On social networking sites and WhatsApp groups, birders are hotly debating a new topic: The use of artificial intelligence to ‘create’ pictures that resemble real birds in their natural habitats. Such posts are drawing comments labelling them as ‘fake’, with demands for group admins to take them down.
However, a Bengaluru-based techie, Gurutej Acharya, is using Meta and Bing AI software to create images that are receiving appreciation from several bird lovers, for their clever, humorous depictions.
Gurutej, an avid birder who has been photographing birds in their natural habitats for the last 14 years, decided to bring his passion and profession together to create something that would draw awe from his fellow birders. Creating AI-generated images is not difficult if you know how to provide the right prompts, says Gurutej.
“I wanted to play with words and the unique features of the birds and bring a smile to the faces of my friends and birders,” he says.
Gurutej’s pictures are centred around a pun, with additional details specific to the bird’s behaviour, diet and more. Take, for instance, the image of the Indian roller, the state bird of Karnataka. Gurutej reimagines the bird as the driver of a road roller, on a newly-asphalted road. Similarly, a bald eagle is depicted getting a haircut, while a nightjar is shown catching its favourite food, fireflies, in a jar.
Samanvitha Rao, an avid birder from Mysuru, says Gurutej’s works are of a completely different genre, and have the potential to draw people towards birding. “Humour is the best means of attracting children and non-birders towards birding and nature conservation. This makes many inquisitive about the bird,” she says.
Uma Vaijanath, a naturalist and Bengaluru-based birder, sees Gurutej’s work as creativity at its best. “He is imagining birds from a completely different angle. His witty play on words makes the birds so fascinating, that even a non-birder would take an interest in it,” she says.