Lev Lazinskiy

Truly Artificial

I’ve always been a bit turned off by the required thumbnail image that you normally see attached to a blog post. This is common in most blog themes, and is especially common in corporate blogs. My objection at the time was that the image was usually some generic nonsense that had nothing to do with the content of the post.

I feel that we may have over-corrected with the magic of AI.

Now you get very specific thumbnail images that feel like they were commissioned by an artist to attempt to tell the story of the post in a single image. I know because when I was working on the tralev project to visit every state capital, I would commission illustrations to supplement posts by guest writers.

• Is Austin Weird?
• Moving Back to Sacramento

But the AI generated images feel different. Every time I see one it feels like its way too specific. A little bit too on the nose. Instantly and truly artificial.