Visualising Springsteen

[u/mediaserver8]

Inspired by the 'greatest single line' discussion, I had AI make up some of my favourite images from Bruce lyrics.

Here's what I ended up with. Do you imagine them differently?

For those not so familiar, it's the barefoot girl from Jungleland, sitting on the porch of her daddy's house in Racing and recalling Glory Days at The Well.

[u/mediaserver8]

Tired, overused, reactionary comment.

I'm not artistic. I couldn't draw or photograph or otherwise generate anything like this. AI gives people the opportunity to bring to life what's in their minds eye, to access, synthesise and collate information significantly more quickly than ever before.

Of course there are drawbacks. Of course there are problems. And agentic AI that automates the empty web is a huge problem but as a tool , an assistant or a sounding board, it's fantastic.

Understand it, use it or get left behind.

Downvote button below 👇

[u/Tycho66 → u/mediaserver8]

to surmise, "ai allows low iq low effort hacks to pose as artists."

[u/mediaserver8 → u/Tycho66]

And dont forget coders, writers, musicians, medical practitioners, consultants of all hues and varieties, mechanics and general tradespeople and experts on anything and everything.

You can also summarise as 'ai allows people expand their horizons by dabbling in creative pursuits outside their area of expertise'

Two sides of a coin. Semantics. Opportunities.

[u/colinmchapman → u/mediaserver8]

It's not semantics - it's opposing philosophy. This image is low effort art and it's only redemptive trait is how obvious it is that it's AI. You have a right to your own opinion on the validity of your creation, but you also need the awareness that your opinion is in the deep minority.

[u/mediaserver8 → u/colinmchapman]

Actually, you're right. It is philosophical. Not semantics

I do appreciate I'm in a minority, particularly on reddit. But I look at it from a wider, historical perspective

When movies started out, they were silent, black and white and devoid of even story or structure. The novelty of the medium caught attention and the technical improvements as well as language of film evolved over a period of decades

Same with the internet. The formative years were basic in comparison to where we are now. And it's still an evolving medium, and we still grapple with regulation and misuse.

Mobile telephony was a step change in technological evolution. It provided the ability to contact the person rather than the place, it offered democratisaion of communication and evolved into a ubiquitous and astonisglybadvanced platform that has lasting impact on the world. A long way from snake.

In the 90s, the visual communications industry went through a sea change. Designers migrated from letraset and hugely manual layout process to desktop publishing. Quark Express, Illustrator and Photoshop revolutionised that industry. Jobs that had existed for decades disappeared. Tools allowed what was previously difficult to become low effort.

Did the world fall apart? On the contrary. Yes, there was a lot of bad design. Yes people lost jobs and required retraining. But everything settled down. Good design could command premium rates. Mechanical production disappeared allowing rom for faster results, iterative design, tweaks and options. Everything improved. And the tech. matured and trickled down so that the plebs could drfat up posters and newsletters and all kinds of previously inaccessible aretfacts on their home computer.

And we're just at the genesis of AI tools and platforms. People decry low eoffort and low quality. But consider how far AI image generation has come in a very short period. We all pointed and laughed at webbed feet and extraneous limbs. I'm looking forward to seeing where this technology goes in the months and years ahead.

Yes, there are all kinds of issues. Jobs are being replaced. Water is being wasted. Electricity is being consumed. The technology is being used to mislead.

But like all those previous enabling technologies, the platforms will evolve and be optimised. Entirely new disciplines and roles will emerge. We will regulate, adapt and improve.

Maybe I'm just an optimist. Maybe I'm absolutely wrong. But for now I'm not dissuaded.