Here’s what AI thinks eastern Idahoans looks like. Did it get it right?
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VIRTUAL EAST IDAHO — At its heart, EastIdahoNews.com is both a news and technology company that revels in taking advantage of new inventions or processes to better interact with our audience.
So it’s no surprise with the sudden popularity of artificial intelligence or AI, our staff started playing with how we could use it to enhance our reporting or visual storytelling.
Our graphics wizard, Alex Lemoing, started playing with Midjourney AI beta. The company is a new independent research lab that uses artificial intelligence to create complex images or artwork by following the directions given by a human being.
Some other popular AI technologies take a different approach. ChatGPT, for instance, focuses on generating written prose or stories by following a human’s parameters.
Midjourney AI is still a work in progress and is in open beta testing for users to play with. The company routinely tweaks and improves its algorithms to better the results.
In our experience with the algorithms, the program can create a wide variety of images — from the stunningly accurate to the downright bizarre. Sometimes the depictions are hilarious, other times flattering and even occasionally offensive.
We thought we’d see what the AI thinks of eastern Idahoans. We specifically asked the computer to create photos of “the most typical couple from (various cities) in Idaho.” The only caveats we added was the image had to be taken in the style of a Sony Alpha camera, and it had to be a full body shot. For some of the pictures, we requested certain elements to be in the background, such as mountains or a bridge.
Here are the results. Did the AI get it right? Did you spot the extra body parts? Tell us in the comments.
(Keep in mind that these pictures were generated by a computer and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of EastIdahoNews.com about the people who live here!)
And, as a bonus, behold us!
We don’t know who these people are. They could be Midjourney’s idea of what a typical news team from Idaho would look like, or each one could represent a real employee in our office. If those pictured are us from an alternate universe where ankles are optional, only Bizarro Nate Eaton would have the courage to inflict that bow tie upon the world. To see what we actually look like, click here.