> Stable Diffusion (and similar tools) fall in this last category of truly disruptive technologies.
I really don't see it. What tools like SD, DALL-E etc do is essentially similar to what Google Image Search does, except that the results are presented differently - instead of showing you the results it has indexed in some order, it picks features from the results it has trained on with some priority, and presents a kind of amalgam view of the entire collection at once.
The only significant advantage compared to Google Image Search is that AI-generated art is getting around copyright, allowing you to publish it legally under your own name. This makes it very similar to Uber, which got around taxi regulations that were impeding market access.
Essentially, if we ignore copyright, there are relatively few illustration problem you could have where DALL-E/SD/... would help more than searching for an existing image. Branding is an obvious one, where the need for unique-ness is not only legal, but also practical. The other is that DALL-E/SD/etc can also sometimes produce combinations of unrelated images, thought that is offset by just how bad their results are in other places where there is plenty of existing art to choose from (especially anything involving images of humans).
>there are relatively few illustration problem you could have where DALL-E/SD/... would help more than searching for an existing image
This is probably true if you want a single image, but if you want many images that look consistent with each other then google images will be little help. Stable diffusion with textual inversion can just about do it though. I would imagine in a few years it will be able to do that better than it can currently generate a single image.
Not sarcasm. I'm working in this space and you can check my bio.
If you're not excited by these rapidly improving results, then I don't know what to tell you. I think you can extrapolate what lies just ahead if you think about it.
I've been a tech pessimist for the last two decades of my life, and I can strangely now state that this is the most important and exciting time of my entire life and career. Everything we know is about to change.
I can't believe that this is the timeline we're in and that it's actively unfolding now. It's like a dream. It's hard to grasp and come to terms with.
Just think for a second about what these models are doing. This is going to happen to every product category.
I can only wish you luck and say that personally, I'll believe it when I'll see it (that is, when I first end up enjoying a piece of art - book, game, movie, song etc. - where AI generation played a major part in its creation).
If it's as good as your Donald Trump voice conversion demo on your site, I'd have to pass. That sounds like someone with a cold trying to do a poor impression of Trump. The voice doesn't even have a New York accent!
Today you're a Taylor Swift fan and you want more of her music faster than she can deliver. Maybe you make it yourself and share with friends, and it goes viral. She might even get on stage and sing it.
Tomorrow, you want more Taylor Swift and you tell the computer to give it to you. It delivers with no human intervention whatsoever. You love it, but want it a bit more country - so be it. Piano and acoustic. Got it. A duet between her and Bruno Mars. Just for you.
Michael Jackson and Elvis? Nothing is without possibility.
Brand new singers. Instruments and styles we could never conceive of - all about to happen.
A never-ending stream of novel music that tailors itself to you.
Already being dreamed up.
I'm building this, have parts of it already working, and I'm sure others are as well.
Every inch of your day to day life is about to change in a way that will make developments brought on by smartphones and the Internet pale in comparison.
I think what you’re working on is genuinely intriguing. How will it work commercially once you gain popularity, do you pay Taylor Swift a royalty for using her voice likeness?
> A never-ending stream of novel music that tailors itself to you.
That's worthless. A firehose of novelty is almost immediately no longer novel.
Why would anyone want this?
It's the same problem already with streaming services and their own series. They're all already joyless and immediately forgettable. They have less and less value.
Your breathlessly described "amazing transformation" sounds incredibly boring and pointless.
It's easy to say that as someone on the outside without skin in the game, not working on this, not in the know.
> That's worthless. A firehose of novelty is almost immediately no longer novel.
And yet here you are on HN. I'll bet you have a Twitter and phone and consume social media, too. That's all just a poor man's version of what we'll be building.
> Why would anyone want this?
I have literally wanted this exact thing all of my life.
There have only been a handful of films I've walked out of and felt truly satisfied. I've seen thousands of movies shot by mere hundreds of directors at best. That's billions of dollars of institutional capital put behind a few lucky white men for what amounts to as a "meh" at best. Now we can empower anyone to have their own take at it. To build and express anything. To sift and sort through emotional/concept space and deliver truly new things.
We get one short life to experience the universe. Let's climb the gradient to the stars and experience the limits.
> It's the same problem already with streaming services and their own series. They're all already joyless and immediately forgettable. They have less and less value.
Spaghetti thrown at walls by blank check writing firms trying to capture eyeballs. This isn't at all what I'm talking about. This technology will bankrupt that type of behavior.
Everyone will have access to these tools and be able to build whatever their heart desires. Whatever they want to put out into the world for the rest of us to experience.
> Your breathlessly described "amazing transformation" sounds incredibly boring and pointless.
I don't get you, but that's fine. We'll be building away regardless.
I don't think humans are the end point of our tiny quadrant of the universe. We're a transitional blip. This is just part of the changing of the guard. And the transformation will yield beautifully captivating results. I'm here to contribute and experience.
> And yet here you are on HN. I'll bet you have a Twitter and phone and consume social media, too. That's all just a poor man's version of what we'll be building.
A better version of a net negative is still negative.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it really sounds like more of what we've already proven isn't good.
> It's easy to say that as someone on the outside without skin in the game, not working on this, not in the know.
He is someone under the deluded impression that if he pitches his startup david koresh style in a hackernews thread, something will happen.
I have new for this boyo - the moment you try to sell a service that emulates the catalog of {insert famous musician name here}, you are going to get sued to oblivion.
Very true. It will be a while before the high-end art market is at risk - if ever. Quality human-made art will likely rise in value with the influx of AI art, due to perceived scarcity. The major disruption in the short term will likely be in the stock photo/art market.
I really don't see it. What tools like SD, DALL-E etc do is essentially similar to what Google Image Search does, except that the results are presented differently - instead of showing you the results it has indexed in some order, it picks features from the results it has trained on with some priority, and presents a kind of amalgam view of the entire collection at once.
The only significant advantage compared to Google Image Search is that AI-generated art is getting around copyright, allowing you to publish it legally under your own name. This makes it very similar to Uber, which got around taxi regulations that were impeding market access.
Essentially, if we ignore copyright, there are relatively few illustration problem you could have where DALL-E/SD/... would help more than searching for an existing image. Branding is an obvious one, where the need for unique-ness is not only legal, but also practical. The other is that DALL-E/SD/etc can also sometimes produce combinations of unrelated images, thought that is offset by just how bad their results are in other places where there is plenty of existing art to choose from (especially anything involving images of humans).