How this Filipino entrepreneur produced AI images of Tom Cruise, Dwayne Johnson, and more buying in Divisoria
There are just some things in this world that can't be in the same picture. Let's say, gym and pizza, introverts and extroverts, and Hollywood A-listers and Divisoria. The last unlikely pair, however, became a reality when a Filipino entrepreneur used artificial intelligence (AI) to produce pictures depicting this bizarre scenario.
Jon Oraña, a 46-year-old business consultant and AI educator, posted on his Facebook page a series of pictures that have Hollywood's A-listers portrayed as buyers and vendors in such a low-cost marketplace as Divisoria.
You can see the likes of Mission: Impossible's Tom Cruise taking a break from the spy life and enjoying some tapsilog, as well as Dwayne Johnson and Leonardo DiCaprio selling street food to the marketgoers.
There are also some big names from the political world, such as former US presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump and the current president Joe Biden taking off their suits and ties and enjoying some street food in everyday clothes.
Other famous faces include Ariana Grande, Elon Musk, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez, Johnny Depp, Justine Bieber, Kanye West, Keanu Reeves, Kim Kardashian, Prince William, and many more.
Oraña shared in an interview with PhilSTAR L!fe that he chose this outlandish aesthetic in order to catch the attention of netizens and make them interested in AI.
"I know people love celebrities and entertainment. AI topic can be boring. But if I can add some entertainment, I can get people's attention and help them understand that AI can be a good thing," he said.
But how exactly did he achieve these pictures? According to him, he first took pictures in Divisoria of vendors doing what they do best before using both ChatGPT and Midjourney to produce the photos.
In case you're unfamiliar with them, ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that has taken the world by storm because of its ability to generate texts like essays or poems in just seconds while Midjourney is another AI service that allows users to generate images based on textual descriptions, resulting in high-quality and detailed images.
Oraña shared that he used ChatGPT to craft a detailed "prompt" that he then entered into Midjourney.
"Prompt is a statement that AI will use to create an image. The more detailed the prompt is, typically, the better the results will be," he explained.
Elaborating further on the so-called "prompt engineering," Oraña said that this method is a way to help computers learn how to do things better by giving them instructions so that they can understand what users want them to do.
"When you ask your teacher a question, they give you a prompt or a starting point for your answer. They might say, 'Tell me about your favorite animal.' This gives you an idea of what to talk about and how to organize your thoughts. In the same way, prompt engineering gives computers a prompt or a starting point for their learning. They might be asked, 'What is the capital of France?' or 'What are the steps to bake a cake?'" he said.
He continued, "With these prompts, the computer can figure out how to find the answer or give you the steps to bake a cake. It's an important part of making computers smarter and more helpful to us."
Having been immersing himself in prompt engineering for the last few months, Oraña said that he improved his skills in AI generation through self-studying.
"Since this is relatively new, it's all about self-study and investing at least two to three hours a day to use tools and improve my prompting skills. AI is a great tool, but if you don't know what prompt to type, it's useless," he said.
"Prompt Engineering jobs are the next big thing. It will continue to grow in different industries. But since our education system is too slow to adapt, use Youtube, Google, and OpenAI free information. Start to play around using ChatGPT, which is free," he advised.