AI: Go Home, You're Drunk!

Engineers, fueled by sci-fi fantasies, often stand at the runway's brink, envisioning fighter jets as if sprung from a graphic novel's explosive scenes. AI, once confined to traditional drafting, now ventures into wild, imaginative territory. In its daring and slightly misguided zeal, it has sketched out aircraft concepts so outlandish that they leave us shaking our heads in amused disbelief, saying, "AI, go home, you’re drunk!"

What we got was an aerial Picasso, abstract and intriguing but ultimately defying the basics of flight physics. The AI, emboldened in its creativity, presented aircraft that, while geometrically fascinating, had more wings than necessary and angles that would make them aerodynamically challenged at best. Some designs were so bulky they seemed grounded by their own weight, while others were so outlandish, they belonged in space — certainly not within the bounds of our current understanding of flight.

In the AI’s defense, we set the parameters wide and the drawing influence low, hoping for creative genius. Perhaps we got a creative genie instead, granting us whimsical wishes we never knew we had. The AI took one look at our rough sketch and decided, "I can work with this," with all the confidence of a toddler armed with crayons facing a blank wall.

But let’s not be too harsh on our pixel-pushing pal. After all, it was only following its programming, which, by the way, seems to have been inspired by a kaleidoscope rather than Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works. And there's a silver lining here for all you engineers out there. It proves that even in an age of advanced algorithms and machine learning, there's still a clear (and job-securing) line between human ingenuity and AI creativity.

So, if you ever worry about AI taking over the world, just remember these fighter jet designs. We might need to keep a leash on our AI ‘designers’ - because when asked to serve up the next generation of aerial dominance, they served us a platter of aeronautical absurdity. It's back to the digital drawing board for now, but who knows? In a future where the skies are friendlier, and the design briefs are a tad more… flexible, we might just let the AI off the leash to play 'fetch' with the far-flung ideas once again.

For now, let's raise our glasses to AI - the most entertainingly unpredictable design assistant. Cheers to the chaos, the comedy, and the jets that will never leave the ground. Here's to innovation, iteration, and the occasional intervention. Keep dreaming, AI, but maybe next time, not so heavy on the jet fuel.

A technical note: AI tools like Stable Diffusion can transform text descriptions and sketches into detailed images. To avoid "hallucinations", start by providing a clear description of the design target features. Use an initial sketch as the foundation. Adjust settings to control detail levels and use an iterative approach, refining the description after each image generation to guide the AI towards your desired result. Consider using models specifically trained in aircraft design for more accurate results. Fine-tune the final AI-generated images using graphic design software to ensure they adhere to realistic design principles.

Written and illustrated using #ChatGPT4 , except the sketch and article idea, structure and refining. Multiple iteratiosn were needed.

Fun fact: ChatGPT came with the "skunk works" idea by itself, without that being included in the prompts. And DALL-E picked up the hint and drew a sign. The name "Skunk Works" is a registered trademark of the Lockheed Martin Corporation.