AI Imagery: The Bizarre Reality of ‘Weird’ Fingers

She has a lovely face, but she has three fingers on one hand and three on the other. Or is it four?

Since the Pepperoni Hug Spot Artificial Intelligence Commercial terrified us in ’23, AI imagery has made us laugh and scream by attempting to show us how we look from its perspective, often missing the mark along the way. If something’s wrong with an AI-generated picture, the anomalies begin with people’s hands and fingers.

Ask any novice artist, and they’ll tell you how hard it is to draw fingers. AI can easily make many great-looking digits, but it’s not exactly sure how many are needed to make a proper human hand.

It’s a bizarre but fascinating outcome, especially how it does it so seamlessly. I couldn’t draw a hand to save myself, but AI can add a finger without it looking absurd! (Sometimes, it forgets them, too!)

When I asked AI to make images for two blogs I wrote about photography and writing, I didn’t see the extra (or missing) finger. It wasn’t until the post was about to be sent out to the ‘net that I saw the error. If that wasn’t enough, extra hands (even arms) appeared out of nowhere for another post!

Here’s AI’s effort for one of my latest posts. It involved someone lying on their back, listening to a vinyl record while looking at the LP’s sleeve.

Sure, that works.

It’s not until you take a second glance that you see the problem. That’s what I mean. AI makes it look so plausible!

Another blog about date nights for married couples generated this freakish outcome.

Some women believe men already have too many hands!

I use AI imagery to support my writing. It’s a simple companion process. After I’ve finished a piece, I’ll hand it over to AI for analysis. AI returns its visual interpretation of what the text said. Sometimes, the interpretation is poor, and a second attempt is required to get things right.

Here’s that second attempt to get my music lover perfected. Which way is she lying? And where’s that extra finger coming from?

It isn’t good. And see? You have to check those hands before publishing! (and feet)

It took five attempts to prepare a suitable image for the blog (and it wasn’t exactly what I imagined). The album sleeve I requested never appeared. AI continually returned a book-like object with a spine. It seems album sleeves have been lost to AI’s creative brain.

Yes, another bit of leg-flesh makes a guest appearance, but I can live with that. It takes many moments to see it.

On a side note, AI images introduce other elements into scenes without prompting. I don’t mind, as it often adds context and depth to the picture, but I find what it decides to include interesting. For instance, when I challenged AI to develop my vinyl record images, it incorporated elements of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Brown tones and crocheted items appear, too. It’s something many people won’t immediately see.

I enjoy watching AI generate its results. I love the extra fingers, the weird arms, the twisted spines, and all the creative inclusions (and exclusions) that come with them. They are amusing and disturbing.

Now, isn’t it time for you to experiment with AI and see how often it misunderstands the human hand?

-Michael Forman (Author)

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