Artbreeder
Artbreeder, formerly known as Ganbreeder,[4] is a collaborative, machine learning-based art website. Using the models StyleGAN and BigGAN,[4][5] the website allows users to generate and modify images of faces, landscapes, and paintings, among other categories.[6]
Type of site | Content creation |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Country of origin | United States[1] |
Created by | Joel Simon[2] |
URL | artbreeder.com |
Commercial | No |
Launched | 2018[2] |
Current status | Active |
Content license | CC0[3] |
Overview
On Artbreeder, users mainly interact through the remixing - referred to as 'breeding' - of other users' images found in the publicly accessible database of images.[1] The creation of new variations can be done by tweaking sliders on an image's page, known as "genes", which in the "Portraits" model can range from color balance to gender, facial hair, and glasses.[6] Additionally, any image can be "crossbred" with other publicly viewable images from the database, using a slider to control how much of each image should influence the resulting "child".[2][5]
The site also allows for uploading new images, which the model will attempt to convert into the latent space of the network.[6]
A sequence of images from the same category can also be interpolated between in animated video form.[6] However, the animations page for the 'Anime Portraits' model cannot be reached via the 'create' page.
Notable usages
The similarly AI-driven text adventure game AI Dungeon uses Artbreeder to generate profile pictures for its users,[7] and The Static Age's Andrew Paley has used Artbreeder to create the visuals for his music videos.[8][9] Artbreeder has been used to create portraits of characters from popular novels such as Harry Potter and Twilight.[10][11] They have also been used to add realistic features to ancient portraits.[12]
Artbreeder was used to create characters in the sequel to Ben Drowned with the titular villain, an AI-construct itself, created entirely using the website. [13]
Reception
The artwork generated by users of the website has been described as "beautiful" and "surreal," drawing comparisons to "weird, incomprehensible dreams" that "somehow touch the deep, unconscious parts of [the] mind".[14] However, the generated faces were noted as "creepy and 'off'", and still nowhere near the quality attained by actual digital artists.[6]
Additionally, the site faced criticism for perceived confusing aspects of the AI's behavior. Jonathan Bartlett of Mind Matters News noted that "As is always the case with AI, sometimes the [gene] knobs don't work as expected and sometimes the results are... strange," while conceding that Artbreeder was still "probably the start of a new future of made-to-order stock images."[15] Writers from Hyperallergic also took issue with perceived racial biases in the Portraits model, citing a comment from a user who faced difficulty from the neural network while attempting to darken the skin of a portrait to match a source image.[16]
See also
References
- Groskin, Luke (8 March 2021). "The uncanny art inspired by evolution and generated by 'crossbreeding' images".
- Bailey, Jason (January 8, 2020). "The Tools of Generative Art, from Flash to Neural Networks". Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- "Support". Artbreeder. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- Simon, Joel. "About". Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- George & Carmichael (2021, pp. 7–25)
- Lee, Giacomo (July 21, 2020). "Will this creepy AI platform put artists out of a job?". Digital Arts Online. Archived from the original on December 22, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- @AiDungeon (May 1, 2020). "How have you been liking the AI generated avatars? (All images created on @Artbreeder)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Musician Andrew Paley Creates AI Videos: "Collaborating with a Machine Fit the Moment"". 1 September 2020.
- Gerage, Alex. "Human-Machine Collaboration Visualizes Music". Northwestern University.
- Miller, Leon (2022-05-05). "AI-Created Harry Potter Images Reveal Scarily Book-Accurate Character Portraits". CBR. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
- "Twilight Images Reveal Characters' Book-Accurate Looks Using AI". ScreenRant. 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
- Vincent, James (2020-08-21). "These photorealistic portraits of ancient Roman emperors were created using old statues and AI". The Verge. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
- arcadeattack (2020-09-28). "Arcade Attack Podcast – September (4 of 4) 2020 - Alex Hall (Ben Drowned) - Interview". Arcade Attack. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
- Kulicki, Maks (2020-05-22). "3 Artificial Intelligence tools to enhance your creativity". Medium. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- Bartlett, Jonathan (October 22, 2019). "The AI Revolution has come for Stock Art". Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- Bond, Sarah E.; Junior, Nyasha (October 8, 2020). "How Racial Bias in Tech Has Developed the "New Jim Code"". Hyperallergic. Archived from the original on February 7, 2021.
Bibliography
- George, Binto; Carmichael, Gail (2021). Mathai, Susan (ed.). Artificial Intelligence Simplified: Understanding Basic Concepts -- the Second Edition. ISBN 9781944708047.