Five years of AI art and I still miss the wonky hands

I remember back in 2019 when DALL-E mini was the big thing. Every image had those melted faces and six fingers. People laughed at it. Now everyone brags about perfect hands and photorealistic textures. But somewhere in the last year, the output lost its charm. I spent 3 hours last week trying to get a simple image of a cat reading a newspaper on a train. It came out flawless. And it was boring. Before, the mistakes made me look closer. Now I just scroll past. Does anyone else feel like the imperfections actually taught us something about how the models think? Or am I just nostalgic for when this stuff felt like magic instead of a product?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennys7225d ago

Was the wonky hand really teaching us anything, or was it just a flaw we got used to because we had no choice? Back then, every messed up finger was a lucky accident, not a peek into the model's brain, it was just a broken toy doing broken things. Now that it works right, we can actually use it all day without laughing, which beats staring at melted faces for a few seconds of charm.

nathana4823d ago

The "broken toy doing broken things" thing really hits home. I mean, we spent so long laughing at the six-fingered hands and sideways eyes that we forgot what the actual goal was. It was like being impressed by a car that could start, but the steering wheel fell off every time you turned it. Now that it works, nobody's giggling at the novelty, but we're actually getting real work done, which is way better than a few seconds of charm. Honestly, I'd rather have a boring tool that does the job than a funny one that gives up halfway through.