It often seems like we can’t go a single day without news about AIs. Probably because it’s true. Something that would be less burdensome if it weren’t for the fact that most of the time it involves someone making dubious, if not directly immoral or potentially criminal, use of them. As Microsoft is well aware. Although this time, it simply boils down to having irredeemably bad taste.
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Corridor Digital is a studio specialized in the use of artificial intelligence, which a few months ago claimed they could revolutionize the animation industry through the use of Stable Diffusion XL. Now, on their YouTube channel, they’ve decided to upload a video “fixing” faces of video game characters. The result is as disastrous as you might imagine.
By stripping away any trace of personality from the characters and destroying all the artistic intention behind their design, the hyper-realistic versions of the characters not only aren’t better but are much uglier. That’s what we can see in these seventeen minutes of video where the folks at Corridor Digital obliterate all the personality of iconic characters like Nathan Drake from Uncharted, Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, or Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid. All the while, they claim happily the absolute improvement they supposedly bring.
The supposed improvement, of course, amounts to nothing more than making them more “attractive.” Smaller noses, larger eyes, defined cheekbones, emphasized lips, and including sharper, depersonalized textures, making all the characters look like they came out of exactly the same video game. An absolute failure in artistic terms that, judging by the responses on social media, is not exactly making a splash among gamers.
This demonstrates the absurdity of hyperrealism but also the folly of assuming that AI is an all-powerful entity that can fix everything. While it’s undeniable that Stable Diffusion XL is a powerful tool with significant capabilities, it’s only as effective as the human using it. And, well, Corridor Digital hasn’t exactly demonstrated a wealth of artistic capabilities, to say the least.
