Continuing on in my discussion of AI character art that didn’t quite work out is the Meh category. These were things that did fulfill the ask, but were frankly kind of boring. None were creative, none were memorable. Which is why they’re here.

 

ANTHONY

Can I first say how hysterical I find it that when you ask the AI for an image of Mark Anthony, this is not what you get? How upset the great man would be to discover that his place in history has been taken by a pop star. I did finally get the computer to understand what I wanted, but this was the result. On the plus side, it does look like the traditional depiction of Anthony. On the other hand, it’s pretty dull. Which is one thing that the real-life Anthony never was.

 

RAGNAR/ROGER

Cassie’s father also turned out more or less the way I wanted, but once again, didn’t excite me. Roger was a crazed, time-traveling garbage man who married a goddess and literally saved the world. While technically capturing his features, I don’t think this in any way does justice to the man, the myth, the legend. So he lands in the Meh category. Sorry, Roger.

 

CYRUS and SEBASTIAN

Sigh. Yes, the two Were brothers from the Lia novel Junk Magic (out now!) are very pretty, but this? This is bad-romance-novel-cover-from-the-eighties pretty and not what I asked for. Both pics are generic as hell, not to mention their wolves. Seriously, are those even wolves? I don’t claim to be an expert, but Cyrus’s looks like a golden retriever in cosplay and Sebastian’s . . . that’s just a dog, right? I mean, clearly.

But it was nice that the AI made Sebastian’s eyes match his wolf’s.

 

CLAIRE

Representing the Meh ladies is Claire, who I genuinely thought would be a slam dunk. I mean, gorgeous, snarky, half-fey redhead who turns into a dragon–what’s not to love? And there’s plenty to love about Claire. Unfortunately, there was nothing to love about the many, and I do mean many, attempts the AI made to get her right. I kept trying because I am stubborn, and because I just couldn’t believe that this of all things was what tripped me up. But this was the best of the bunch. Oh, well, onto the final category.