We tried various platforms to see if we could come up with some AI generated cat art. While we don’t think AI will replace human artists in terms of physical art, the images they can generate with just a few prompts are pretty impressive. And they’re constantly getting better.
Also, it’s just a matter of time before someone hooks up an AI to a 3D printer and prints out a real world AI sculpture that you can touch and feel.
Back to the experiment: We used Bing Image Creator, which is free, and Midjourney which needs a subscription fee. Paying for Midjourney will yield better quality images with higher resolution and no watermark. This comes with a higher learning curve as well.
But to generate regular images say, for your website, Bing is perfectly adequate to the task. The prompts are simple and intuitive and there is no penalty for making mistakes. You just discard and go again.
There are many other up and coming alternatives like Leonardo.ai which are also free at the time of writing.
Cat portraits in a variety of styles, from photorealistic samurai cat, in the style of Louis Wain, and a modern surreal take
Overall, this was a fun experiment that only took me roughly a combined hour (?). I’m not sure because this was done over a few days. Every time I had an idea or was taking a work break, I would just invest a few minutes to generate a bunch of images. There were also many subpar images that the AI generated that were wonky and completely messed up the cat’s facial features.
However, some of the images it produced were really beyond my expectations. Furthermore, they were generated so quickly that I actually felt guilty that I didn’t have to put in much effort at all.
Even so, human art will always have a soul and poignancy beyond what AI can reproduce. This is just the next step in humankind’s technological journey. Let’s see where the road leads us.
Let us know what you guys think about this somewhat controversial topic, and if you guys have any of your own AI cat art to share, please send it to us at catsandcollectibles@gmail.com and we’ll feature it in an future update!
