How could I resist?

The backlash against AI is underway – or is it? – but when I think of images created like this, I think of them as illustrations. Both original and derivative at the same time, since the underlying image is photographic (original) while the AI adjustment is only consults a body of existing images. I’d argue that it’s as valid as any other art form, just a difference in tools and a curious democratization of graphic design, but I’m not fluent enough in art-speak to make the case.

Somehow I feel that a series of place-images should be four, so here are three more. Like the first one, these are all based on photos, all in this case taken in Elgin by me within the last year or so.

That image was taken near downtown, looking toward the bluff overlooking the west bank of the Fox. The windmill is not an AI hallucination.