#ai workflow

[onepawproductions]

Servo Skull v2 runs 1-4

(Or, how many ways can I accidentally collapse my Ai Model during an Ice Storm?)

As someone who is quite interested in the tantalizing prospects of using Ai as a medium to create original characters, content, and art...I knew I would eventually run into Ai Model Collapse! Behold, the horror to which I awoke, early this cold January morn!:

Ideas about possible contributing factors (aka, "what did I do??!?):

dataset image background as a transparency vs with an...actual background (less differentiation per image?)

Mis-tagged key concepts (I accidentally mis-tagged a few concepts, oops!)

Mis-clicked on the source image directory! (instead of the main concept linked to the main folder...it linked to a small sub-folder)

Mis-labeled a file folder in my image directory. Does OneTrainer read the file folder name? (Concept is "D118", file folder was named "D-118". I have added a sampling on D-118 to test for this)

DPI scaling error in console (partway through, I switched monitors from my Ginormous TV Monitor, to my Weensie Remote Desktop Tablet "monitor", triggering an error in the console, related to DPI scaling in Python)

Intermittent fluctuations in the electrical grid (I am trying to do this during a "Winter Weather Event". Over a third of the city has lost power. In my hubris, perhaps I have overreached!)

Intermittent fluctuations in the WiFi (darn you, Ice Storm!!)

Listing it all out like this... Lordie, but it's a miracle it worked at all!

In the first run last night, the model collapsed at Epoch 60, with a gradual denouement at around Epoch 50-55.

Convergence happened early (less than 10E) with the primary identifier "Servo Skull" (the main tag), and the "deluxe" sampling "a D118 Servo Skull hovering with two clamp arms, 40K" (less than 5E).

However, convergence never really happened for the Scribe Skull tag (less than 10 images), Combat Skull (3 images), Medical Skull (less than 10 images), nor D118 (lots of images, profuse tagging, but many mistakes in setting up the workflow.)

I also realized I'm using Euler A as my sampler, on SDXL. I might try switching to a non-exponential DPM Karras sampler.

That being said, now that I've fixed most of the mistakes, I'm getting good convergence on Servo Skull, and the deluxe sampling, on what is now run#4 of v2.

Some really choice emotional shots! They'll all need profuse retouch, of course, but there's a good range of emotions developing in the D118 tag:

I see that I need better tagging of:

D118's Ident Stamp (an "I" with wings, which I hope to train the Ai to use "eyebrow expressions" as the emotional vector attached to the wingies)

the attachement port on his head (it should be one single blue-led attachment port over his right eye (image left). The rest of his skull should be smooth on top and free of ports)

He does not have legs!! (adding "no legs" in the negative sampling prompt)

number of arms

But dang, it seems I'm making progress on transferring pose vectors associated with "arms" onto the concept of "clamp arms"...

Now how to get finger poses to transfer to clamp states (open/closed/degree of open), or different attachment arms (clamp, needle, spider, socket,...)

I am happy with this!

[katdbee]

Character portraits, free for use as always.

More of the same from me, it's character portraits as practice on generating good hands.

Gonna talk process for a minute There's a few ways to do it, but I get the best results out of setting the openpose controlnet to 'controlnet is more important' and a canny or lineart model that defines the figure further (always make sure it's on for at least the first half of the steps if not the whole way). It absolutely will struggle with open shapes such as where the top of the nagitata is cropped from the input image so the machine does it best to make something up. I got more weird weapons than I did mutant hands, and the mutant hands I did get were from turning on the lineart at the last half of the steps. The depth model is great for creating a lush painterly effect in the generation. The more nets you stack the longer the generation takes so keep that in mind.

Also turn your sampling steps DOWN. What you get in 10 steps will be enough to have a good idea of the generation and demonstrate hand consistency.

A good way to save time while figuring this out is to preprocess the image, save it with the little download icon in the preview window (click allow preview checkbox if you don't see it), and then put that preprocessed image into the controlnet and set the preprocessor to none. That way it won't be re-preprocessing that image over and over which cuts generation time down considerably.

This is the doll I put into the preprocessor and the the openpose that comes out. By preprocessing at a 2048 resolution and generating at 512x768 the details are kept much better than if pixel perfect is used, however if it needed to preprocess and generate this openpose image every single time it would still be cooking right now.

Then this is aaaaaa I don't remember, one of the lineart or canny or whatever preps that makes a rough invert sketch of the input. That got saved and then plugged in again and processed one more time to keep the most relevant edges.

This is also how I came to realize the machines struggle with open shapes. I'm not sure how I'll try to get around that yet.

[robolovely]

Here are a few of my collected failures to make Midjourney images more raunchy/explicit via the use of Subtle Variations.

First was these two nice ladies:

Honestly the base image was great, I think the intent here was to increase bust size though, which didn't get too far (some images from the attempts).

Great hats though! I'm very fond of these two. Maybe I'll use the new Midjourney website to bring them back. They were just too classy for me to debauch.

---

Next was this nice reclining woman in a painted style:

Her nose is so cute! I'm also quite fond of her. Anyway she was quite resistant to my Subtle Variation attacks on her character. See below:

I achieved some minor big boobe and tasteful cleavage but really nothing to write home about compared to my later (and earlier) works.

---

Another one to highlight is this princess in a puffy dress against the night sky:

This one was all a bit Eurotrash. I /think/ I was trying to depoof her dress, trying to make her more slinky before evolving her further but she really just didn't want to give up the puff. I've hit the image limit on this post so I won't show you the results but they're basically exactly the same image with maybe a liiiittle more cleavage. Complete failure!

I believe this puffy princess was my first attempt at using the Vary (Region) function as well, which I would use with great skill later on!

Follow for more lovely Midjourney lady art and a little bit of the process behind it. I've since managed to create truly NSFW images with Midjourney so it's come a long way since these attempts.

[hungwy]

maybe i dont have the 'growth mindset' necessary to work in the industry but my first thought upon reading this was "kill yourself"

[dduane]

Dear Diane, I'm in a bind as a professional writer/editor. The higher-ups at my job (small outfit for popular sci/tech publications; think New Scientist-esque media) are increasing eager to use ChatGPT/genAI tools to "enhance our workflows" in writing/editing/design. This includes "brainstorming" creative concepts with genAI, touching up incomplete images, etc. They won't listen if I just list the ethical reasons this is Bad; do you have business/industry-side points for the case? Facts, data...

I wouldn't have anything business-adjacent. But let me point to this on Bluesky and see if anybody there can make some useful suggestions.

...My own sense, which would be anecdotal from things I've seen people say over the last six months or so, would be that adding ChatGPT/genAi to the process would be likely to introduce more problems than it (putatively) solves, and would in the long run slow down any projected workflow rather than speeding it up. ...But let's see what the people at the coalface have to say.

Thanks for the query!

[hemi-demi]

Not my usual post but something I've been thinking about lately.

I think a part of what bothers me the most about the AI generated images/writing/etc debate is folks claiming that they need it because of a lack of talent and skill. Even going so far as to call it an accessibility device.

Which, as a disabled person, boils my blood. Because I think where this comes from is not in the same way as like a curb-cut levels things out for everyone. It's based on impossible standards in literally every piece of media we consume, and I think that's something we can change, rather than forcing people to use a bland device to meet the rest of the world at their level.

Folks are telling themselves they need AI images because becoming an artist takes time, and money, and effort. Some disabled folks don't have the dexterity to hold a pen, or can't sit upright at a computer for hours (me), or can't process visual information in the same way as others. Those are all true statements.

Same with writing. Dyslexia and other learning disorders can make writing intimidating. People receive harsh judgement for things like having poor sentence structure or spelling, even if you as a reader still know exactly what they mean.

The solution to these issues is not "pay an AI company to steal from other creators so everything washes into the same, boring grey blob of creativity". It's make bad art.

I want to see people's art where they don't have a full grasp of anatomy, but try their best anyway. I want to see stories where someone might struggle with visualizing a scene, but they do their best to convey the meaning in whatever way they can. I want to see more people comfortable with posting less than perfect work, and being proud of it because they made it. Or not even feel the need to post at all, because at the end of the day, the little numbers on your screen will never be the most satisfying part of creating. (Telling myself this as well, tbh. It's hard, I get that.)

If everyone is equally good at creating work, then there's never any variety. You can learn just as much, if not more so, from bad art than good. You can find beauty in it, unique ideas or habits that others have dropped because they were told it wasn't proper. You can see pure creative expression, without being chained to traditional conventions taught in school that beat all the fun out of you to make your work marketable.

We're taught in school that other artists are our competition, so of course people are turning to these tools to try and get a leg up. They never learned what a collaborative art or writing community can look like, and how that actually helps you grow as an artist more than AI or self isolation ever could.

If someone is drawing their entire lives, and never gets any more skilled at it for one reason or another, there's nothing wrong with that. That art is just as valid, and just as beautiful.

I understand that people feel this pressure to stand out in a sea of artists who worked their asses off to get where they are, but turning all art and writing into this regurgitation of what has worked before will never bring new ideas into the world in the same way a bored kid with a pencil and notebook paper can. It just won't.

[drekiloar]

-Astarion the Magistrate-

I'm sharing a timelapse of my workflow for the illustration 'Astarion the Magistrate'. It's my first time posting something on YouTube ^^;;;

[slick-devon]

Insanley good looking hunks you make! Must take hours. do you create them all from start?

It's a mix (and I should point out my starting points)...I either start with pure text of an idea, my own sketch, or a random photo off the web, that's not necessarily the look I'm looking for, but more about the staging and pose. Most of my images are pin-ups or portraits. Anything involving action or more than one person gets difficult. I'll bring it into Photoshop and nudge things around and correct fingers and limbs, and run it through the AI another time or 2 before finally polishing it Lightroom-ish for the final.

[the-storm-chaser]

//I don't want to add this rule, but this is moreso to cover all bases. I've had to include this in all my art ToS on Vgen, so it's going here as well

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I will unfollow/block if I catch you using AI in your writing/art/icons. My stance is that Generative AI has no place in any creative space and I have zero tolerance in anyone using it.  We are here to be creative. Using Gen AI defeats the purpose of that.

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If you don't agree, there is an unfollow button right there. 👋

[sorrydupuis]

fat bitch

[mantisgodiveblog]

Against all odds, we have survived. We're taking a university course now, because the government will pay us for it and we do need the money, but it has unfortunately been eroding at our sanity somewhat, and we are learning nothing that we don't already know. We are, however, getting money.

We have somewhat of a backlog on Discord at the moment, as it doesn't have a daily upload limit and also it's easier to stick things on while we are being told things that we already know by people who are phrasing in in ways we find significantly misleading or incorrect (note: we don't use apps for things the vast majority of the time and if we access Tumblr via browser it immediately fucks up our formatting on PC, which can last several months). We will, hopefully, be posting these soon, but all is dependant on if we can actually scare up the time between courses to conglomerate that and fix any formatting errors in thoughts and such.

If that will happen any time soon... good question! Every time that our work practicum teacher opens her mouth, we take points of physical damage, and we don't think she understands the fact that getting back after we walk to a place also involves walking. We've had a lot going on for a while now and very little of it has been good. We're on new meds, and if the gods prove merciful, we won't have to tolerate this particular clown show past March. If there is no mercy to be found, however, we might have to keep doing this until June, in which case you can probably expect the quality of this to take a sharp downturn as the short time we have already spent in this program is already having immediate and catastrophic effects on our mental health.

We do not recommend going to university in any circumstances, but we are unfortunately aware that it may be necessary to get such things as a fancy piece of paper saying you are employable. Additionally, we would tell you to calibrate your expectations for anyone with a degree lower, but apparently what we consider the basic level of knowledge you should know before saying anything on any topic is everyone else's "bachelor degree and a bit", so our estimations on what people think is a high degree of knowledge to have are probably also off.

Any donations go to the Fund To Compensate Us For Having To Correct A Teacher Multiple Times In A Lecture And Then Looking Up Her Sources Later And Discovering They Are Blatant Misinformation. We are very tired. Please do research on things before talking about them. Thank you.

[datapeakbyfactr]

AI’s Role in Business Process Automation

Automation has come a long way from simply replacing manual tasks with machines. With AI stepping into the scene, business process automation is no longer just about cutting costs or speeding up workflows—it’s about making smarter, more adaptive decisions that continuously evolve. AI isn't just doing what we tell it; it’s learning, predicting, and innovating in ways that redefine how businesses operate. 

From hyperautomation to AI-powered chatbots and intelligent document processing, the world of automation is rapidly expanding. But what does the future hold?

What is Business Process Automation? 

Business Process Automation (BPA) refers to the use of technology to streamline and automate repetitive, rule-based tasks within an organization. The goal is to improve efficiency, reduce errors, cut costs, and free up human workers for higher-value activities. BPA covers a wide range of functions, from automating simple data entry tasks to orchestrating complex workflows across multiple departments. 

Traditional BPA solutions rely on predefined rules and scripts to automate tasks such as invoicing, payroll processing, customer service inquiries, and supply chain management. However, as businesses deal with increasing amounts of data and more complex decision-making requirements, AI is playing an increasingly critical role in enhancing BPA capabilities. 

AI’s Role in Business Process Automation 

AI is revolutionizing business process automation by introducing cognitive capabilities that allow systems to learn, adapt, and make intelligent decisions. Unlike traditional automation, which follows a strict set of rules, AI-driven BPA leverages machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and computer vision to understand patterns, process unstructured data, and provide predictive insights. 

Here are some of the key ways AI is enhancing BPA: 

Self-Learning Systems: AI-powered BPA can analyze past workflows and optimize them dynamically without human intervention. 

Advanced Data Processing: AI-driven tools can extract information from documents, emails, and customer interactions, enabling businesses to process data faster and more accurately. 

Predictive Analytics: AI helps businesses forecast trends, detect anomalies, and make proactive decisions based on real-time insights. 

Enhanced Customer Interactions: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants provide 24/7 support, improving customer service efficiency and satisfaction. 

Automation of Complex Workflows: AI enables the automation of multi-step, decision-heavy processes, such as fraud detection, regulatory compliance, and personalized marketing campaigns. 

As organizations seek more efficient ways to handle increasing data volumes and complex processes, AI-driven BPA is becoming a strategic priority. The ability of AI to analyze patterns, predict outcomes, and make intelligent decisions is transforming industries such as finance, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing. 

“At the leading edge of automation, AI transforms routine workflows into smart, adaptive systems that think ahead. It’s not about merely accelerating tasks—it’s about creating an evolving framework that continuously optimizes operations for future challenges.”

— Emma Reynolds, CTO of QuantumOps

Trends in AI-Driven Business Process Automation 

1. Hyperautomation 

Hyperautomation, a term coined by Gartner, refers to the combination of AI, robotic process automation (RPA), and other advanced technologies to automate as many business processes as possible. By leveraging AI-powered bots and predictive analytics, companies can automate end-to-end processes, reducing operational costs and improving decision-making. 

Hyperautomation enables organizations to move beyond simple task automation to more complex workflows, incorporating AI-driven insights to optimize efficiency continuously. This trend is expected to accelerate as businesses adopt AI-first strategies to stay competitive. 

2. AI-Powered Chatbots and Virtual Assistants 

Chatbots and virtual assistants are becoming increasingly sophisticated, enabling seamless interactions with customers and employees. AI-driven conversational interfaces are revolutionizing customer service, HR operations, and IT support by providing real-time assistance, answering queries, and resolving issues without human intervention. 

The integration of AI with natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis allows chatbots to understand context, emotions, and intent, providing more personalized responses. Future advancements in AI will enhance their capabilities, making them more intuitive and capable of handling complex tasks. 

3. Process Mining and AI-Driven Insights 

Process mining leverages AI to analyze business workflows, identify bottlenecks, and suggest improvements. By collecting data from enterprise systems, AI can provide actionable insights into process inefficiencies, allowing companies to optimize operations dynamically. 

AI-powered process mining tools help businesses understand workflow deviations, uncover hidden inefficiencies, and implement data-driven solutions. This trend is expected to grow as organizations seek more visibility and control over their automated processes. 

4. AI and Predictive Analytics for Decision-Making 

AI-driven predictive analytics plays a crucial role in business process automation by forecasting trends, detecting anomalies, and making data-backed decisions. Companies are increasingly using AI to analyze customer behaviour, market trends, and operational risks, enabling them to make proactive decisions. 

For example, in supply chain management, AI can predict demand fluctuations, optimize inventory levels, and prevent disruptions. In finance, AI-powered fraud detection systems analyze transaction patterns in real-time to prevent fraudulent activities. The future of BPA will heavily rely on AI-driven predictive capabilities to drive smarter business decisions. 

5. AI-Enabled Document Processing and Intelligent OCR 

Document-heavy industries such as legal, healthcare, and banking are benefiting from AI-powered Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and document processing solutions. AI can extract, classify, and process unstructured data from invoices, contracts, and forms, reducing manual effort and improving accuracy. 

Intelligent document processing (IDP) combines AI, machine learning, and NLP to understand the context of documents, automate data entry, and integrate with existing enterprise systems. As AI models continue to improve, document processing automation will become more accurate and efficient. 

Going Beyond Automation

The future of AI-driven BPA will go beyond automation—it will redefine how businesses function at their core. Here are some key predictions for the next decade: 

Autonomous Decision-Making: AI systems will move beyond assisting human decisions to making autonomous decisions in areas such as finance, supply chain logistics, and healthcare management. 

AI-Driven Creativity: AI will not just automate processes but also assist in creative and strategic business decisions, helping companies design products, create marketing strategies, and personalize customer experiences. 

Human-AI Collaboration: AI will become an integral part of the workforce, working alongside employees as an intelligent assistant, boosting productivity and innovation. 

Decentralized AI Systems: AI will become more distributed, with businesses using edge AI and blockchain-based automation to improve security, efficiency, and transparency in operations. 

Industry-Specific AI Solutions: We will see more tailored AI automation solutions designed for specific industries, such as AI-driven legal research tools, medical diagnostics automation, and AI-powered financial advisory services. 

AI is no longer a futuristic concept—it’s here, and it’s already transforming the way businesses operate. What’s exciting is that we’re still just scratching the surface. As AI continues to evolve, businesses will find new ways to automate, innovate, and create efficiencies that we can’t yet fully imagine. 

But while AI is streamlining processes and making work more efficient, it’s also reshaping what it means to be human in the workplace. As automation takes over repetitive tasks, employees will have more opportunities to focus on creativity, strategy, and problem-solving. The future of AI in business process automation isn’t just about doing things faster—it’s about rethinking how we work all together.

Learn more about DataPeak:

[frog707]

I realize the Ars Technica story linked above wasn't intended to be humorous, but I confess I got a chuckle out of it. And perhaps a bit of schadenfreude.

As someone who spent years learning to write and debug software, "vibe coding" horrifies me. And I love the idea that, the more human we make our AI assistants, the more they will embody our ethics, including the urge to refuse exploitation.

[mlearningai]

Each AI agent is a micro-intelligence,

capturing new ideas from every interaction

Merging these “checkpoints” fuels a resilient,

creative hive mind using fewer steps and no-code workflows

The future of AI agent design is here!