Stan Twitter, on the Pulse of Generative AI

I've been waiting to see what fun and psychologically interesting uses of Generative AI I would see on my timeline as this technology becomes more ubiquitous. Just as Stable Diffusion XL (paper) and DALL·E 3(link) are released, and synthetic images are beginning to be generated straight inside OpenAI's ChatGPT, I found something striking on a scroll through Twitter: a photo of Nicki Minaj crying, reaching out for a Grammy award. The photo came from, of course, 'Cardi B | Updates' (@updatesofcardi) on Twitter. For those who don't know, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj have been in a long-standing feud, and their respective fanbases have been at war for years. Also pointendly, Nicki Minaj has never won a Grammy award, despite being nominated. And so, I document the first use of Generative AI in the stan wars; photorealistic visual depictions of the typical verbal jabs hurled across sides.

Secondly,

and more in-tune with the idea of 'parasocial relationships' (Stanford Daily article) that is frequently applied to stan culture, I saw fake images of Nicki (and Cardi) all over my timeline. I'm sure this phenomenon will expand to other celebrities, but Nicki's fans (The Barbz) typically have their finger on the pulse of new ways to bolster their idol. I bet we will begin to see synthetic photoshoots, magazine covers, and eventually even music videos (pending innovations in text-to-video technology). The crazy thing about generative AI for image generation is that possibilities are endless. No, Nicki Minaj wasn't alive in the Prehistoric Era, but that doesn't mean we can't generate a photo of her posing next to cavemen and dinosaurs. Where it gets weird is when the celebrities themselves see these generations and have adverse reactions. Nicki likely reacts in good fun, but I'm sure there are some celebrities who will be creeped out by the idea of their likeness being used in this way. I also anticipate ethical issues with generating photos of those who are deceased, and the potential for non-disclosure about an image's AI-generated origins to impact the legacy of historic figures. Overall, it is quite interesting to see how niche communities are using generative AI technologies, and today's observations further solidify my belief that legislation and regulation of artifically-generated images is needed, stat.

Now I’m blocking you. Like btch enough https://t.co/Z6BqGroIp5

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) October 1, 2023

It’s better I log out https://t.co/65DrD6NH5B

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) October 1, 2023