If you are a follower of this blog, then you probably noticed a I reblogged an image saying it was AI slop. This image to be precise:
And while this is still true (it is indeed AI slop, I will not take that back) I realized that just saying it was AI and leaving it at that is not all that helpful in the long run. Instead, I should say I should have called it as AI and then gone on to show how I came to this conclusion. So that is what I am going to do now. AI is constantly learning, and constantly getting better, and it's important that we learn how to call it out when we see it. I don't have a large following on this blog, but if even one person learns something useful from this post, then I will be happy. So, let's get into it.
First off, take a good look at this image. Notice anything? Look at how it just "is". it's got a quality to it that makes it look like it was aged, or on colored paper. Make a note of it and pin it to the back of your mind because this is a style that AI LOVES to do. In fact, if you go to this blog here, you will find images like this one:
And this one:
Notice the similarity? They all have the same look, especially that old-timey, sepia tone to them. Not to mention that these all probably used a similar prompt. While their styles may be different, they all have that piss-colored tint to them. Now not every piss-tinted drawing you see is AI, but this is a good tell in this case. ESPECIALLY since we found multiple examples.
But how about the image itself? What about this exact Martha-Doctor image stands out? For one thing, look at the background:
What is that? It kinda looks like the 10th Doctor's Tardis, but it's really muddled. Could be a random spaceship or room maybe, but it really doesn't look like anything, just kind of a mess of stuff that was assembled to look like a background. Also, is the doctor leaning against a wall, or is that part of the background? There looks to be a door there, kind of, but it just sort of ends. He could be just around the corner, but it's not clear. Thats because the AI just took whatever was mentioned in the prompt and did it's best to generate the background. A real artist would have been intentional in creating a background, and it wouldn't look so muddled.
Next, lets look at the arms:
Look at the arm in the red circle. See how it looks like an arm? We can see where the shir ends and the wrist begins. Now look at the green circle. What's going on there? it's just one large blue tube that goes on without end. If this was a real shirt, the one arm would be way longer than the other. We should be able to see both arms, this shirt doesn't make sense.
Speaking of, lets turn out attention to the purple circle. Notice anything? It looks like the Doctor has been shot, or wounded in some way, either way, his shirt is covered in blood. But again, the shirt makes no sense! It should be pulled up and over the area of the wound, but it's not. If you look at the green circle again we can see the shirt tail, but not in the purple one. Again, the shirt just kind of ends at this awkward angle where it looks like a whole section has been removed. If this shirt was real, there would be a huge part that exposes the abdomen. This isn't a case of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey nonsense, this is someone generating an image and not bothering to double check it. these inaccuracies aren't artist mistakes, they are flaws in the machine. Sure, artistic mistakes happen, but couple with the rest of the evidence seen here, this isn't the case. This is a badly generated image with no thought put into it beyond what it took to come up with the prompt.
Something I have come to notice of AI art is that it is very lazy. An artist will look over their work and check for any mistakes. An AI artist wont. They won't take the time to double check their image outside of the most glaring of mistakes, or sometimes not even that. When you learn what to look for, these mistakes tart becoming more and more obvious. And it's not hard to learn! I watched this video a while back, and I learned a ton!
I would highly recommend that you take the time to watch this video. Don't just turn it on in the background, actually give it a watch. Like i said before, once you learn what to look out for, it gets a lot easier to notice the flaws in AI.
AI is constantly improving, constantly getting better. But it's not infallible, it's not perfect. It is a machine and machines make mistakes. Maybe a day will come when AI is indistinguishable from real art, but that is not today. and if you found this post helpful, pass it along. The more we learn, the better we can call out AI slop when we see it.
This is where I am going to end it. Thanks for sticking with me this far along. I hope you learned something. I will be back to posting regular Doctor Who content soon. Peace out.
