Discovering GAI: Hand-crafted or AI-generated

About Clapping: Rewards for blog posters and viewers are based on clapping. For the viewer you receive a daily reward for 'clapping 10 blogs' for the poster it is based on 'claps received'. Viewers, you can clap a single blog to receive your reward, simply do so slow and steady: clap & clap & clap ... 10x. Posters require first 100 and then 500 claps. A viewer can clap up a blog to 20x. So if and when you clap this blog, please clap 20x, not once or twice, as claps may have been intended to serve as a measure of blog quality, value, enjoyment but in reality are simply a means to a reward. Discussion, debate, dialogue about AI is now pervasive. It may focus on the continually evolving capabilities of GAI, or the moral, ethical, and legal considerations, or the ecological as the demand for computing power grows. Most topical of all may be the implications of GAI on human occupations and activities. Indeed, I have these conversations at work, at home, and even with friends here in the BP-verse. This has been the case through all of history's technologically-driven revolutions, from agricultural, to industrial, and the digital revolution driven by PCs, the internet and mobile devices. The AI revolution is no different ... or is it? I contend it is different. In the industrial revolution the invention of the steam engine was a point solution that introduced cpapability that was then used. The digital revolution was slightly different in that the power of devices and the internet has developed over the last 30 years. The capability of AI continues to grow at an unprecedented, even alarming, rate. Today it is impacting in all walks of life. I recently visited a specialist physician for a routine check-up and after greeting, his first question asked about what I knew of AI. This segued into his use of a specialist GAI-assistant. But perhaps most topical is the use of GAI in software engineering and creative occupations and pursuits - music and video production, writing, and image generation, be it art, design, illustration. I have been engaged in GAI image creation for almost 30 months. In that time I have seen incredible advancement. Will this reach a plateau? I don't know. Like the change from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics, the rule-book is being re-written by the pace of change and development of AI capability. I intend to explore these topics in more depth in this 'Discovering GAI' series, and will begin with a focus on image generation. I recently posted a QT on My Page focused on the theme of elephants ( https://budgetpixel.com/p/41096 ). When I saw the theme I immediately began to think about this blog post. I love elephants. Am blessed to have seen and photographed them in the wild, have interacted with them up close and personal, and during the brief time when painting was a passtime, I painted an elephant. So in this post I included two AI-generated images, a photograph of my painting, and an image created using img2img with a photograph of an elephant as a reference image. Here are those images: Create a charcoal and pencil drawing of the side view of a bull elephant standing under an umbrella tree. Medium side view, from a slight angle, including the full body of the elephant. The drawing is txtured with dramatic constrast between darkest black and claen white, with expressive shading. Place the drawing of the elephant inside a modern frame that compliments the drawing. Disply the framed painting on a lightly textured wall painted in a pale green colour. Close-up composition such that the framed photograph fills almost all of the image. Clean background, smooth gradients, no speckled noise, no random floating particles or grain or dust unless intentional, no visual artifacts. Create a dramatic water-colour and ink painting of a bull elephant standing at a waterhole. Ears are flapping, trunk raised between the two tusks. The sky is bathed in red-orange light of sunset. Medium front view, from a slight angle. Place the painting of the elephant inside a modern frame that compliments the photograph. Disply the framed painting on a lightly textured wall painted in a pale tan colour. Close-up composition such that the framed photograph fills almost all of the image. Clean background, smooth gradients, no speckled noise, no random floating particles or grain or dust unless intentional, no visual artifacts. Place the picture of the elephant inside a modern frame that compliments the photograph. Disply the framed photograph on a smooth wall painted in a pale beige colour. Close-up composition such that the framed photograph fills almost all of the image. Clean background, smooth gradients, no speckled noise, no random floating particles or grain or dust unless intentional, no visual artifacts. Perhaps I was trying to be too 'clever' with the sharing of the photograph, maybe simply adding the photograph would have been a better bet. But I wanted it to be similar in form to the framed composition of the two AI-generated elephants. And finally a photograph of my painting. This was taken quickly using my now relatively old and low-end mobile phone. Maybe I should have used the same Canon DSLR as my wife used to photograph the baby elelphant when we visited the Kruger Park. Interestingly, perhaps not suprisingly, a few people singled out the two AI-generated elephants as their favourites. Neither the photograph of the elephant nor my painting (notwithstanding it being poorly represented) are high quality, professional works of art, so this comparison is not significant. Where does these leave us from a human occupation and activity perspective? I believe the opportunities for artists who make a living selling original painted or drawn works of art, remains unchanged. Our walls are adorned with original art works, some that my wife or I created, some we purchased, and some are those treasured works of art created by our son when in primary school. I think when it comes to reproductions, prints of original works, the situation is different. Today, I don't believe that you will know if a print is of a hand-crafted work of art or one that is AI-generated. I am a mere hobbyist when it comes to generating images here on BP, and able to produce the two elephants I shared. Professionally printed copies of high resolution images generated with top-end AI tools will be indistinguishable from the prints of real art works when you are browsing posters in a shop. This will impact those artists making a living selling prints of their works. The need to develop the skills required to paint and draw that constrained art production, is no more. Now the generation of quality images is constrained almost entirely by your own imagination. The playing field is level and open to far greater competition. Similarly in the area of design and illustration. No longer are the services of a skilled practitioner required. Anybody can develop the ability to create images used in advertising, websites etc. You and I can generate images and then sell merchandise online with only our imagination and business savvy to constrain us. I enjoy creating images, sharing them here and the social interaction. GAI has created possibilities for me. But I can appreciate the concerns of those artists and creators who spent years honing their craft, investing time to become masters, and now face redundancy. If you read this far then you are a short scroll away from the Comments section. I would love to hear your thoughts and perspective. I am sure we will all see this in different ways. If you do share a thought please tag me. And I welcome all opinions. But before you go, I hope you will gift me your 20 claps.