Technology Reporter
Robert Timothy/BBC/ChatGptWhen scrolling through social media, you may have seen friends and family appear in miniatures recently.
This is part of a new trend that uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGpt and Copilot to repackage them as pocket-sized dolls and action figures, literally.
Brands and influencers dabbled in creating mini me and took off online.
However, some people have urged them to avoid seemingly innocent tendencies by saying that fear of overlooking should not override concerns about AI’s energy and data use.
How does an AI Doll Generator work?
It may sound complicated, but the process is simple.
People upload their own photos to tools like ChatGpt and upload written prompts explaining how they want to see the final photo.
These instructions are really important.
They are intended to be registered in some kind of package, including mimicking boxes and fonts of popular toys like Barbie, from items that people want to display in AI tools, all that they intend to generate.
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After that, you will be further personalized online with name, work and clothing choices.
It doesn’t always work, but many people share some of the funny mistakes of the tools that action dolls make that don’t look like those.
Like other generators, image generators tend to form things, and may assume what someone should look like.
And it’s not just the ordinary people who use it – this trend has been seized by a wealth of online brands, including beauty companies Mario Badescu and Royal Mail.
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What’s the appeal?
Trends come and go – but by their nature, people can feel forced to participate so they don’t miss out.
“Generative AI makes it easier and faster for people to create and jump trends,” says Jasmine Enberg, principal social media analyst at Emarketer.
She says the technology has made online content faster and easier.
But she believes that AI-driven trends will be coming more regular in our feed “as technology becomes a more regular part of our digital live.”
What are your major concerns?
Its light-hearted nature may have attracted people to it, but this trend has attracted criticism from people concerned about its environmental impact.
Professor Gina Neff of Queen Mary University London told the BBC that ChatGpt “burns energy” and data centres are used to consume more electricity in a year than in 117 countries.
“In my home, there’s a joke about killing a tree every time I create one of these AI memes,” said Lance Ulanoff, US editor at Techradar in an article on trends.
“Of course, that’s an exaggeration, but it’s safe to say that generating AI content is not without costs.
People also highlight concerns that copyrighted data could have been used to create technology that generates images without paying for it.
“ChatGpt Barbie represents a triple threat to our privacy, our culture and our planet,” says Neff.
“Personalization may feel good, but these systems put brands and characters in the blender without taking responsibility for the slops that appear.”
And Jo Bromilow, director of social and influencers at PR and creative agency MSL UK, asks, “Are cute, funny results really worth it?”
“If you want to use AI properly, you need to set up how to use GuardRails conscientiously,” she says.
Testing AI doll trends
Zoe Kleinman, BBC Technology Editor
I started by finding the suggested prompt online – a list of steps to enter into the AI tool to generate images.
You will need to upload your own selfie at the prompt. You also need to be very specific about what you want, including the accessories that contain the accessories you need, and what colour you want in the box.
chatgptWhen it comes to offering my position, my first attempt was denied as the content policy for this violation, including BBC News. I think it’s because currently the BBC doesn’t allow ChatGPT to use that output.
Once you have the image you may want to tweak it even more. My first attempt was too cartoony.
The more realistic version below seemed much older than me and then looked like a child. And finally I gave up trying to get it to use my actual eye colour.
It took me a few minutes to generate each version, but overall the process was slower than I’d hoped because of its popularity.
It started to feel like a lot of work due to the tendency to go through, and it’s not perfect – my doll is much larger than expected packaging.
But even more importantly, somewhere in the data center, some hot computer servers struggle to make action figure zoe.
They could almost certainly address a valuable cause.
