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Last week, Ammaar Reshi posted a Twitter thread in which he described how he self-published a children's book using artificial intelligence or AI.
In his posts, he shared that in just one weekend, he created his book Alice and Sparkle with the help of "ChaptGPT, MidJourney, and other AI tools."
\u201cI spent the weekend playing with ChatGPT, MidJourney, and other AI tools\u2026 and by combining all of them, published a children\u2019s book co-written and illustrated by AI!\n\nHere\u2019s how! \ud83e\uddf5\u201d— Ammaar Reshi (@Ammaar Reshi) 1670610900
Reshi detailed the process through his Twitter posts, stating that he gave ChaptGPT prompts and "went back and forth with it to refine details and get inspiration for the illustrations."
"It was like having a constant brainstorming partner who I could ping pong ideas off of."
First, the idea: I wanted a story showing the magic of AI to children. I gave ChatGPT a prompt and went back and forth with it to refine details and get inspiration for the illustrations. It was like having a constant brainstorming partner who I could ping pong ideas off of. pic.twitter.com/nYsoAF2HzZ
— Ammaar Reshi (@ammaar) December 9, 2022
He then transferred that to MidJourney where he "gave it prompt after prompt" until he was satisfied with a "somewhat consistent style."
Then, I took those ideas to MidJourney and gave it prompt after prompt till I could get a somewhat consistent style. This took a few hours but it was such a fun process playing with all the different styles! pic.twitter.com/AwCQeaN7pt
— Ammaar Reshi (@ammaar) December 9, 2022
He did run into some hilarious blunders along the way.
There were also some hilarious results 😂 what’s going on with those eyes and hands?! pic.twitter.com/N5kzUrDIsZ
— Ammaar Reshi (@ammaar) December 9, 2022
Once he consolidated and formatted, Reshi signed up for Amazon Kindle Publishing and completed the process.
I combined all of those and put them together in a book format and signed up to Amazon Kindle Publishing! Filled out the book details, created a little cover, even had ChatGPT help me with the description. pic.twitter.com/9Hobi8sFwt
— Ammaar Reshi (@ammaar) December 9, 2022
He finished his posts by sharing the Amazon link to his new creation.
"And BOOM."
"In a weekend, from idea to illustrations, to becoming a publisher author!"
And BOOM. In a weekend, from idea, to illustrations, to becoming a publisher author! You can check out the book on Amazon here :)
US: https://t.co/fbaSVhxMTO
UK: https://t.co/GUPPsl8uGl
And if you have any kids you want to gift this to, let me know! I’d love to send you a copy! pic.twitter.com/diadOiIEXk
— Ammaar Reshi (@ammaar) December 9, 2022
While Reshi's process, ideas and efficiency are obviously impressive, many on Twitter have questioned the integrity of the product.
And which artists work did you steal from who should ACTUALLY be paid and credited for the creation of this book?
Please look into how this harms artists and how you have stolen artist’s lifelong and COPYRIGHTED hard work. Without it, you would not have been able to make this.
— Adriane Tsai (@theartofadriane) December 12, 2022
There’s a lot to be said about Ai, but perhaps more to be said about content being created for children without oversight by creators who actually care about children.
Children are humanity’s greatest resource, and this…thing you made does not reflect an understanding of that.
— Kayla Ancrum ✨ICARUS coming Winter 2024!✨ (@KaylaAncrum) December 12, 2022
This just shows the lack of respect to artists and writers. It’s amazing that things that people wish they could do gets so little respect
— Tim Cheslock / tyree_imagery (@tyreeimagery) December 12, 2022
Teen librarian here. Children deserve better. They deserve stories told from a place of honestly and imagination, not a mash-up of preexisting images and tropes. They deserve authors who don’t pass unpaid labor off as cute little tools and understand their power as storytellers.
— Library Squid (@PlagueSquid) December 12, 2022
then you had to audacity to put “by Ammaar Reshi” on the cover, and monetised it as your work, when the AI likely did 90+% of it, and with stolen art and likely stolen written work for source.
— 自転車バニー🌸🍑🍩🧃🌈🐰💩 (@bicycle_bunny) December 11, 2022
then you had to audacity to put “by Ammaar Reshi” on the cover, and monetised it as your work, when the AI likely did 90+% of it, and with stolen art and likely stolen written work for source.
— 自転車バニー🌸🍑🍩🧃🌈🐰💩 (@bicycle_bunny) December 11, 2022
Putting together images and words does not make a book. This lacks everything a children’s book needs to be interesting. The characters don’t even look the same along the pages! It would be easier to create a story from scratch and illustrate it with stock illustrations. pic.twitter.com/8ULfXdUs2c
— Ñupo (@punodraws) December 11, 2022
He didn't create anything. The closest thing to creation here is what the AI did, and even then the AI was just smushing together other people's creations.
— gender woo gerbil #GNUTerryPratchett queer af 🦕🦖 (@sarahcbydesign) December 13, 2022
In response to the backlash he received, Reshi posted a series of follow-up tweets.
Adding this to the main thread after a lot of helpful convos with folks willing to discuss—this is a PSA!
There are serious, incredibly valid concerns from artists and writers about all this technology. Their emotional responses are fair, we should listen and instead should ask:
— Ammaar Reshi (@ammaar) December 12, 2022
He first asked creators:
"How do we ensure protections for artists/train models on consent?"
"Their talent, skill, hard work to get there needs to be respected."
"In fact we should involve them in the creation of these tools so they're heard."
To the creators of these tools at OpenAI & MidJourney: how do we ensure protections for artists / train models on consent? Their talent, skill, hard work to get there needs to be respected.
In fact we should involve them in the the creation of these tools so they’re heard.
— Ammaar Reshi (@ammaar) December 12, 2022
He then said:
"This was all a test of what's possible, but I'll be waiting to hear more on the above before proceeding to create more content."
This was all a test of what’s possible, but I’ll be waiting to hear more on the above before proceeding to create more content. Thank you to those who were willing to discuss despite the emotions this all unintentionally but very fairly spurred. I appreciate you.
— Ammaar Reshi (@ammaar) December 12, 2022
We think that's a wise call.
Reshi finished:
"Thank you to those who were willing to discuss despite the emotions this all unintentionally but very fairly spurred."
"I appreciate you."