‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

AI-generated posters don’t have to be horrible

1902 points · 962 comments · ereiamjh

  1. vova_hn2 · · focus · HN ↗
    I find it kinda funny that even "smartest", most capable models often have a very hard time going beyond surface-level, top-of-mind associations, when faced with creative tasks.

    Of course, a "Japanese Minimal Poster" has a sakura and a stylized flag of Japan, duh

    A human designer would probably think that "Japan -> sakura" and "Japan -> Japanese flag" are way too obvious, too banal, too stereotypical, and, most importantly too boring. And then they would probably sit for a while and try to think of something fresher and less clichéd.

    But AI has absolutely no problem with going with the cheesiest, most overused trope.

    1. ereiamjh · · focus · HN ↗
      Author here.

      Well of course Spring + Japan = Sakura. In a way the model would be faulty if it didn't reach for that cliché. That's what it's meant to do.

      If you want originality, you need to supply it. AI fills the vacuum with the obvious thing.

      And in a way that's a feature. If I was creating a poster myself I'd think "nah, can't use sakura it's too obvious". AI gets you past that hurdle. "Yeah, we used the cliché, it looks nice, let's move on".

      This is if it's for a school fayre, village fête, etc. - brilliant originality isn't the goal. But it's nice when your poster doesn't look the same as three other posters on the same noticeboard (I have seen this).

      If brilliant originality is needed, a human has to bring it. Although an LLM with the temperature turned up can offer some nice seeds.

      1. dreambuffer · · focus · HN ↗
        But that is the criticism being made, that if you must supply the originality, the AI is not very intelligent.
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.