The 12 page picture book was created using ChatGPT from OpenAI and MidJourney. The book that was created in a matter of a couple of days was printed and sold on Amazon as well!
Author (?) Ammaar Reshi took to microblogging site Twitter to narrate this experience. In a thread of tweets he said, “I spent the weekend playing with ChatGPT, MidJourney, and other AI tools… and by combining all of them, published a children’s book co-written and illustrated by AI!"
“In a weekend, from idea, to illustrations, to becoming a publisher author!" Reshi in his Twitter thread shows how he took a prompt to ChatGPT and created the book idea, which he furthered to MidJourney and got the desired (?) illustrations!
However, this viral thread has netizens in debates. Artists and creatives have been in two minds about the take over of AI in a world dominated by creative and innovative storytellers, of imaginators!
The book triggered a debate on the ethical aspect of an art, a text by an AI. Indirect plagiarism, is what creatives have accused the AI of. Many argued that the technology preys on artists and other creatives—using their hard work as source material, while raising the specter of replacing them.
According to his Twitter bio, Reshi is a product designer from the San Francisco Bay Area. He assembled (?) the book called Alice and Sparkle, which is a conversation he had about ChatGPT about a little girl called Alice.
“Anyone can use these tools," Reshi told TIME. “It’s easily and readily accessible, and it’s not hard to use either."
The book however, was replete with odd edges. The AI-generated illustrations had a number of issues: some fingers looked like claws, objects were floating, and the shadowing was off in some areas.
Alice and Sparkle follows a young girl who builds her own artificial intelligence robot that becomes self aware and capable of making its own decisions. According to TIME, Reshi has sold about 70 copies through Amazon since Dec. 4, earning royalties of less than $200. He plans to donate additional copies to his local library.
