Prototypes: the result of a journey from the inner-world of the imagination to the outer-world of concrete form. It’s not uncomplicated, but AI creates an additional step of inner-world actualization, thus creating a “pre-totype”. The results are sometimes clunky.
Car in the Buff
What AI was told: A car is speeding down the highway disguised as a buffalo, with a buffalo hide draped over the top of it
What AI came up with:
The car hardly seems to be speeding and the buffalo is still in its hide- also not clear if this is a monstrous buffalo or a tiny car…
Ok, the car seems to be speeding, as does the galloping buffalo. More importantly, the car is still exposed to speeding cams and officers who might be hanging out in the ditched disguised as tumbleweeds.
Closer, but this would certainly prevent speeding, subsequently rendering its raison d’être null.
Pre-Bear-edness
What AI was told: A hiker is endangered by an attacking bear, but fortunately has a running backpack with a blowhole that deploys bear spray out the back, allowing the the hiker to follow common bear attack protocol, both playing dead while deploying bear spray.
What AI came up with:
So the bear stole the backpack from the hiker? Or the hiker conquered the bear, and now has a furry coat?
There is no hiker, but the backpack has become one with the bear, which wouldn’t really serve much of a purpose in the wild. Probably of bigger concern is that the bear spray seems to be a combo of shaving cream x bubble bath which is compelling, but probably not so effective in the heat of the moment.
While I appreciate the Ghandian approach of non-violence, navigating an aggressive bear only works like this in a Herzog film. Nice try, AI.
Cro’Tray (Croquet Tray)
What AI was told: A person is rigorously playing competitive croquet. They are wearing a fanny pack and the fanny pack has a cupholder on it.
What AI came up with:
The rigor seems to have translated to this athlete’s dedication of beverage tasting. And was “pack” interpreted as “bench”?
Possibly less rigor- and is that a hookah? Also, does her mallet double as a palm tree? Still unclear where the fanny pack is in all this.
Well, at least we’re finally standing up.
Snufferbund
What AI was told: A person has a runny nose, so they wear a miniature cummerbund between their nose and mouth to catch the drips.
What AI came up with:
… if Max Ernst would have been hired to do graphics for carnivals in the 30s.
What we lack in cummerbunds, we make up for with… mustaches?
AI seems to doubt the feasibility of securing the cummerbund to one’s face, but this certainly feels like overkill when it comes to addressing a runny nose.
TempTamer
What AI was told: There's a mug of coffee. Standing outside of the mug, there's a little doll. The little doll has one of its fingers in the coffee and that's the only part of the doll that is touching the coffee. The doll's mouth is hovering over the coffee and it's blowing on the coffee.
What AI came up with:
Scary, right? We’ve got a replica of a little girl in the beverage that’s in a steaming mug resting on coffee beans, the way a plant sits on a pebble tray. And the girl has a head spout, which, in this case, has an almost palpable “creep-factor”.
If the previous model was scare, this one might be considered terrifying- as if AI didn’t know where to start, so it tried to do everything at once and subsequently, did nothing.
And truly ghastly. What’s up with that mouth shape? There’s something very wrong with putting this kind of pressure on a baby. And why is it blowing egg bubbles?
A-hack-nid
What AI was told: There's a person returning home carrying a stick intended to clear away the spider webs ahead of them
What AI came up with:
Looks a little more like she’s returning home from a friendly neighborhood lacrosse tournament, but perhaps the spiders were already eradicated?
This guy might need something a lot stronger given these spiders are capable of spinning webs that seemingly maintain structure while floating. I’m also not sure where the dust bowl era entered the picture here…
Beak Bouncer
What AI was told: It’s a severely windy day. Create a vertical trampoline that runs parallel to the side of a building, so when birds inadvertently get blown into the windows, they bounce right off.
What AI came up with:
In the middle of a windstorm, a floating birdbath is probably not so useful. Also, 1. Not vertical 2. Doesn’t look too super bouncy 3. And if it is very windy (which it doesn’t appear to be in the picture, despite the prompt), this oasis becomes yet another threat to our feathered friends.
No idea. I also don’t understand at what point the idea of “flowers” became incorporated in this concept.
Ok, we have the trampoline on the building which feels like a success after several failed attempts, but this definitely isn’t going to protect the birds. In fact, based on all of the feathers flying around everywhere, AI seems to be aware of the fact that this is a temptation that birds should not pursue.
Fla(sh)adow
What AI was told: You’re at a power lunch, dressed to the nines. You spill your spaghetti on your shirt. You use a device that looks like it might be a flashlight, but casts a shadow instead so you can cover up the stain.
What AI came up with:
This blinding light is the antithesis of a shadow. But on further thought, it is so bright that anyone who sees it might be temporarily blinded, rendering their perception of the stain unlikely, if not impossible. One point for AI.
This seems to be an entirely different approach that involves a drone creating a new stain to go over the previous one. Is this AI signaling, “you’re not the boss of me… you’ve got a problem? I can come up with a better answer.” But, look, it may be a way to hide a stain, but, as they always say, two stains don’t make a clean.