Did you know that you can create a multiverse from a single photo? The below images are all based on a picture I took of a leopard in Zambia. With all the different art styles, you’d think they were crafted by dozens of artists, but all of them were actually made by AI.

Like many people, I have been wary of AI produced material, so until now, I had been avoiding it. However, after seeing some truly insane AI filters trending on TikTok and other apps, I decided to give it a try.

I started with some photos of myself and my wife, but after that, I moved on to my professional photos. The first one I tried was a green sea turtle I photographed on the Great Barrier Reef. It looked pretty cool, but the angle of the photo didn’t give me the results I wanted. So I tried some of my shark photos. That’s when things started getting wild.

With one of the apps, I was able to prompt the AI to use more or less imagination when editing my photos, allowing me to create some incredible renders. I made anime sharks, goth sharks, 3D sharks, watercolor sharks, and even Legend of Zelda sharks. Thus, the sharkiverse was born. However, not only was I able to create a sharkiverse, but I was able to bend reality itself by turning the sharks into planes, buildings, and even spaceships.

After messing around with shark photos, I tried other photos of mine. As a photographer, I have an advantage because I have thousands of photos of my own to prompt the AI. These image-to-artwork AI programs are different from the text-to-image ones because they need clear, well-framed subjects. But, even then, no two images are exactly the same.

So, as you’d expect, the results were wildly variable. The AI did not consistently interpret my photos. For example, look at this cockatoo photo. It was confusing for the AI. It kept trying to turn it into a fish because it thought the cockatoo’s feathers were scales.

I tried other settings and ended up with weirder transformations. On one end, I got some bird-like chimeras with bizarre features. On the other end, I got whatever these cute little cream puff creatures are.

But the wackiness didn’t stop there. I wanted to see what the AI would do with fossils, so I fed some of my fossil photos to the AI. The results were insane. The AI added eyes, skin, and even arms and legs to the skeletons. This T-rex skeleton even has a tongue in its mouth!!! Some of these interpretations were pretty cool and creative. Others, though, were utter abominations.

So, having finally experimented with AI, I can say that it is an incredible tool, provided it’s used ethically and responsibly. Just as smartphones have made photography more accessible to everyone, these AI apps have made unique artwork more accessible to everyone. For me, being able to convert my photos to whatever artstyle I want is a game-changer. That said, I will always support human artists. My chibi mascots, logos, and theme songs were all made by human artists that I hired and paid for their work. AI is an instrument, not a substitution.

Anyways, that’s enough about AI for now. If you liked this article, please give a like, leave a comment down below, and follow Tidewater Teddy. Thanks, and have a great day!