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Portraits of The Longhairs Part IV | AI Edition
Men’s Long Hair Portraits Created By A Machine
Every image you see within this post was created by Artificial Intelligence (AI). These AI portraits of men with long hair were made with the AI engine Midjourney. I won’t go into a full explanation, but essentially this tool creates images from textual descriptions, better known as “prompts.”
Its ability to take the text you input and manufacture something completely unique is honestly mind-blowing.
As cool as it seems, this raises ethical concerns about the use of AI in the content creation process as well as business applications.
The Burning Questions
Can AI-generated content be considered "original?" Is this technology a tool to help optimize, increase, and improve processes?
With one of our core values being Creativity and Authenticity, it’s critical that we question the legitimacy of these emerging AI systems. What do they mean to us as content creators and business operators, and how is the business landscape using them to advance and improve?
Businesses are already utilizing Artificial Intelligence, from writing articles and blogs to creating videos and social media content. AI is being deployed to automate the production of a wide range of digital materials.
Does that make it ok? I think no, but it’s also too early to say for certain.
In fact, I don’t have answers to any of these questions because all of it is just so new. This amazing technology has emerged for public consumption and it has the power to transform life as we know it. Very similar to the dawn of the internet.
Will it be a net positive or net negative? If we look at what we know from the 40-year history of the internet, we could say net positive. The internet has altered our lives in incredible ways. Giving us the ability to have instant information, connection, mapping, banking, selling, convenience and collaboration to name a few.
With all the positives there has been a cost. Addiction, bullying, spam and advertising, porn and violence, inability to disconnect, identity theft, hacking, extortion, and the list can go on.
The real concern lies in the fact that when compared to the internet, AI is an entirely different beast. What will the cost and unforeseen negatives of integrating it into our content creation, businesses and eventually our lives be?
What is Creativity?
Here’s something I’m asking myself while creating the images for this blog:
"I have a vision for a portrait of a man with long hair. I write a clear textual description so the machine can best try and create what I’m envisioning. Is that using my creativity? Is the result authentic?"
The honest answer is I don’t know.
With all of this being so new, it is going to take time to figure out when and if these tools have a real place in the process of content creation and business operation.
Some are quick to just say yes, but it should be something we question and carefully consider at every turn.
AI Portraits of Men With Long Hair
The approach to developing these AI portraits of men with long hair was to explore the range in which the machine can create portraits from a combination of original photography and text prompts.These are the results.
Final Thoughts on AI
While AI has the potential to revolutionize the world, it is important to consider the ethical implications and potential consequences of relying too heavily upon it.
As content creators, we should know the tools, understand their capability and explore how they can further advance our own authenticity and creativity—all with a cautious and mindful approach.
