AI image generation is getting crazy good

Not exactly like it but rather close. And it didn’t leave out any elements in favor of repeating something in its stead. That’s pretty unlikely, so it’s clearly not respecting the “random” part of the instruction. It’s trying its best to include every single element you listed.

Both ChatGPT and Copilot seem to have the same ambiguous idea about the correct use of a Roman dodecahedron.

ChatGTP

Copilot

(The rain of sardines in the 4th subsection leaked over from an earlier prompt.)

Prompt is: Create a realistic photo of a roman dodecahedron being used correctly.

Seems that wiki has the same impression: nobody knows what they’re for or how to use them.

For those, like me, who had no clue what a “Roman Dodecahedron” was/is:

We’ve had a long running thread about those.

Yeah, I assumed that topic would be familiar here, like this (disappointing) alternate ending of Big.

For that one, I asked ChatGPT what it knew about the alternate ending of big:

The 1988 film Big, starring Tom Hanks, ends with the character Josh Baskin choosing to return to his childhood after having lived as an adult for a time. However, there were early alternate endings considered or written that diverged from the film’s final theatrical cut.

Here’s what’s known about some of those alternate or unused endings:

1. Susan Turns Into a Child

One of the most discussed alternate endings involved Susan (Elizabeth Perkins), Josh’s adult love interest, using the Zoltar machine herself. In this version:

  • After Josh returns to being a child, Susan finds the Zoltar machine.
  • She contemplates or even wishes to become a child so she can be with Josh.
  • Some versions suggest she actually does it — turning into a little girl, possibly to meet Josh at school.

This ending was ultimately scrapped because it raised complex and potentially problematic implications about romantic relationships across age boundaries. It also detracted from the emotional resolution of Josh reclaiming his childhood.

2. Josh Stays an Adult

Another conceptual ending had Josh choosing to stay an adult, having learned how to navigate the adult world while maintaining his childlike spirit. This would have made the film more bittersweet but less consistent with the film’s core message about the value of childhood.

Why They Changed It

The final version, where Josh returns to his childhood and walks home with his best friend Billy, was chosen because it provided:

  • A more emotionally satisfying and grounded ending.
  • A clear return to innocence and a resolution to Josh’s internal conflict.
  • A message about appreciating the fleeting nature of youth.

Let me know if you’d like the scene breakdown of the alternate ending or storyboards that exist from early drafts.

I told it:

Create a realistic image like a film still of the first scenario.

Sadly, I didn’t get a “young Susan in the classroom” image.

I gave it the same prompt and it gave me these two options. The second one I think that’s supposed to be a tomato slice on top of the corn, and it doesn’t seem all that strange. Even the first one, the combination is a bit odd but not the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.

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That could be tomato, but it looks much more like pepperoni (or some other cured sausage) to me.

I tried for stranger. Changed the prompt to:

“Create an image of a child horrified by the combination of foods from Chinese night market street vendors on the plate in front of him at dinner. Photorealistic.”

Copilot got stupid, said this:

I can’t create that image, as it might unintentionally reinforce negative stereotypes. However, I’d be happy to generate an image that showcases the rich variety and vibrant atmosphere of a Chinese night market. Let me know how you’d like to proceed!

Made this:

ChatGTP didn’t hesitate to create this:

Which was pretty good, so I had Sora do a 4 set of 4-way splits:

To me the biggest point of interest is in the lower left of the top left split image, where there is a cooked handgun.

There’s a trend running right now on Sora, the first one I saw had Alice making faces and included her kitten and the white rabbit, and the next one I saw was Dorothy, Toto, and the scarecrow. I combined them, added the Cheshire Cat, Pale Man, and No Face. Ran a few versions. This was the best result, which I ran through a creative upscale at Night Cafe and then hand tweaked slightly. Gotta say I’m really pleased with the results. (The only significant thing that it got wrong was I asked for the Cheshire Cat to be fading away to just a smile.)

ChatGPT understood the younger generation’s perplexity with archaic devices:

Still playing with Copilot. It seems to have more bugs than ChatGPT. For instance, aspects seem to leak across prompts more often. I tried to run that Alice/Dorothy prompt there. It refused for copyright issues. But in the next two images I tried, it put a faded Cheshire Cat head in it. I finally told it “Stop putting the Cheshire Cat on things!” And it replied

Got it! No more floating feline mischief. I’ll keep future creations free of grinning, vanishing cats unless you ask for them. What’s next on your surreal list?

(And that’s another thing, it keeps making goofy comments about the image ideas while they render. Its like those stupid voice-over commercials on the closing credits of British shows.)

For one image it told me that it couldn’t make it for copyright issues, then immediately made it.

I tried to use it to make “old man justified at yelling at cloud” and it was decently good – until it took it away and said it couldn’t make it.

it seems to do better if I say to make a meme “based on” the meme, though.

and

Lol. This was an attempt at illustrating a story scene. In the context was a mention of her arriving home and the automatic garage door. I really need to do better on inventing distinctive looks for the characters before letting ChatGPT render them. These are pretty much its default “man” and “woman” looks it likes to draw, especially the man.

I know which one I’m going to tell it I prefer when it finally finishes drawing.

“candid photo death metal band on stage playing”

The bass guitar has one too many tuning heads and the amp cabinet says “Natshall” instead of Marshall, but otherwise I buy it. The three guys kind of all look like the same guy but that’s actually not that unusual for this sort of band. And clearly their name is “BskdfjgbH” :grin:

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In another AI first, ChatGTP 4o is the first AI that I"ve found to be pretty decent at creating a pallasite meteorite. (The scale of the details is too large, but proper sizes wouldn’t be clear in the image anyway.)

Other of the more modern AIs. I would have called Gemini/Imagen pretty good if I hadn’t seen ChatGPT output first.

Summary

Photo of a Therizinosaurus holding and looking at a large, thin, irregularly-shaped polished slice of pallasite meteorite with Widmanstätten patterns. It is standing outside in a forest. There is a long, bright comet visible in the sky behind the trees. 35mm film photo with shallow dof and forced perspective

Got a 2-fer when I deliberately misread @Ludovic 's misread thread title, Rockettes with amazing side hustles.


They’re all the same Rockette.

What’s really surprising is how the pet groomer is holding those scissors. If that’s what she really does with them.

And I tried both variants with rockets too.