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Dandelion Break Experiment: Covers from ChatGPT

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Joined
May 18, 2021
Location
Denmark
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I heard that ChatGPT could now produce book covers and that it used a new method which was less likely to produce artefacts like three arms and eight fingers!

I gave it the basic facts and a brief book description. The first attempt is the brownish one. I had heard that you could adjust an existing image, but this turned out not to be true. When I asked for specific changes, it made a brand new image (the bluish one).

I am not planning to use any of these or any other AI-generated cover. Quality-wise, I think they could work for a free book, but we know the ethical issue of these images being generated based on the works of designers who, as far as I know, have not been compensated. For me, it is partly just playing around, and partly personal encouragement to remember that what I'm doing should produce an actual book.

The only weirdness I have spotted is the repetition of the tagline. I think the characters are quite impressive. To be honest, if I had paid someone to make these covers, I would be satisfied with the characters, except for a few strange highlights. For the background, I asked for a cityscape with airships that was almost historical but a bit more fantastic... decent.

And of course, the design is what a non-designer like me would make if I could draw. There is no original new angle that a good designer may come up with

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In my experience, the images AI generates are about as artistically derivative as anything you can find from a low or mid-tier designer on Reedsy. That is because book covers are more about marketing than they are about art. And dang, ChatGPT is one hell of a marketing consultant.

I know, it's a hot take. But if you aren't asking the model to take inspiration from a specific artist or artists, I do not see it as plagiarism or rip-off. Honestly, what's recommended to include in a brief for a cover artist? Is it other covers you wish to emulate?

Oh. Wait.

Whether or not model creators should have asked permission to train their AIs on artists' work is another question. I understand Pete has strong feelings about AI cover art, but the cat is not going back into the bag. Nobody is going to ban AI image gen, and more and more covers for poor authors will be made with AI.

We all need to make peace with the new reality and find paths we find both productive and ethical. For me, if AI gave me a stunning cover that wasn't ripping off the style of anyone in particular, I wouldn't turn my nose up at it.
 
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