EARTHLINGS - AI Generated

At the very time my day job at Kofax is getting immersed in #GenAI applications in document automation, it has arrived with a bang in my publishing work with MX Publishing .

There is a lot of discussion about the AI engines using Books3 content to learn allegedly without author and publisher permission, but not all AI use is bad for the industry.

In a new and fascinating project for our fans to have some fun with, author Phil Growick has created a fantasy/comedy collection called 'EARTHLINGS' coming out in December.

It features 71 mini stories, each featuring a very unusual EARTHLING, and each story has been run through an AI engine to create an accompanying image of said EARTHLING.

Originally written as a text only book, Phil worked with his son Matt Growick to create an unusual cover using AI. The process was so much fun that the idea popped out to see what the AI engine would do when fed the mini story for some of the EARTHLINGS themselves.

There are few words to describe the results other than - wow. The art is incredibly colourful, vivid and well, quite mad - but then the EARTHLINGS stories are very much 'out there'. Dean Wilkinson, who has written a lot of comedy for TV and film for the likes of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie describes EARTHLINGS;

"I'm looking at it, and it's very good, very Douglas Adams / Hitchhikers."

And I have to agree that many of the AI renderings of the EARTHLINGS have a Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy feel to them.

Reaction to the book has been wonderful and has inspired Phil to already complete book two 'MORE EARTHLINGS' which will come out in February and he will be releasing example EARTHLINGS on his blog every few days - philsearthlings.

Many of the EARTHLINGS have fun references to modern day with one of my favourites being EYEPHONE FRAN.

Here's an extract from the blog:

"Fran loved to talk. And she especially loved to talk on her EYEPHONE.

????????????In fact, she was the first one to own an EYEPHONE. Because the operation to install one into one’s eye socket was prohibitively expensive.

????????????When the EYEPHONE first was introduced, critics, mostly, castigated the creators for such a biological intrusion. “Frankenstein redux”, they screamed. Ophthalmologists clucked and brandished outsize eye charts.??Retinologists scratched their heads and babbled incoherently. And plastic surgeons sharpened their scalpels and had a field day.

????????????Once the EYEPHONE was surgically placed on one’s head, yes, that person would be able to talk and see who they were talking to, but the EYEPHONE was large and gave one the appearance of a slobbering cyclops. And if not properly installed, when one would look down, the EYEPHONE had a disconcerting habit of falling into one’s vichyssoise..."

So you can see wacky dark humour indeed - and perfect fodder for an AI engine to come up with wonderful renderings.

I can't wait to read 'MORE EARTHLINGS' and see what the AI has come up with.

The AI version of EARTHLINGS is available for pre-order via Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble and all good bookstores and if you send me a direct message, I may ping you a review copy...

By day Steve Emecz works in digital transformation for?Tungsten Network?(part of?Kofax)?and in his spare time is co-founder of?MX Publishing?with his wife Sharon. MX Publishing is a social enterprise supporting several projects -?About Us.