AI inspiration for my visual content?

Early on in the process my publisher told me that social media is basically a must if anyone is to know anything about the book and what it's about. It sort of gets the word out that, "hey, there's a cool book coming your way and follow me for more info!"

I knew this going in. I also knew that having visual elements would help to make the message come across better than just written words. So I downloaded Canva and I set to work to create some content that was visually appealing. 

Now, I do have Photoshop and the Adobe suite that I purchase for my photography work, but I find that Canva is easy to use and I only have to use the free version so far. But it has a LOT of capabilities if you decide to go with the paid version.

One of the things I was missing were photos of things that related to my book. Like pole activities, poverty, strict religion - those things are sort of hard to put into images. Especially images I don't have. So I decided to try out Adobe Firefly and see what their visual AI could do for me.

Let me just say - we are a long way from them taking over the world. lol.

The first thing that Firefly asks is for you to put in some key words. So I put in "image using elements of pole dancing" And this is what came out of it - kind of terrifying? What's with the fuzzy toothbrush on the pole? 

Anytime I added the word "stripper" or "sex industry" or "exotic dancer" it came up with an error code. Those are "forbidden" words in some online spaces. (I have already been through a few iterations of having my account shut down using the word stripper, exotic dancer, etc. But that's a whole other conversation)

So I decided to change it up and added the word "religion" to the request. Apparently, flowing curtains and lakesides are more religious.

I thought what would it do if I entered in the word "poverty" - which was a huge contributor and driver in my book. This is the result of that. Not quite what I envisioned for my own personal story.  

The next step was to add an image of my own. Apparently AI works better if you have an input to provide some direction. So I took one of my own pole dance images and gave it some inspiration. I also added the word "wild parties" to stay away from pole dance studios and more toward strip clubs. 

Here's the result of that:

We are getting closer! Adding the word "religion" now. But how is she holding herself up there? 

And then this was just for fun. Nice heels and what happened to his leg? lmao!

Anyway, that's my experience trying to find some images to use for my social media. I did end up finding one that worked and it's now the cover for my personal FB page. 

While I would never use AI to write a book, I have no problem testing its limits and seeing what it can do for me for social media, marketing, etc. I had fun with it and thought I would share the results here.

Have you ventured into the world of AI? What have you considered when using it? Some folks are afraid of world domination and takeover - what are your thoughts?

Anyway, until next time,

H