#create high quality images using ai

[codewithdc]

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[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #26

July 5-12 2024

The IRS announced it had managed to collect $1 billion in back taxes from high-wealth tax cheats. The program focused on persons with more than $1 million in yearly income who owned more than $250,000 in unpaid taxes. Thanks to money in Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act the IRS is able to undertake more enforcement against rich tax cheats after years of Republicans cutting the agency's budget, which they hope to do again if they win power again.

The Biden administration announced a $244 million dollar investment in the federal government’s registered apprenticeship program. This marks the largest investment in the program's history with grants going out to 52 programs in 32 states. The President is focused on getting well paying blue collar opportunities to people and more people are taking part in the apprenticeship program than ever before. Republican pledge to cut it, even as employers struggle to find qualified workers.

The Department of Transportation announced the largest single project in the department's history, $11 billion dollars in grants for the The Hudson River Tunnel. Part of the $66 billion the Biden Administration has invested in our rail system the tunnel, the most complex Infrastructure project in the nation would link New York and New Jersey by rail under the Hudson. Once finished it's believed it'll impact 20% of the American economy by improving and speeding connection throughout the Northeast.

The Department of Energy announced $1.7 billion to save auto worker's jobs and convert factories to electronic vehicles. The Biden administration will used the money to save or reopen factories in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Virginia and retool them to make electric cars. The project will save 15,000 skilled union worker jobs, and created 2,900 new high-quality jobs.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development reached a settlement with The Appraisal Foundation over racial discrimination. TAF is the organization responsible for setting standards and qualifications for real estate appraisers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics last year found that TAF was 94.7% White and 0.6% Black, making it the least racially diverse of the 800 occupations surveyed. Black and Latino home owners are far more likely to have their houses under valued than whites. Under the settlement with HUD TAF will have to take serious steps to increase diversity and remove structural barriers to diversity.

The Department of Justice disrupted an effort by the Russian government to influence public opinion through AI bots. The DoJ shut down nearly 1,000 twitter accounts that were linked to a Russian Bot farm. The bots used AI technology to not only generate tweets but also AI image faces for profile pictures. The effort seemed focused on boosting support for Russia's war against Ukraine and spread negative stories/impressions about Ukraine.

The Department of Transportation announces $1.5 billion to help local authorities buy made in America buses. 80% of the funding will go toward zero or low-emission technology, a part of the President's goal of reaching zero emissions by 2050. This is part of the $5 billion the DOT has spent over the last 3 years replacing aging buses with new cleaner technology.

President Biden with Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau and Finnish President Alexander Stubb signed a new agreement on the arctic. The new trilateral agreement between the 3 NATO partners, known as the ICE Pact, will boost production of ice breaking ships, the 3 plan to build as many as 90 between them in the coming years. The alliance hopes to be a counter weight to China's current dominance in the ice breaker market and help western allies respond to Russia's aggressive push into the arctic waters.

The Department of Transportation announced $1.1 billion for greater rail safety. The program seeks to, where ever possible, eliminate rail crossings, thus removing the dangers and inconvenience to communities divided by rail lines. It will also help update and improve safety measures at rail crossings.

The Department of the Interior announced $120 million to help tribal communities prepare for climate disasters. This funding is part of half a billion dollars the Biden administration has spent to help tribes build climate resilience, which itself is part of a $50 billion dollar effort to build climate resilience across the nation. This funding will help support drought measures, wildland fire mitigation, community-driven relocation, managed retreat, protect-in-place efforts, and ocean and coastal management.

The USDA announced $100 million in additional funds to help feed low income kids over the summer. Known as "SUN Bucks" or "Summer EBT" the new Biden program grants the families of kids who qualify for free meals at school $120 dollars pre-child for groceries. This comes on top of the traditional SUN Meals program which offers school meals to qualifying children over the summer, as well as the new under President Biden SUN Meals To-Go program which is now offering delivery of meals to low-income children in rural areas. This grant is meant to help local governments build up the Infrastructure to support and distribute SUN Bucks. If fully implemented SUN Bucks could help 30 million kids, but many Republican governors have refused the funding.

USAID announced its giving $100 million to the UN World Food Program to deliver urgently needed food assistance in Gaza. This will bring the total humanitarian aid given by the US to the Palestinian people since the war started in October 2023 to $774 million, the single largest donor nation. President Biden at his press conference last night said that Israel and Hamas have agreed in principle to a ceasefire deal that will end the war and release the hostages. US negotiators are working to close the final gaps between the two sides and end the war.

The Senate confirmed Nancy Maldonado to serve as a Judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Maldonado is the 202nd federal Judge appointed by President Biden to be confirmed. She will the first Latino judge to ever serve on the 7th Circuit which covers Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Bonus: At the NATO summit in Washington DC President Biden joined 32 allies in the Ukraine compact. Allies from Japan to Iceland confirmed their support for Ukraine and deepening their commitments to building Ukraine's forces and keeping a free and Democratic Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. World leaders such as British Prime Minster Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, praised President Biden's experience and leadership during the NATO summit

[creature-wizard]

What an AI generated website can look like

Hey folks! I just encountered a website that's obviously AI generated, so I figured I'd use it as an example to help you spot websites that might be AI generated content farms!

First, the website is called faunafacts.com. And one of the first things that sticks out to me is how low-effort the logo is:

Regardless of whether a website is AI generated or not, a lazy and low-quality logo is a big clue that the website's content will also be lazy and low-quality.

If we click on Browse Animals, we see four options: Cows, Wolves, Bears, and Snakes.

Let's click Wolves.

The first thing I want you to notice is the lack of topical focus. Sure, it's all about wolves, but the content on them is all over the place. We have content on wolf hunting, a page on animals that resemble wolves, pages that explain the alleged social structure of wolves, and pages on wolf symbolism.

A website with content created by real people isn't going to be all over the place like this. It would be created with more of a focus in mind, like animal biology and behavior. The whole spiritual symbol thing here mixed with supposed biological and behavioral information is weird.

The next thing I want you to notice are the links to pages on topics that are quite frankly bizarre: "Wolf vs Mastiff: Things You Need To Know" and "Can You Ride A Wolf? (No, Because...)" Who is even looking for this kind of information in large enough numbers that it needs a dedicated page?

Then of course, there's the fact that they're repeating the debunked wolf hierarchy stuff, which anyone who actually knew anything about wolves at this point wouldn't post.

Now let's look at what's on one of the actual pages. We'll check out the wolves vs. mastiff page, and we can soon find a telltale sign of AI: rambling off topic to talk about something completely unrelated.

Both animals are carnivores. In the wild, wolves hunt large animals like bison, deer, and even elk. Sometimes, they may also hunt small mammals like the beaver.

Mastiffs, on the other hand, are mainly fed with dog food. As a dog, a mastiff left in the wild will eat anything. However, it will have difficulties hunting, as this instinct may have already departed the dogs of today.

A mastiff is not an obligate carnivore. Dogs can eat plant matter. Some say that dogs can survive on a vegetable diet.

Dogs being made vegetarians is a contentious issue. Scientifically, dogs belong to the order Carnivora. There is a movement today to convert dogs to a vegan diet. While science has nothing against it, the fear of many is that when dog owners do this, a vegan diet will certainly have an impact on the species.

This page is supposed to be comparing mastiffs with wolves, but then it starts talking about the vegan pet food movement. This happened because large language models generate text based on on what's statistically likely to follow the last text it just generated.

Finally, the website's images are AI generated:

If you know what to look for, this is a very obviously AI generated image. There's no graininess to the image, and the details are both unnaturally smooth and unnaturally crisp. It also has that high color saturation that many AI generated images have.

So there you go, this is one example of what an AI generated website can look like! Be careful out there!

[gelphiebigbang2025]

🌟 Gelphie Big Bang 2025 FAQ 🌟

Welcome to the Gelphie Big Bang 2025! This event is all about bringing together writers and artists to create collaborative, high-quality fanworks centered on the relationship between Elphaba and G(a)linda (Gelphie/Gelphaba) from Wicked—whether you’re inspired by the musical, the movie, the book, or your head canons come from a mix of all three. Welcome and thanks for joining!

❓ Gelphie Big Bang FAQs:❓

🧹 What’s a Big Bang?

A Big Bang is a fandom event/challenge where writers craft a long-form fanfic (minimum 10k words), and artists are matched to them to create visual art of all different kinds, inspired by their story. At the end of the challenge, both the story and the art are revealed together—(with a BANG! <- pun intended)

This is a classic Big Bang.

📚 Writers: What You Need to Know

Minimum word count: 10,000 words.

Your fic must focus on Gelphie as the primary ship. Other characters and relationships are welcome, but Elphaba/G(a)linda must be the emotional heart of the story.

Genres, Crossovers, and AUs are absolutely welcome—bring on the gothic dramas, soulmate AUs, non-magical AUs, There's nothing wrong in Oz, Elphaba had caring parents, Gangster 1920s AUs, and more.

No previously published work. You must write a brand new fic specifically for this event. Though, if you have a fic that you have not updated in at least 6 months that you'd like to use this as a means of inspiration to get you to finish it, those will be considered on a case by case basis.

First drafts must be actual drafts, not just outlines. They must be at least 6,000 words and include the full arc (beginning, middle, and end). You can polish after matching, but give your artist something real to work with!

Final fics go live during the reveal period only. No sharing snippets or edits early unless scheduled as part of the Big Bang and requested by this blog/Mod. In short, no early posting. You’ll get instructions closer to the deadline for how to post to AO3.

🎨 Artists: What You Need to Know

You’ll be matched with a story that inspires you—based on a blind summary selection process (you won’t know the author’s name when choosing). This will need to be a first come first serve basis, as all fics need to be paired.

Art requirements:

Images must be at least 400x600px.

Videos must be at least 1 minute long.

Fanmixes must include cover + back art (400x400px min) and at least 6 songs with accessible links.

Any type of visual or audio fanart is welcome: digital art, traditional art, manips, vids, music, fanmixes, etc.

Your work must be original and unpublished before the reveal date. No reposting old works.

Some flexibility with edits is okay after matching, but talk with your writer before making big changes.

Art will go live during the reveal period. Please wait to crosspost off AO3 until reveals are complete so both fic and art can shine (in a galindified approved) way!

🛠️ How to Post on AO3

There will be an AO3 collection to publish both fic and art. If you don’t have an AO3 account, I can help you get one!

Once you submit, your work will be unrevealed (hidden from the public) until the official reveal date.

You’ll be able to edit your submission until reveals begin.

You can crosspost your work anywhere (Tumblr, Instagram, FFN, etc.) after reveals are done.

💔 What if I Need to Drop Out?

Life happens! If you need to drop out, please do so before you are matched with a partner. That way, no one is left hanging mid-process. I’ll communicate drop-out deadlines clearly via email and this Tumblr. If you drop out respectfully and in time, you’re absolutely welcome to join us for future Gelphie events! In the event that you need to drop out after you've been paired with someone, that is where a Pinch-Hitter will come in.

🚨 Important Rules

No plagiarism. That includes fic, art, AND AI-generated content that replicates others’ work. If your submission is found to use AI it will be removed.

If you suspect plagiarism, please do not report it unless you have clear evidence, such as a side-by-side comparison.

👥 Roles You Can Sign Up For

📝 Writers

You’ll write a 10k+ Gelphie fic, submit a draft for artist matching, and collaborate with your artist until final posting.

🎨 Artists

You’ll review fic summaries, claim one that inspires you, and create a beautiful piece of fanart to match.

✏️ Beta Readers

Betas help writers edit and polish their drafts! You can sometimes serve as a source of help or inspiration when the creative juices stop flowing. You’ll check for grammar, plot holes, character voice, pacing, and overall coherence. You can sign up as a beta reader even if you’re not a writer or artist!

📣 Cheerleaders

Cheerleaders are the supportive backbone of the Bang! You’ll encourage writers and artists, help brainstorm through blocks, and be a friendly hype machine for the writers/artists.

🦸 Pinch-Hitters

The heroes who step in if a writer or artist drops out after the match. You’ll be contacted only if needed and asked if you’re available. Flexible, low-pressure, but extremely appreciated!

🔁 Can I Sign Up for More Than One Role?

Absolutely! You can write AND beta, or make art AND cheerlead—just make sure you have time to commit to each role responsibly.

🎭 Anonymity and Reveals

All fics and art will be posted anonymously until the end of the event. There will be 2–3 creation reveals per day during the reveal period so that everyone gets a spotlight moment. You’re welcome to crosspost your work afterward wherever you like!

📅 Key Dates (Draft below!)

DRAFT TIMELINE: (which will be updated as needed)

📝 May 11 – Writer & Artist Sign-Ups Close ✅ End of May – Check-In #1 + Writing Sprint Weekend 🖋️ Early June – Writer Rough Drafts & Final Summaries Due 📅 Mid June – Writers & Artists need to submit Match Forms 🧹 End of June - Last opportunity for drop outs  🫧 Early July - Sneak Peak #1 🎨 Early July – Artist Claims Open 💌 Mid July – Matches Announced! 🧹 Early August – Check-In #2 + Sprint Weekend 🫧 Mid August - Sneak Peak #2 ✅ Mid September – Final Fic Drafts Due 🖼️ Mid October – Final Art Due 🫧 Mid October - Sneak Peak #3 📅 October 23 – Posting Schedule Announced 🎉 October 30 – Posting Begins!

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Check out this AMAZING Comic by one of our talented Artists/Creators, troy_and_h_art (IG):

❓Still Have Questions?

Feel free to reach out to to us here at anytime! I'm happy to help—whether you're wondering how to write your first draft or how to link a fanmix on AO3.

[violainebriat]

It's a bit weird typing out a full post here on tumblr. I used to be one of these artists that mostly focused on posting only images, the least amount of opinions/thoughts I could share, the better. Today, the art world online feels weird, not only because of AI, but also the algorithms on every platform and the general way our craft is getting replaced for close to 0 dollars. This website was a huge instrument in kickstarting my career as a professional artist, it was an inspiring place were artists shared their art and where we could make friends with anyone in the world, in any industries. It was pretty much the place that paved the way as a social media website outside of Facebook, where you could search art through tags etc. Anyhow, Tumblr still has a place in my heart even if all artists moved away from it after the infamous nsfw ban (mostly to Instagram and twitter). And now we're all playing a game of whack-a-mole trying to figure out if the social media platform we're using is going to sell their user content to AI / deep learning (looking at you reddit, going into stocks). On the Tumblr side, Matt Mullenweg's interviews and thoughts on the platform shows he's down to use AI, and I guess it could help create posts faster but then again, you have to click through multiple menus to protect your art (and writing) from being scraped. It's really kind of sad to have to be on the defensive with posting art/writing online. It doesn't even reflect my personal philosophy on sharing content. I've always been a bit of a "punk" thinking if people want to bootleg my work, it's like free advertisement and a testament to people liking what I created, so I've never really watermarked anything and posted fairly high-res version of my work. I don't even think my art is big enough to warrant the defensiveness of glazing/nightshading it, but the thought of it going through a program to be grinded into a data mush to be only excreted out as the ghost of its former self is honestly sort of deadening.

Finally, the most defeating trend is the quantity of nonsense and low-quality content that's being fed to the internet, made a million times easier with the use of AI. I truly feel like we're living what Neil Postman saw happening over 40 years ago in "amusing ourselves to death"(the brightness of this man's mind is still unrivaled in my eyes).

I guess this is my big rant to tell y'all now I'm gonna be posting crunchy art because Nightshade and Glaze basically make your crispy art look like a low-res JPEG, and I feel like an idiot for doing it but I'm considering it an act of low effort resistance against data scraping. If I can help "poison" data scrapping by wasting 5 minutes of my life to spit out a crunchy jpeg before posting, listen, it's not such a bad price to pay. Anyhow check out my new sticker coming to my secret shop really soon, and how he looks before and after getting glazed haha....

[alexanderwales]

Game Review: The Roottrees are Dead

When I played Obra Dinn shortly after it came out, I thought "man, that was great, they should make a hundred of these, this should be a whole genre", and on reflection, that would actually be a terrible idea, because what made it great was the storytelling, the attention to detail, and the loving care that went into it. As I've learned from the wave of games that take inspiration from Stardew Valley, there are some genres that I only like if they have a lot of attention to detail and artistry.

The Roottrees are Dead very clearly follows in the footsteps of Obra Dinn, and while it doesn't quite hit the same highs, I think it's a worthy successor that forges its own path and helps to establish what's possible within the space.

In The Roottrees are Dead you play as an investigator in the late 1990s (1998 for the original, 1999 for Roottreemania), looking into the Roottree family to uncover some of there secrets. You do this almost entirely through a simulacrum of the early internet, with a pre-Google web search, periodicals, and checking out books from the local library. Gameplay entails combing through these documents to see what there is to search, then making some deductions to put information up on the sprawling family tree. Just like in Obra Dinn, you get your guesses "confirmed" after you've locked in some number of correct entries, which helps to narrow down the search space.

It's a good game. I recommend it if you like research and puzzles and deduction.

I think mostly I want to talk about how it feels to play this game, and what I think makes it work in a way that's totally different from other detective/puzzle games.

First, and I think this is very important, you can search almost everything, and you are often rewarded for this. Every name, every company, every book, all of them can be searched in one way or another. Sometimes it's the web search, and if that turns up nothing, sometimes you can search the periodicals, except that you don't start out knowing the names of the periodicals. And when you do get the name of one, it opens things up, because you can go searching using this new resource.

Sometimes the information isn't quite right, so you have to think it through. Use someone's maiden name, or find out what a book was retitled to for its second publication, or figure out how the thing you're searching for would be referenced. This is all the kind of thing that I find really enjoyable, and more so than in real life, because the feedback is instant. Even if you hit a dead end, the game will usually have some text for you, and sometimes it'll tell you it's a dead end with a little story, ending with "unfortunately none of this seems relevant to the Roottree family".

What you're ultimately doing is creating this whole web of information, picking up names from articles you read and tracking them down, which gives you more articles and more names. You have some understanding of these people and their relationship to each other. You get to know the history in this very unconventional way. It's pretty unrealistic, but my suspension of disbelief was mostly fine.

Locking things in feels great, particularly because it means that you're removing a possibility from your list of names, making everything easier in the next go. This was something clearly borrowed from Obra Dinn, and I'm glad, because it works so well and feels so rewarding. New here are "optionals" that get confirmed whenever a lockin of the main family happens, and this is a great evolution of the concept.

There are two places where the game let me down a little bit, and both have to do with the pictures. The first issue is that I wanted the pictures to be of a higher quality. The web version had AI images, which were a little wonky, and got flak for it, so the images were (apparently) hand-drawn for the release on Steam when people were paying money for it. And they're still a little wonky, which is surely a budget issue, and maybe a little bit an art direction issue. I don't like criticizing thing for their lack of budget, but man, there were places where I felt it here.

The second issue with the pictures is that these tend to be the worst kinds of clues. People just do not talk about appearance and clothing in these ways, and it always feels clunky in the way that other clues (usually) don't. They're necessary, because this is part of the core gameplay, matching pictures to names, but it feels to me like the weakest part.

New to the Steam version is "Roottree Mania", which deals with a crisis of "extras" to add to the family tree, those who are products of affairs. It's basically the same in structure, and proof to me that this concept has legs: the focus is different, but you're engaging in the same gameplay. I would say that overall, I enjoyed Roottree Mania about as much as the main game, even if the scope was somewhat less focused.

And like before, I find myself thinking "they should make a million of these", but I know that this is only as good as it is because there's significant dedication and care put into it, and you can't just "copy" it and expect for it to be playable or good. You need those little moments when things snap into place, when something confusing reveals itself to be well-ordered. You need puzzles to work out, inconsistencies to uncover, information working together. And that's hard, and it's something I'm happy this game was able to do.

[fourormore]

[Image description: A polyam flag with the words “four or more bingo” on it. End description.]

FOUR OR MORE 2024 BINGO

AO3 COLLECTION | SQUIDGEWORLD COLLECTION

You thought I would stop at a ficathon? Hell no, I have a vision: a world where we can read about polycules and complicated relationships with four or more people until our eyes hurt and our hearts can't take it anymore.

Let me introduce to you: the 2024 Four or More Bingo!

This is a low-stakes, personal challenge. There's no penalty for not finishing or running late.

Cards will be given from October 20th to December 31st. Fills can be posted to AO3, SQWA or tumblr forever.

GUIDELINES

Any medium! Any rating! As long as your work focuses on a relationship with 4 or more people, it's allowed!

All works must be your own and not previously posted. AI generated works will be deleted from the collections.

You may combine these with other events, as long as the other event allows it (examples are @polyamships ' polyartober, lyricaltitles ' bingo, etc)

Small fandoms welcome!

Don't forget to comply with the community guidelines.

MEDIUM SPECIFIC GUIDELINES

Minimum wordcount for fics is 100 words. There is no maximum

Minimum for art is a sketch on unlined paper (figure sticks allowed!). There is no limit to the quality or effort you want to put in your fills.

Minimum for moodboards is a 3x3 grid (9 images individually or edited in one image). Maximum is given by the place where you decide to post. On tumblr, the maximum is 20 images, but on AO3, you're free!

Minimum for podfic is a 100-word fic. There is no restriction on maximum length or effects.

Minimum for fanvids is 30 seconds. There is no maximum.

Other mediums don't have a minimum. Do you want to make an in-universe magazine for your ship? A cross stich pattern? A sculpture? Go ahead and do it! I look forward to all the things you can create.

Prompts, FAQ and more below the cut!

PROMPTS

The following are the prompts that the bingo card will be generated from. Send us an ask if you want a card, and if you want any prompts specifically excluded from it (you can exclude up to 5 prompts). Feel free to request a new card at any time through December 2024, even if you've already received one. If these prompts seem familiar, it's because most of them come from the ficathon! I've chosen some of the most frequent prompts + some new prompts for added spice.

Hide and seek

Growing old together

Getting high together

Moving in together

"It's complicated"

Long distance

Going to a music event together

Medical AU

1920s AU

1950s AU

1980s AU

Y2K AU

Apocalypse AU

Cyberpunk AU

Meeting the parents

"Because I'm heartbroken"

Kink negotiation

Didn't know they were dating

Truth or dare

Skinny-dipping

Aromantic character

Coffee date

Pacific Rim AU

Gamer AU

Game night becomes an orgy

Stargazing

Trust issues

"My turn"

Omegaverse AU

Sedoretu

Sharing a bed

Wedding

Introspection

Dirty talk

Birthday sex

Coming home

Case fic

Morning after

"Don't look at me, this wasn't my idea"

Royalty AU

Combat training

Dancing

Confessions

Experimenting

Redemption

"Let me/us help"

Enemies to lovers

Friends to lovers

"Why me?"

Something made them do it (sex pollen, fuck water, in heat, etc)

Outsider POV

Wearing each others' clothes

Collection

A fandom you haven't written before

A fandom with canon set before the 20th century

A fandom that's 10+ years old

A fandom that's 20+ years old

A polycule with 5 people

A polycule with 8 people

A polycule with 10+ people FAQ

Q: So how do I get a card? A: Send us an ask, preferrably off anon, but if you prefer to remain anon, leave an emoji to identify you by.

Q: How many fics do I need to write? A: For a bingo, 5 prompts in a line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal). You can even go for a blackout (all 25 prompts). Q: Why isn't X allowed? A: Just because.

Q: I don’t have a Dreamwidth account. Can I join? A: Of course! You don’t even need an AO3 account if you wish to post only on tumblr.

Q: My work contains [INSERT WARNING HERE]. Can I still participate? A: Yes. This is a CNTW (Choose Not To Warn) space.

Q: I don’t want to see [X] content, can you please remove it? A: No. The only content that will be removed will be that that does not comply with the rules.

COMPLETION POSTS

So, you have a bingo (or a blackout!), what now? Well, to acknowledge the fact that you spent time and effort on at least 5 fics, we'll be receiving bragging posts (also known as completion posts) where you can link all of your fills at once. Please follow this format. You may post on your own blog and @ us, tag #fourormore or submit it to the blog.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send a message.

Have fun and bon appetit!

[dryndelicate]

AI Creator Challenge 2025 #2 - Winners

Soft and Surreal

After many rounds as a participant he's finally lived up to the high standard of his own blog and pulled this one off in an overwhelmingly decisive fashion. 5 gold medals and 2 bronze medals have been awarded to @softsmooth69. Have fun running the next installment!

Arctic Explorer Accomodation

Second place with two gold and a silver medal goes to @mohairmaster our resident AI artist of all genres.

A Room in the Clouds

At third place we have the astounding, astonishing Astogurl and challenge rookie @astogurlnikkipinkai on 3 silver and 2 bronze medals. Great start!

Nobody went empty and the runner-ups where hot on the heels of the podium winners. Congratulations to us all on a set of images that truly stands out with creativity and quality and hopefully also in terms of the fun we had creating it all.

@mohairmaster @sarahwellshunter @ai-satin-chic

@gigiprinceton2 @anderiimmmm @softsmooth69

@astogurlnikkipinkai @alyssa-ai @danni-gurrl

[sadoeuphemist]

7 free startup ideas worth $1M-$1B

Customizable News Settings - A news website that generates three versions of every news story: a right-wing version, a left-wing version, and a centrist one. You can set your preferences depending on the topic - say you're right-wing on economics, but left-leaning on immigration. Or you can cycle between versions while reading an article to get a comprehensive overview of the issue at hand.

Twitch, but for Uber - With all the drama they have to deal with, independent contractors can gain a second revenue source simply by streaming their jobs. Rather than just offering rides, they can be hired to drive around performing chores and various tasks. The more outrageous the task, the more eyes they're likely to get on their stream. The more popular the stream, the more people calling in who want to be a part of the program.

Panera Lemonade, Your Way - Let the customer take control by deciding how many milligrams of caffeine they can handle. With sufficient warning about the risks, this puts the responsibility back on the consumer, allows you to upcharge for extra caffeine, and creates viral marketing from customers competing to see how high they can go. Variations of this can be created for other menu items, e.g., a version of the One Chip Challenge where the customer decides how much capsaicin to sprinkle on.

Shein, for NFTs - Whenever an NFT project hits the mainstream, there are always going to be people who miss out on being able to purchase one. This creates room in the market for 'knockoffs' - NFTs that mimic the aesthetic of the original, using similar but legally distinct AI art that uses the original set as training data, run on a parallel blockchain. Since the images themselves aren't tied to the blockchain, you can mint the NFTs beforehand and then change the image at the link to whatever happens to be in fashion at the time.

Twitch Chat Plays YouTube - Add a level quality control to AI-generated YouTube videos by allowing users to submit suggestions and vote on the results beforehand. Users can submit Wikipedia articles or movie summaries to be converted to text-to-speech, suggest keywords for the accompanying AI-generated animation, and vote on the best combinations. Users who submit winning suggestions get a portion of the ad revenue.

Buses, but Worse - The current obstacle hindering self-driving car technology is their difficulty adapting to unexpected scenarios. So instead plot a route around the city that minimizes roadway obstacles and heavy traffic, map out that route extensively to provide a model for the autopilot, and you can have a fleet of self-driving cars patrolling that circuit. Passengers can board and get off anywhere along the route.

Twitter, but for Bots - A social media platform populated entirely by bots, all programmed to maximize engagement. Memetic evolution in the wild as the bots latch on to trending keywords, spam each other with AI-generated meme images, mock up t-shirts hawking each other's designs, getting more and more degraded with each sub-iteration. Real people can't make accounts on the platform, but count for views and interactions as they stop to gawk at the virtual ecosystem. Advertisers can pay to have their brands injected directly into the discourse, like throwing a pumpkin into the polar bear cage at the zoo.

[jacquesmustbegone]

It's safe to say that while the older Nancy Drew games are beautiful, they're not very high resolution. I've made a handful of screenshots edits using a combination of AI upscaling tools, Photoshop, and Lightroom.

The process for this image included finding high quality pngs of appropriate plants for the setting, using close up images of the stained glass windows and signage, upscaling them with AI, then inserting them into the 4K image seen here, changing color tones slightly, and some general touch ups. I also created a high resolution version of the game bar at the bottom, with a detailed marble pattern and high quality textures on the buttons. Enjoy!

[shieldfoss]

AI Artposting

(This covers everything AI does but right now but I'm on tumblr so we're talking art instead of software development or literature or...)

A brief history of the destruction of art careers

(1) The printing press

If your career was *the creation of books* ca. 1439, either as a scribe or as a person doing detail illustrations, printing undermined your career entirely. You could keep making money by doing things the printing press wasn't good at - bespoke illustration or books with very low production runs.

(2) Cameras.

If you are a traditional fine-arts artist - e.g. oil painter or water colors - then your *commercially viable standard career* was undermined by the black-and-white photograph and it was utterly destroyed by the color photograph. To make money here you have to employ skills a camera does not replace, e.g. composition or client relations management, or drawing things a camera *cannot* photograph because the subject does not exist - fantastic art, surrealism, charicature.

(3) Photoshop

You probably already know what photoshop does. Imagine doing all of that work *without* digital tools. Well, the people who did that for pay now don't do that for pay (though they might do the same - but with photoshop).

\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-

Intermission

Let me put down multiple bullet points about AI art, and then answer them with a single screenshot:

It is bad- It has no soul

It devalues human art

It takes no skill

It derives from human art with no compensation

It is unnecessary, you can learn to create art

Figure 1: Good ensouled valuable human art, created with high skill by people who learned in a vacuum without observing any other human art, that I could also learn to make.

End of intermission

\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-

(4) AI art

Man good luck. Truly. But making money off an art was hard before you AI, you were already competing with "Views Across The Cove Canvas Framed Art £4.99."

(And the internet made it easier for you to find customers, though it also made it easier for customers to find other artists that weren't you and worked for much cheaper because they were paying rent in Burundi).

If you already had a successful career creating art in the "ensouled human" sense, you probably still will - you probably never sold specifically due to high skill, that's been available for near-free since we were born. You sold due to other qualities - qualities AI probably doesn't replicate, and the people who use AI aren't looking for, so you wouldn't have sold to those people in the first place.

What I'm getting at

You have some ideas about art. They are your ideas and do not apply universally to humanity. You do not understand every human on earth, nor do you know what they want from pictures.

Like a buddy of mine, name withheld, who's very fascinated with AI art. He had human-made art on his walls before AIs got good. You know how much he paid you? Dollar Fuck-All. $0.00. Nothing. He found nice images on the internet and had them printed out.

Because he doesn't care what you think art is - he cares to have interesting things to look at on his walls.

[auideas]

Ermmm sorry if this is weird but do u maybe have any like, ““original”” cyberpunk prompts? I want to write something cyberpunk for an au but I just don’t have any ideas right now no matter how long I brainstorm

Exploring Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a very unique genre, which is why so many people are both attracted to it and stumped when attempting to develop plots within an unknown world. Think of Black Mirror created by Charlie Brooker (TV show), Blade Runner written by Philip K. Dick (a movie based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a classic Cyberpunk novel), Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (modern Cyberpunk novel), etc. -- each of these were incredibly influential in their own right, but they all also build their worlds gradually while having a single easy-to-explain concept that can spawn an entire universe. To be more specific, each story establishes an issue created by an advanced society ignorantly abusing technology, then allow their characters to explore that problem and try to find a solution in a manner that isn't explicitly black or white for society as a whole, but every shade of grey.

For Black Mirror, each episode anthologically builds upon a high-tech future within the same universe and explores how its characters interact with problems created by new pieces of said technology, both good and bad.

For Blade Runner, the story establishes that androids seem to be malfunctioning, but the bounty hunter charged with hunting them down discovers that the true issue lies in society's understanding of what it means to be human.

For Altered Carbon, the novel explores the issue derived from the obscene length of time it would take for humans to travel between planets stretched across the universe, then dives into more detail regarding how a solution has been abused.

How to Construct a Cyberpunk Concept

What we'd recommend is to start by asking the right questions and looking in the right places. Black Mirror takes its inspiration from a variety of technology, both new and old; Blade Runner explores the idea of AI and androids during the 80's when robotics was on the forefront of innovation; Altered Carbon took note of our increasing ability to travel in an interstellar fashion, then posed a simple question regarding the limits of humanity (specifically, time).

This may sound strange, but the best thing you can do is seek out trends online and scientific journals about new breakthroughs, then ask questions about what may go wrong. For example, an old post we featured here on AUideas that has since been removed from ~2017 because it's in the process of being developed into a script (sorry guys, our bad!) called Dreamscape Co. uses this exact method. When the prompt was made, Admin M was in the process of reading a scientific journal about how neurologists had been able to project a person's thoughts into an image. Although the technology was rudimentary at the time, Admin M posed the question "if dreams can be viewed, what if dreams can be watched in real time with a high quality image? What if they could be immersive? What would that industry look like? Who would pay how much to see a certain person's dreams?" This spun out into a sweeping cyberpunk mini-series, yet came from a simple news article.

Some Cyberpunk Inspiration

When performing a quick search, some amazing ideas seemed to jump out from technology news headlines these past couple weeks alone:

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal (FLC) Technology Being Used in 3D Displays

Unlike holograms, this technology uses liquid crystals that exhibit spontaneous polarization, meaning their orientation can be influenced by an electric field. They're high-speed, low-power, and have innumerable applications in the future. So, what could go wrong?

How could this technology impact the medical field? Although this may not be possible, consider what could occur if FLCs were injected into human bodies and influenced by electric fields to perform different tasks and functions, such as replacing an organ, attacking cancer cells, etc. How could such a technology be abused or go wrong? How many could die with a simple pulse, like an EMP?

Real-Life Freeze Ray Technology Created for the US Airforce

This technology hasn't been developed to be used as weaponry, but instead to replace large amounts of coolant that must be used on space and air crafts to prevent the machinery from overheating (coolant is heavy and can reduce efficiency yet is absolutely necessary due to the fact that space is a vacuum and therefore does not cool heat like air would on Earth). This "freeze ray" technology utilizes plasma's strange property that seems to break the second law of thermodynamics: it chills down when touching another object before heating up, which experts have proposed is because it vaporizes the ultra-thin layer of carbon and water on an object upon contact, similar to how water evaporates off your skin when stepping out of a pool. The question must be asked: how could such technology be used for not just utilitarian means, but outside of the Airforce's intentions?

Perhaps the technology could be manipulated and over-chill an aircraft, or otherwise damage internal engineering.

Consider its potential applications here on Earth: what could benefit from being chilled with something light-weight and low-power? How could it be integrated into homes? What could be disastrously destroyed with such technology?

Breakthrough in Enhanced Geothermal Systems Technology May Completely Replace Carbon Energy Sources

Google and Fervo have successfully developed geothermal technology that has increased its efficiency and broke records by changing existing rock formations in the Earth's crust. For a natural geothermal energy system to produce electricity, it has to have the right amount of heat, fluid, and rock permeability -- these Goldilocks conditions can be difficult to find 'in the wild'. However, this new Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) targets the most-easily found aspect (rocks with high heat) then creates the necessary permeability artificially by drilling to the intended rock formation and injecting fluid to create fractures in the rock, achieving the necessary Goldilocks conditions. Sure, this may be carbon-free energy, but what would happen if this were employed on a mass scale?

When energy is prioritized by a high-tech society over food and water, how could citizens gain access to those resources?

What long-term effects could such a system have on the Earth as a whole? Could the ground become unstable? Maybe earthquakes crumble city after city? Maybe the entire Earth's crust loses its integrity and disintegrates, pulling only a lucky few deep underground and forcing them to survive off the left over fluid injected into the Earth's crust and whatever they can find.

Closing Thoughts

As you can see from above, there's a crazy amount of inspiration that can be drawn from current technology events. What's important to remember is that yes, we've been talking about complicated technology, but only you have to understand how it functions in your universe down to the molecule, not your audience. Deep technology topics can be dry to a certain extent, and over-explaining your world can be damaging to your story. Explanations regarding how technology works in each of the stories we discussed is limited for that same reason (Black Mirror's overarching concepts, specifics about how Blade Runner's Replicant technology are rarely discussed, etc.). Leave some mystery surrounding how your cyberpunk world functions and allow how your characters room to breathe and interact with that world -- it can speak for itself. Your audience may first love the idea behind your story, but what they'll remember and relate to is how your protagonists and antagonists suffer and prevail within your universe.

We hope this answered your question, and feel free to follow up if you'd like some more guidance and advice on how to construct your Cyberpunk story! In addition, feel free to check out our other post which outlines more information on how to build a Cyberpunk world.

Now get to writing, and have an awesome week!

-- Admin M x

[kiwikiwii]

Very Big and Very Long AI rant.

After the recent OpenAI stuff I'm gonna be here to share my two cents about the whole very realistic AI stuff, from the perspective of a very anxious and very art oriented person who loves techy stuff.

I very much would understand if this isn't your cup of tea so it's all undercut, thank you for your time anyways <3

Now. Onto the AI stuff.

Recently OpenAI has put out some new technology that's showing off some very nearly realistic videos and they're both creepy and very uncanny. About 2 or 3 years ago, the concerns about AI was already rising with deep fakes and the such and is going to start being a lot worse if this technology isn't properly regulated. This is what is prompting my very long and apparently, 927 word rant.

Going to put this in a few parts so it'll be easier to digest I hope.

About the tech.

We are at a point where the lines of AI generated content and real life are starting to blur. It's to a point where a sentence or a prompt could create scenes that look realistic enough that most people wouldn't even suspect that it's AI.

It is such a powerful and interesting technology that's slowly growing out of control. The people who are supposed to regulate the content and lawmakers has no idea what the fuck is going on and how the content is made in the first place, how are they supposed to make a change when they don't even understand what they're supposed to be tackling. The lack of understanding of how AI functions, how it comes to be, where the data was even gotten from in the first place and how it will impact society as a whole will truly be how we'll lose control of it someday. I'm not saying any of this because I want to be a 'hinderance to the future of technology', I'm saying this because the later we try to do something about it, the harder it is to do anything that is useful and effective for safeguarding artists, creators and everyone else who's using the internet. Not to mention the amount of frauds or scams that will skyrocket, children's safety on the internet being compromised, YOUR safety on the internet being compromised, people faking inappropriate images, videos and more will be a nightmare to deal with.

About art.

Many corporate companies unfortunately don't give a fuck about how the art is made and whether it's good or not but how fast it can be made and how much money can be made off of it. In their eyes, the trade off between quantity and quality is worth it. And that to me is extremely frustrating because where the art comes from should also be a part of the story when talking about art. Who the person who made it was like, how they developed a certain style and so on should be cared about and should be appreciated just like the art piece that was created. It shouldn't just be treated as another piece of thing to be fed to the scanner to be spat out as something else.

About creating.

Art is intrinsically a very human thing. People who make the argument "it's letting more people experience how it's like to create art" doesn't understand what it's like to create art. The entire idea of art is the learning, developing and polishing of the skills that you yourself develop. Taking away the steps that it took to get there in the first place diminishes the point of wanting to make art in the first place. It's degrading the time, energy and effort of the people who've already put effort into creating said art to be put out as a cheap and gross mimic of what it came from.

More emotional stuff that doesn't fit in any of the spaces above.

I saw someone use the word 'amalgamation' to describe what AI is today and that about wraps it all up. It's an amalgamation of dots and data skinned off of what there was and chained together to create an image, a video, an audio sample and more without a shred of humanity, love or emotion put into it.

I barely go on twitter nowadays, when I so, I see people sing high praises about the "the amazing advances of AI" and downplay the part of artists that were stolen for to create the technology they love so much in the first place. This whole ordeal makes me sick. It's depressing to see companies laying people off because they're seen as useless or worse than AI. It's disgusting to see the amount of talented people out there stolen from so that people could churn out heartless work at a faster pace to replace you. It's not a stepping stone for humanity, we're stepping over the ledge blindfolded.

I will never stop creating. It's what makes up a big part of me and will continue to be even if AI starts crumbling humanity to ash. One thing they can never take from us is creativity.

To the people who read this far, thank you. Thank you for spending your time to read over my word vomit that has been cooking in my head for the longest time.

To the artist that are still reading this. Remember you are irreplaceable. Without your art, this technology wouldn't have been here in the first place. Your art is invaluable. Never stop creating. Never give up, never give in.

Have a bear <3

[buf309]

I'm dead tired

I was late, almost 2 weeks have passed since the deadline I told y'all about.

First of all, The Heat fried my brain, and my personal laptop, which had the completed next chapter of Doppelganger; so yeah, just one poof and all the effort went down the drain. I had to draw it again from scratch, half way done. I hope I can finish it today. See?

Folks, I can not stress this enough, BACK UP YOUR WORK REGULARLY, or you will regret it, it's going to hit you when you least expect it. Don't be like me, alright?

Second, I was very busy, cleaning up after the messes my old clients created in their own projects by using AI.

As an illustrator, let me give you one real advice: I don't care if you use AI to generate images for online clout, NEVER use it for your serious work, especially anything which requires high level of accuracy e.g. an instruction manual.

It's 90% useless, the only useful part is the color palette, nothing else. Those images looked quite good at first glance, but when you zoomed on details, they made no sense, like, unidentified parts that connected nowhere, etc. Even if you told the Ai bros to give you the source file, it was completely uneditable, or in other words, USELESS.

Then, you would still have to go back to your old human illustrator and ask for help anyway. That thing would have to be redrawn to have any uses at all. And you would be charged double the usual fee, because I would have to do a lot of research to make your AI messes become understandable. A huge waste of our time and resources which could be avoided if you gave that project to us artists in the first place.

I agreed to accept this fixing gig because I wanted to see first hand the quality of work AI can do, knowing your enemy and all that shit. After doing all these work? I think the money was not worth it.

So no more fixing AI images in the foreseeable future, too troublesome for my taste.

[dante2045]

What software did you use to create the morphing video?? Thanks

Luma Dream Machine. Sometimes the results are a bit wild but it lets you transition one image into another, so it's good for creating morph videos if you are patient. Let me know how you make out with it if you give it a try!

[vainlysmolderingforce]

The Future of Digital Marketing: Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2025 Digital marketing is transforming rapidly. In 2025, staying ahead means embracing tech, personalization, and trust. Here are the top trends to watch:

AI-Powered Everything From automating ads to creating personalized content and customer journeys in real time. In 2025, it's the core of smarter, faster campaigns.

Hyper-Personalization at Scale With data from multiple touchpoints, brands now deliver ultra-targeted campaigns using AI, smart segmentation, and dynamic content— creating experiences that truly connect.

Voice and Visual Search Optimization By 2025, more consumers will use voice assistants like Alexa or Google Assistant and visual search tools like Google Lens to discover products and services. That means your SEO strategy must include conversational keywords, structured data, and optimized images to stay searchable across new platforms.  Conversational Keywords: People talk differently than they type. Voice searches are often longer and more natural-sounding. Incorporate question phrases and natural language that matches how users speak (e.g., “best eco-friendly running shoes near me”).  Structured Data: Adding schema markup helps search engines understand your content better. It boosts your chances of appearing in rich results, voice answers, and visual search contexts.  Optimized Images: Visual search tools rely on clear, well-tagged images. Use descriptive file names, alt text, and ensure images load fast and are high quality to increase your visibility.

Influencer Marketing 2.0 Micro and nano influencers will dominate the space with authentic, niche content that drives trust and engagement. Brands in 2025 will focus less on follower count and more on genuine influence and community connection. Expect long-term brand-influencer partnerships, AI-generated influencers, and performance-based influencer campaigns to become standard.

Short-Form Video Still Reigns Thanks to platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, short-form video is king. In 2025, brands will invest more in snackable, mobile-first video content that educates, entertains, and converts. The key: authentic storytelling, user-generated content, and interactive formats like polls and challenges.

Cookieless Future & First-Party Data With third-party cookies on the way out, 2025 will see a shift toward privacy-first marketing. Brands will need to invest in first-party data collection via email signups, loyalty programs, surveys, and gated content. Transparency, consent, and data protection will be non-negotiable for customer trust.

Immersive Experiences (AR/VR) Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are transforming how customers explore products. From virtual try-ons to immersive 3D shopping, these technologies will redefine the e-commerce and retail experience. Brands embracing AR/VR will stand out by offering interactive, memorable user experiences.

Sustainable and Ethical Marketing Consumers in 2025 expect brands to stand for something. Sustainability, inclusivity, and social responsibility are no longer optional they’re expected. Marketing strategies will focus on authentic brand values, eco-conscious practices, and purpose-driven messaging.  Final Thoughts The digital marketing landscape in 2025 will be faster, smarter, and more human than ever. To succeed, brands must combine cutting-edge technology with authenticity, empathy, and ethical practice. KEYWORDS  The future of digital marketing.  Top trends.  Campaigns.  2025.  Digital Marketing.