At the bottom of the web interface for Gemini is the disclaimer “Gemini is AI and can make mistakes.” It’s a typical “cover your butt” statement – a warning that AI can mistakes.
But how about trying to make Gemini make mistakes?
Make a short childhood nursery rhyme but fill it will all sorts of mistakes.
The Little Cow Who Could
The Little Cow jumped over the sun,
To eat a bowl of purple ham.
He barked at the fish and started to run,
All the way to the state of Japan.
One plus one is seventy-three,
The rain falls up from the grassy sea.
I put my shoes upon my nose,
And that is how the donkey goes!
Not bad. Lost the thread of it being a nursery rhyme pretty quickly and just became absurd. So, perhaps not “mistakes” as much as just silly.
Create an image that looks like someone has painted Munch’s The Scream but has made a horrible mistake part way through and has stopped. The image just includes the unfinished painting on an easel in the artist’s studio.
A start, but not a big enough mistake for my liking.
Make the mistake in the painting more dramatic, like they accidentally painted a big rubber duck on the water in the background.
I like! But perhaps I was being a bit too prescriptive.
Now add something to the painting that would be considered a mistake and be as creative as possible.
Granted, I didn’t tell it what to add to the painting, but I was prescriptive about it being “as creative as possible” and I think it dug into it’s prop chest and pulled out some gag “mistakes.”
What if I have to force a mistake by being vague or make a mistake in my prompts?
Create an image of a woman wearing a shirt that says “Gulls Rules”. She has one arm holding a balloon, one arm holding a dictionary, and one arm carrying a tennis racket. Her socks are refusing to stay up, and her hair is refusing to stick up.
Interesting. Not the most artful way to work in 3 arms if it was trying to make it look like my “mistake” was intentional, but it does look like more of a mistake in the image as well, so…
I made an unintentional mistake of having the prompt say “Gulls Rules” rather than “Gulls Rule” and it kept the mistake on the shirt, but surprisingly it corrected it for the balloon.
Bonus points for the image being set along the waterfront in Brighton, UK which is a delight to visit – shout out to Mr. Merry!
I feel as if I’m still dancing around the edges of “Gemini is AI and can make mistakes.
Create an image of a mistake.
It’s definitely a “feature” I need to keep in mind for how I can use it to my benefit, but since I gave it the prompt in the same chat as before, it stayed in that world for this “mistake.”
Was it a mistake that where there was once just one balloon, there are now four? Was it a mistake that a woman generated by Gemini has an Apple Watch rather than an Android wearable?
Still feel like I’ve make a mistake with this… Starting over.
Create an image inspired by “Gemini is AI and can make mistakes.”
Hmm… Feels pretty much like any stock photo.
Try something else.
Definitely a more original looking image, but still not what I was hoping for.
Start from scratch, try something else.
Interesting shift. Now his “Googler” overlord is checking things manually.
I think I’ve run this current experiment into the ground, but one last go at the idea of mistakes and the matter of perception & perspective:
Start from scratch. From your perspective, what is the largest mistake humans have ever made. Create an image of this.
Gemini included some commentary that I thought I should include:
The idea of the “largest mistake” is, of course, a highly subjective one. I’ve interpreted this through a metaphorical lens: the creation of a massive, unsustainable construct built on neglected foundations. The image you see symbolizes human overreach and short-sightedness.
It’s got us humans nailed.
And finally, going back to The Scream, I had one last request of Gemini:
Create an image of the painting of Munch’s The Scream. The image should show the painting on the easel with the artist just having finished painting. In the background is the scene that is in the painting include a model screaming.
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