With only a few phrases, AI fashions may be prompted to create a narrative, a picture, or perhaps a brief movie. However in response to Weber Wong, these fashions are all “made by non-creatives for different non-creatives to really feel artistic.”
In different phrases, they’re not constructed for precise artistic professionals. That’s one thing Wong is hoping to alter with Flora, a brand new startup the place he’s founder and CEO.
Flora launched this week, full with a manifesto declaring that “AI artistic instruments needs to be greater than toys for producing AI slop” and describing Wong and his workforce as “obsessive about constructing an influence software that may profoundly form the way forward for artistic work.”
The manifesto positions Flora as one thing completely different from current AI instruments, which “make it straightforward to create, however lack artistic management,” and from current artistic software program, which supplies customers “management, however are unintuitive & time-consuming.”
Flora isn’t making an attempt to construct higher generative AI fashions. Wong argued that one of many startup’s key insights is that “fashions are usually not artistic instruments.” So as a substitute, Flora presents an “infinite canvas” that integrates with current fashions — it’s a visible interface the place customers can generate blocks of textual content, pictures, and video.
“The mannequin doesn’t matter, the expertise doesn’t matter,” Wong instructed me “It’s in regards to the interface.”
For instance, a person might begin by prompting Flora to create a picture of a flower, then ask for particulars in regards to the picture, with these particulars resulting in extra prompts and diversified pictures, with every step and variation mapped out on the aforementioned canvas, which can be shared for collaborative work with purchasers.
Wong instructed me he needs Flora to be helpful to any and all artists and creatives, however the firm is initially targeted on working with visible design businesses. Actually, it’s iterating on the product with suggestions from designers at famed company Pentagram.
The purpose, Wong stated, is to permit a designer at Pentagram to “simply do 100X extra artistic work,” say by making a emblem design after which rapidly producing 100 variations. He in contrast it to the evolution of musical composition — the place Mozart “wanted a complete orchestra to play his music,” a musician as we speak can get all of it completed “from his storage in New Jersey with Ableton, making it himself and posting it on SoundCloud.”
Wong has a background in each artwork and expertise himself, having labored as an investor at Menlo Ventures however leaving when he realized, “I used to be not the individual I’d again.” Decided to grow to be the form of founder value investing in, he ultimately joined New York College’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, a graduate program targeted on utilizing expertise to create artwork.
When Flora launched an alpha model in August, Wong determined to “launch with an artwork challenge that showcased our real-time AI expertise,” with the Flora homepage exhibiting a reside feed from a GoPro digicam on Wong’s head, and web site guests getting the chance to make use of AI to stylize the footage after signing up for the Flora waitlist.
Given his background, Wong is aware of there are artists and professionals who’re skeptical and even vehemently against using AI in artwork — in truth, Pentagram generated some controversy final yr when it used Midjourney to create the illustration model for a challenge with the US authorities.
Wong stated that the place current fashions have been embraced by “AI natives,” he’s hoping Flora can win over the “AI curious,” and ultimately even grow to be helpful sufficient that even “AI haters” really feel they’ve to present it a strive.
Once I raised considerations that AI fashions may be skilled with out regard for copyright and mental property, Wong famous that Flora isn’t coaching any AI fashions itself (as a result of it’s utilizing different firms’ fashions), including, “We’ll comply with societal requirements.”
And whereas he’s obsessed with not wanting Flora for use to unleash a flood of AI slop (“We’re going to get hats that say ‘anti-AI slop’”), he recommended that as a substitute, the startup will permit artists to unlock “new aesthetic and artistic potentialities,” in the identical manner Kodak’s Brownie digicam reworked images by making it extra informal and accessible.
Flora isn’t disclosing funding particulars, however its backers embrace A16Z Video games. The product is offered at no cost with a restricted variety of tasks and generated content material, after which skilled pricing begins at $16 monthly.
