Post

Background: Charlie noticed this strange version of a well-known concept art piece by Ralph McQuarrie for Star Wars (1977) in the recent book about ILM (which, other than that, is apparently fantastic). So he wanted to know if it was a printing error. But it looks more like a botched upscaling job.

I don't see why anyone would ask an AI to make a McQuarrie drawing look bad, but anything is possible in this life. Well, I guess it is? Or some weird filters? And if that's the case, it's sad that this false, slop reality is even contaminating the new official books.

Oh yeah, no witch hunts, please. That said, if this could serve as a lesson and everyone would double-check every single concept art piece in future artbooks...

There's no room for doubt. Someone must not have had the high-resolution image, must have upscaled it, and must not have noticed that the image was very different, before dedicating a double-page spread to it. We need to change our habits when it comes to AI, and in particular: check everything.

Update. I know this book is great (except for... this), but I'll wait for a second edition. 😁

Also, you don't use Generative AI to "upscale" something. If you really need to upscale (instead of finding better sources, which there are plenty of) at least use machine learning.

That's where the whole genAI thing falls apart, doesn't it - "quick and cheap" is pointless if it requires constant second-guessing and checking by actual people. Smart companies, who care about customers and their product, will omit the "AI failing at basic tasks" bit and use real people right away