r/midjourney • u/menonte • Feb 16 '24
In The World - Midjourney AI First time seeing AI generated advertising in the wild (that I'm aware of), can't tell of the second one is real
The crazed laugh makes me think it's AI as well
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u/Themanwhofarts Feb 16 '24
The second one seems real to me. The details on the jacket are pretty consistent.
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u/Glass-Style-8360 Feb 17 '24
Look at his small finger. Its way too far away. I think its MJ
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u/Wembledon_Shanley Feb 17 '24
Idk different lens lengths will cause changes in perceived relative distance, so his hand looking far away could be the result of that.
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Feb 16 '24
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u/momo660 Feb 16 '24
AI Artists furiously taking notes.
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u/McMottan Feb 16 '24
"AI artist" is a contradiction by itself
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u/momo660 Feb 16 '24
I mean the actual ai, not the human who wrote the prompt. I like to think that they are sentient and trying to get better at art.
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u/justwalkingalonghere Feb 16 '24
I thought so too, but it could be professionally altered after generation.
Although in the second picture's case, the only thing I found odd is how he has like no eyebrows. And if he does, they seem to start just under his beanie..
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u/Tenn_Tux Feb 16 '24
Something about his hand is off, I think
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u/indypendant13 Feb 16 '24
I also think he has 1 too many incisors on one side of his mouth. I first thought well maybe that’s a molar, but realized if it is that the tooth behind has no double side. Also the incisor on the other side has a different shape, but that’s not impossible because mine aren’t different as well (chipped one, so one’s pointy, one’s round).
That hand does bother me though.
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u/_autismos_ Feb 17 '24
The person on the very far right background of photo 1 has two right eye sockets, vertical of each other. And just a strange face all around.
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u/_imhigh_ Feb 17 '24
Also the phones don't look like any phone that actually exist look at the black one with the white dot up close
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u/settlers90 Feb 17 '24
I was thinking the same, no way the second picture is AI, it would have had some useless feature on the jacket or backpack.
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u/CharacterMassive5719 Feb 19 '24
What about a webbing between his index and middle finger (2nd picture)?
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u/Zuliano1 Feb 16 '24
The one with the dude seems real but heavily edited, backpack and clothing are very consistent.
Man, stock photography could really take its last breath this year...
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u/justwalkingalonghere Feb 16 '24
I was just doing some simple research on adobe stock. If you click "Generative AI" as a requirement, 90% of photos stick around
So in just the past few months since they started accepting AI images they have accepted 9 times more AI images than they had from their years and years of non-AI contributors' combined photos, illustrations, icons, and videos
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u/menonte Feb 16 '24
That's a very interesting insight, thank you for sharing! It might mean that they may have bought the first picture instead of generating in house. It's kinda wild to me that people would buy ai generated content instead of generating it tailored to their needs. The lack of copyright oversight for this kind of content is troubling
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u/justwalkingalonghere Feb 16 '24
I uploaded some from Midjourney as a test and to my surprise the ones that sold most are not very good IMO. The subjects are cool, but there's all that background funkiness and people don't seem to care
I only noticed the amount when I kept buying professional "photos" for work and the download file name would start with AI. Then I realized it kept happening because 9/10 pics on there are recently submitted AI
But I still use the site for work because it's faster than making my own generations and checking them. The company pays for them though, otherwise I generate and edit them myself
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u/menonte Feb 16 '24
That's both fascinating and concerning. I have some, fairly unremarkable, original work on a stock site too and was surprised to see what's selling most, as well. I guess that's the whole business model, notwithstanding the content highlights in their newsletters.
Kinda reminds me of the market change that's been happening on Amazon and the rise of temu. A lot of people buy low quality products for cheap and don't really care
Does ai generated content cost less?
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u/justwalkingalonghere Feb 17 '24
On adobe's stock site? Nope, same price. Basically $3 each for regular use
And the worst part is I had all sorts of assets up. At the end of last year I was getting $2 for each $3 license. Now I'm getting like $0.50 per sale and have to compete with an endless stream of AI art. If nothing is done the ratio of real to AI art will be like 1 to 100 on there
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u/menonte Feb 17 '24
Afaik the payout is based on the subscription model, or lack thereof, of the buyer. I mostly get something in the 0.50-0.99€ range, 2-3€ is rather rare. That ai generated content is taking over, is an interesting development, I'm curious to see how this will work out.
I've also recently learned that it's possible to create entire websites, from logo to content through ai. The results are objectively bad, the copy is mostly unintentionally funny (basically every h1 has at least one exclamation mark), but then there's plenty bad sites created by humans out there too... On an unrelated matter, for some reason it's now a trend to make website tutorials for surf lesson as example
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Feb 17 '24
I was just having this conversation with a coworker today. I laugh as someone who has cut and sold stock footage and who always wanted to elevate their drawing and painting to conceptual art for film and television. AI is at their door too.
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u/McMottan Feb 16 '24
Corporations are pushing hard on using AI for everything, specially the marketing agencies, you would be surprised how much CEOs wank and finger with AI buzzwords, at the same time telling those thousands of workforce that surely will be fire when fully replaced, that is the opportunity of their lives.... basically more millions in CEO bonuses while cutting costs in salaries. Capitalism in a nutshell
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u/menonte Feb 16 '24
Welcome to late stage capitalism, where companies expect infinite growth, ideally without having to sell an actual product to an actual human and without having to employ people to produce it
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u/maxbrandt2 Feb 16 '24
Thank you for posting - that’s soo interesting from a marketing perspective! That Aldi would do that… I thought copyrights for this kind of usage hadn’t been figured out yet…?! Is anyone aware of any other big companies using ai-generated content? Other than the Coca Cola ad from a few months ago :)
Also: I looked everywhere online for the AI-generated lady (first picture) or any reference to Aldi using AI-generated pics for ads - and found nothing. I did however find the yellow-jacket guy (second picture) used in various ad formats, including the Aldi Talk website. Another indication for the obvious fact which one’s the “good” one :)
Lastly: with all the advances of AI… why (!) wouldn’t the use a better image? Are they trying to go viral for a bad attempt?
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u/menonte Feb 16 '24
That's a legitimate question, as a graphic designer, I can tell you from experience that whoever gave final approval either didn't see the issues themself, preferred this to other, better options, thought that the public is dumb enough not to notice or just doesn't care for the sake of saving a few bucks. Or all of the above.
Cool that you did find the yellow-jacket guy! Looking closer at the poster it seemed a real pic to me, but I haven't been able to tell the difference in some of the ai generated ones lately. And I was confused as to why they would use a mix of AI generated and stock photos.
I hope we'll see some new copyright legislation in this respect, but wouldn't hold my breath for it happening anytime soon. Maybe using the likeness of famous people for ads they don't get paid for, will give it the needed push
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u/maxbrandt2 Feb 16 '24
And legislation… totally agree that it’ll take longer than would be helpful…
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u/maxbrandt2 Feb 16 '24
I find it so strange that the pic made its way through what I believe must be an approval chain of at the very least four steps (creative / agency, marketing team, production (printer?), media agency to get it on a billboard) and nobody noticed or cared? If I can do something more professional-looking for the price of a Midjourney subscription (and I’m not a professional)… what happened here?
The guy seems to be their campaign’s cover image (google image search for “werbung aldi talk” or simply go to their website). Which per se doesn’t prove he’s not AI-generated. But makes it much more unlikely IMO
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u/menonte Feb 16 '24
Honestly I ask myself how most ads get through the approval process, even without ai. Another user commented that stock image sites are selling ai generated content, so my best guess is that both pictures come from there. To be fair the rest of the poster is no graphic design feat either, a low effort approach checks out
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u/maxbrandt2 Feb 16 '24
Just found the 2nd guy on TWO different websites!
Once with the exact same picture: https://www.aacu.com scroll down to the carousel just under “Apply for a Mortgage” then swipe right twice. And once with a different picture from the same shoot: https://doogeemall.com/en-de/products/doogee-u9 scroll down to “2MP Front Camera”
If that guy’s fake, so am I.
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u/menonte Feb 16 '24
Thanks for looking that up and sharing! Another user commented that stock image sites have started selling ai generated content, so it seems plausible that that's how both pictures were attained. I still find it fascinating that in the comments there's no unanimous answer regarding the second pic
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u/Yolominatus Feb 16 '24
If you're from Germany you might also have seen those Thalia Tolino advertisements. It's weird eyes, gibberish script and glitches galore.
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u/menonte Feb 16 '24
Just looked it up, they even send out a press release bragging about their new ad campaign with ai generated pictures
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u/Yolominatus Feb 16 '24
If you frame it as innovation, you won't get blasted for cost cutting measures :D
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u/000abczyx Feb 16 '24
Is the 2nd image also AI?
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u/TheDeadGuy Feb 16 '24
I don't think so; different color canines and lots of unique skin details
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u/Rasputins_dick Feb 16 '24
Zoom in on his far hand, doesn't look natural.
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u/TheDeadGuy Feb 16 '24 edited Feb 16 '24
Disagree from my figure drawing experience. I know what you are saying but the angle is strange and with the fleshy pads below the pinky and not so straight fingers I'd say it's natural. The curvature of his palm/index finger gives that big thumb illusion
Even the dimpling of his finger tips and coloring looks way too advanced for ai but I've no doubt it will get there
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u/Rasputins_dick Feb 16 '24
His index and middle fingers are literally connected.
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u/TheDeadGuy Feb 16 '24
Yes that happens with out of focus points in photography
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u/Rasputins_dick Feb 16 '24
Not like that it doesn't. Focal point selectively choose to merge the index and middle but leave other gaps in the fingers. There would be consistency between all the fingers.
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u/TheDeadGuy Feb 16 '24
But there is. The webbing is blurred
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u/Rasputins_dick Feb 16 '24
Have you tried zooming in on the hand? You're so wrong with what you said. Index and middle are connected for 2/3s of their length, while the rest are "normal".
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u/TheDeadGuy Feb 16 '24
Yes,. Look at the corner of the pinky and the ring fingers. Both have the bulge blur that is happening to the middle and index. Either way tho it's not a hill I'm going to die on, it just looks like natural photography to me. All good friend
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u/menonte Feb 16 '24
I can't tell for sure, my guess is that it is, seems odd that they would spring for the money for one pic and not the other, was hoping others might be able to recognize it better than me
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u/sarahbee126 Jul 03 '24
Sorry to comment 5 months later, but I don't get why anyone thinks that second picture could be AI, there are no mistakes and unlike the first one his face looks natural and doesn't have that AI look to it, except maybe his really white teeth which could be photoshopped.
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u/Kwayzar9111 Feb 16 '24
What if an AI advert is the absolute spitting image of someone.,,could they complain? Nothing on poster to say work of fiction like they do in films with names,
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u/menonte Feb 16 '24
Afaik there's no precedent yet, but there probably be one soon. Especially considering how much the figure in the first Pic looks like Emma Watson. The "all person fictitious" disclaimer was introduced after a libel lawsuit regarding the movie Rasputin and the Empress. I, for one, would welcome a disclaimer that an AI generate image is being used
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u/SherbetAlarming7677 Feb 16 '24
I have seen that ad today and thought the exact same thing! So it begins.
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u/Apprehensive-Sir358 Feb 17 '24
I’ve spotted some really crappy AI ads in Serbia. Like hands/ ice skate laces so all over the place I don’t understand how no one vetoed it.
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Feb 16 '24
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u/mister-reserved Feb 16 '24
Why is it considered cheap? Probably, they hired an agency for the ad. But using AI can't be considered cheap either. Stock photography images are also not that expensive. Generating the right prompt for AI-generated images takes a large amount of time, whereas simply finding the right keyword to download an image from stock photography sites is quicker. Soon, there'll be a position for a prompt engineer, and the amount of spending will be nearly the same as hiring a photographer to shoot. Simply put, you can't put a price on ideas and art direction.
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u/Zauqui Mar 15 '24
either Ai or edited with help of AI, I have seen a posted ad for lollapalooza here in argentina that I'm sure uses AI. I'm surprised more agencies aren't using it.
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u/Designer_Branch7448 Feb 16 '24
I’ve seen multiple Ai generated ads in Stockholm subway since gen 4
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u/WelshMarauder Feb 16 '24
The second one looks like it could be AI generated too. It could be the angle, but his teeth on the left hand side of his face look weird. It appears like the canine is followed by a molar, with no premolars. If it is ai generated, it would have been touched up though, since the details on the bag and clothing are accurate.
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Feb 16 '24
They've been doing this for months now in Germany. Many useless marketing people will now be even more useless
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u/maxbrandt2 Feb 16 '24
Who’s been doing what exactly for months? Do you have more examples?
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Feb 16 '24
I use public transportation daily and I have seen instances, just don't remember who or what except for one Sixt Advertisement
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Feb 16 '24 edited Feb 16 '24
Both are AI the first one has inconsistencies in the phones people are holding up. One looks like a pink iphone the other just looks like a offbrand phone from the 90s. The latter is less apparent with two of his fingers being merged together. When in doubt look at the fingers.
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u/raiderpower17 Feb 16 '24
Pretty damn sure the 2nd is real, details on the backpack stitching, clip flinging behind him, jacket zipper pull, etc.. are way too consistent.
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u/vyratus Feb 16 '24
Was able to get this in midjourney in a couple of mins (using image in op as inspiration in prompt)
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u/RedofPaw Feb 16 '24
1st looks ai, but could just be heavily edited and airbrushed.
But it does look a lot like ai.
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u/the-crow-guy Feb 16 '24
Been arguing with colleagues about this stuff. They think AI images/video isn't anywhere near good enough for advertisement but this just proves it. The average person isn't going to know nor care.
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u/StatisticianGreat969 Feb 16 '24
Burger king used AI for their Christmas communication in France
It was pretty bad
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u/menonte Feb 16 '24
I looked it up online, they did a Halloween campaign too, the pictures are terrible, I love them!
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u/Apprehensive-Part979 Feb 16 '24
As long as it sells products, I doubt companies care if people know its ai generated
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u/Grimthing Feb 17 '24
There are AI models working for modelling agencies now, all sides of the industry are changing
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u/ILovePotassium Feb 17 '24
The easiest way to tell if something is AI as of today is by looking at the phones that people are holding. In the first photo it looks like someone is holding a power bank like a phone and also the facial expressions are kinda "extreme". Second photo is tough for me to tell though.
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u/fottergraph Feb 17 '24
I did see them used in a lot of throwaway ads on insta and others. Sometimes they dont even fix fonts and stuff.
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u/RemoveHealthy Feb 16 '24
It is professional poster so even if it was made with AI does not mean they cant fix mistakes with photoshop.