No Such Thing As Wrong
I tried to get Midjourney to generate images of the Keebler Elves fighting Cookie Monster, but I instead got a mashup of half-Cookie Monster half-Keebler Elf fighting. It made me pause. It was an unexpected result that made me conjure the possibility of intermarriage between the race of Cookie Monsters and Keebler Elves.
What would that wedding look like? Family reunions? Maybe both actually share a love of cookies and through which they might find much common ground?
In actuality, this was an error. I requested one thing and had an expectation that wasn’t met. However, when it comes to generative AI, we might take the adage from two superstars in their field.
The first was an article from Inc Magazine many years ago about David Rosen who said “there’s no such thing as a wrong number” when it came to cold calling. He would start a conversation with anyone and find the serendipity in misdialing.
You can read more here.
The other great, Herbie Hancock, has also been quoted as saying “There’s no such thing as a wrong note”.
When it comes to generative AI, sure, there’s the expectation in our mind of what we want the output to look like. However, we might need to start looking at these tools as jazz instruments to riff off of rather than get boiler plate results.
