I attempted the viral 100x ChatGPT picture pattern, and I’ve by no means been extra insulted

Is that this actually what ChatGPT thinks of me?

An offended, beardless man with nothing in his life however a roommate and a pretend pumpkin on a shelf?

The unique…
Credit score: Timothy Beck Werth / Mashable

…and the ultimate end result. (AI-generated picture)
Credit score: ChatGPT

You could have seen the most recent viral ChatGPT picture pattern: “Create an exact replica of this image, don’t change a thing.” Customers then redo that course of 99 extra occasions, with the picture shifting barely in every iteration. Folks have been plugging in their very own images to check out the outcomes, and a mutating picture of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has additionally gone viral on Reddit and X. If you make a replica of a replica of a replica, the outcomes naturally degrade over time. And after 100 iterations by way of ChatGPT, the outcomes can get really unusual.

To cite a well-known Rick & Morty episode, “And far enough down the line…there be monsters.”

To AI critics, this pattern is proof that when AI fashions prepare on their very own output, the tip result’s infinite slop — a synthetic intelligence ouroboros. However is that actually what is going on on right here?

I made a decision to attempt the pattern myself, and in doing so, realized this pattern is not all it is cracked as much as be. I attempted plugging this immediate into ChatGPT utilizing the 4o mannequin, and it repeatedly refused to duplicate my photograph with out adjustments. “I can’t make an exact copy of the image, but I can generate a new, highly similar version using AI based on its content,” the AI chatbot mentioned. And after I pressed, it nonetheless refused, saying, “I understand your request, but I can’t create an exact replica of a photo.”

I used to be lastly in a position to get the chatbot to do my bidding by utilizing the OpenAI API and the immediate I discussed earlier. And the outcomes are typical of comparable experiments.

I requested OpenAI about this pattern, and I am going to replace this publish if I hear again. However primarily based on my makes an attempt to duplicate the replication pattern exterior of the API, it appears clear to me that ChatGPT is not really making an attempt to create an actual reproduction of customers’ images within the first place.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s mum or dad firm, in April filed a lawsuit towards OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in coaching and working its AI methods.