A man simulates time travel using Stable Diffusion image synthesis

Enlarge / AI generated image of a fictional time traveler named Stelfie during the construction of the pyramids. StelfieTT
Throughout December, a social media user known as Stelfie the Time Traveler created a time travel diary using generative AI. Using Stable Diffusion and fine-tuning, an anonymous artist has created a photorealistic fictional character that he can insert into fake historical photographs set in different eras, such as ancient Egypt or the time of the dinosaurs.

Stable Diffusion is a deep learning image synthesis model that allows users to create fictional scenes using textual descriptions called prompts. With an additional technique called Dreambooth, people can insert their own subject or character into scenes generated by Stable Diffusion. It can also be used to insert real people into fictional situations.

So far, "Stelfie" has taken historic selfies in the Ice Age (chased by a Woolly Mammoth), Ancient Egypt (during the construction of the pyramids), Ancient Greece (with the Trojan horse), hanging out with Leonardo da Vinci (while creating the Mona Lisa), in the Old West, fleeing a tyrannosaurus rex, and sailing with Christopher Columbus.

Enlarge / In diary no. 4, Stelfie visits Odysseus and the Trojan horse. StelfieTT
The artist behind Stelfie writes social media posts (on Twitter, Instagram and Reddit) in the form of playful dispatches of a 41-year-old time traveler as he visits different places, for example:

Diary #3 - Ship Columbus, 1492 DC. "Laaaaand" Now I don't want to brag but... After months of sailing Columbus got lost in the oceans and let's just say I may have kinda suggested the right direction...

The anonymous artist (a self-identified "funny old man") detailed some of the process he uses to create the images in several Reddit comments: a combination of Stable Diffusion 1.5, a custom AI model for the landscape and a custom AI model trained on Stelfie's face, which is apparently a fictional person created using Character Creator. It uses "a lot of inpainting", which means inserting AI-generated images into the images to correct errors and sculpt the...

Technology Dec 21, 2022 0 28 Add to Reading List

A man simulates time travel using Stable Diffusion image synthesis

An AI- Generated image of a fictional time traveler named Stelfie during the construction of the pyramids.

Throughout December, a social media user known as Stelfie the Time Traveler created a time travel diary using generative AI. Using Stable Diffusion and fine-tuning, an anonymous artist has created a photorealistic fictional character that he can insert into fake historical photographs set in different eras, such as ancient Egypt or the time of the dinosaurs.

Stable Diffusion is a deep learning image synthesis model that allows users to create fictional scenes using textual descriptions called prompts. With an additional technique called Dreambooth, people can insert their own subject or character into scenes generated by Stable Diffusion. It can also be used to insert real people into fictional situations.

So far, "Stelfie" has taken historic selfies in the Ice Age (chased by a Woolly Mammoth), Ancient Egypt (during the construction of the pyramids), Ancient Greece (with the Trojan horse), hanging out with Leonardo da Vinci (while creating the Mona Lisa), in the Old West, fleeing a tyrannosaurus rex, and sailing with Christopher Columbus.

In diary #4, Stelfie visited Odysseus and the Trojan Horse.

The artist behind Stelfie writes social media posts (on Twitter, Instagram and Reddit) in the form of playful dispatches of a 41-year-old time traveler as he visits different places, for example:

Diary #3 - Ship Columbus, 1492 DC. "Laaaaand" Now I don't want to brag but... After months of sailing Columbus got lost in the oceans and let's just say I may have kinda suggested the right direction...

The anonymous artist (a self-identified "funny old man") detailed some of the process he uses to create the images in several Reddit comments: a combination of Stable Diffusion 1.5, a custom AI model for the landscape and a custom AI model trained on Stelfie's face, which is apparently a fictional person created using Character Creator. It uses "a lot of inpainting", which means inserting AI-generated images into the images to correct errors and sculpt the...