BIT #1

Alexa? Siri? In a few year those two could be just a memory, what we all may be having a chat with are portraits. What portraits? Exactly like the ones J.K. Rowling wrote about, the ones we were all so freaking stoked about and interested in when watching Harry Potter . Taken straight out of Hogwarts corridors and put on the wall of your dining room these characters will soon be our companions, experts, friends, or watchers. Who knows? The question is not ‘if’, but ‘when’, and it seems we’re not that far away. Welcome to the future.

artist: @DiffusionPics / toolkit: StableDiffusion with txt2img, animatediff, comfyui, AnimateDiff-Evolved, Model / source: X

“The workflow was pretty much the same as the one from the git (attached) with a few minor tweaks + post work to do some clean up and deflickering. Takes a bit of playing around and many runs to get the desired output, so still experimenting for now…”

says @DiffusionPics.

BIT #2

Deepfakes are taking over. Should we be worried? Well, it depends who you are. Imagine being an active, hard working influencer, wouldn’t it be great if you could take on twice or three times as many branded partnerships and advertise products 24/7, no weekends, no chill, just pure passive income flow. Oh and it would not be real you, just your hyper realistic avatar doing all the talking?! The world is yours. Is there any downside to this? There’s always one. Swap influencer with some other AI generated public figure, like an actor or better, a politician, presidential candidate for example, in a public debate to spicy things up a bit and…oh wait we know it from Black Mirror, The Waldo Moment, don’t we?

“Deepfakes of Chinese influencers are livestreaming 24/7…all the human workers have to do is input basic information such as the name and price of the product being sold, proofread the generated script, and watch the digital influencer go live. A more advanced version of the technology can spot live comments and find matching answers in its database to answer in real time, so it looks as if the AI streamer is actively communicating with the audience. It can even adjust its marketing strategy based on the number of viewers”

Reports the MIT Technology Review in their latest article here. A really interesting take on the power of AI and Social Media.

source: MIT Technology Review

BIT #3

Time flies, or time goes back? Nowadays you can get it all mixed up, apparently Star Wars just turned 100! This is nuts.

artist: @douggypledger and @osymyso / toolkit: Midjourney, Pikalabs / source: X

This amazing video was created by the amazingly talented @douggypledger and @osymyso. Douggy Pledger is definitely someone you should be looking forward to hearing. This UK-based creative designer, illustrator, writer, director, video editor is utilizing AI in the most amazing way.

“…These are mostly old images i made through midjourney last year, fed through pikalabs. Then a lot of editing and messing about with them afterwards.”

(src: X)

Actions speaks louder than words. Check out his portfolio here.

BIT #4

Every great photoshoot deserves a good behind the frame story. Do you remember the very popular Jesus selfie? So this is how it was done. We hope you don’t mind the minor defects, it’s a few thousands year old. But seriously, Duncan Thomsen the person behind the famous shot says:

“Back in April I made a Jesus selfie that showcased the level the world has achieved in Ai. Now we see the progression to video and film starting to take off. This is the same still animated. It’s hard to control it but as a taste of things to come, this is exciting !!”

artist: Duncan Thomsen / source: Instagram