystem and in all its manifestations and its evolution, cannot be harnessed, like a stream, if you try to stop it, it will divert and go elsewhere. Therefore, the new technologies that help art to evolve are welcome, because if this did not happen, art would already be dead for a long time if not institutionalized in sad practices decided by right-thinking people, or perhaps considered as a simple tradition.