Flora is building an AI-powered ‘infinite canvas’ for creative professionals

With just some phrases, AI fashions could be prompted to create a narrative, a picture, or perhaps a quick movie. However in accordance with Weber Wong, these fashions are all “made by non-creatives for different non-creatives to really feel artistic.”

In different phrases, they’re not constructed for precise artistic professionals. That’s one thing Wong is hoping to vary with Flora, a brand new startup the place he’s founder and CEO.

Flora launched this week, full with a manifesto declaring that “AI artistic instruments must be greater than toys for producing AI slop” and describing Wong and his workforce as “obsessive about constructing an influence software that can profoundly form the way forward for artistic work.”

The manifesto positions Flora as one thing totally different from present AI instruments, which “make it straightforward to create, however lack artistic management,” and from present artistic software program, which provides customers “management, however are unintuitive & time-consuming.”

Flora isn’t making an attempt to construct higher generative AI fashions. Wong argued that one of many startup’s key insights is that “fashions aren’t artistic instruments.” So as an alternative, Flora gives an “infinite canvas” that integrates with present fashions — it’s a visible interface the place customers can generate blocks of textual content, photographs, and video.

“The mannequin doesn’t matter, the expertise doesn’t matter,” Wong instructed me “It’s concerning the interface.”

For instance, a person may begin by prompting Flora to create a picture of a flower, then ask for particulars concerning the picture, with these particulars resulting in extra prompts and assorted photographs, with every step and variation mapped out on the aforementioned canvas, which can be shared for collaborative work with purchasers.

Wong instructed me he desires Flora to be helpful to any and all artists and creatives, however the firm is initially centered on working with visible design companies. Actually, it’s iterating on the product with suggestions from designers at famed company Pentagram.

The objective, Wong stated, is to permit a designer at Pentagram to “simply do 100X extra artistic work,” say by making a brand design after which shortly producing 100 variations. He in contrast it to the evolution of musical composition — the place Mozart “wanted a whole orchestra to play his music,” a musician immediately can get all of it carried out “from his storage in New Jersey with Ableton, making it himself and posting it on SoundCloud.”

Wong has a background in each artwork and expertise himself, having labored as an investor at Menlo Ventures however leaving when he realized, “I used to be not the individual I’d again.” Decided to turn out to be the type of founder price investing in, he ultimately joined New York College’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, a graduate program centered on utilizing expertise to create artwork.

When Flora launched an alpha model in August, Wong determined to “launch with an artwork mission that showcased our real-time AI expertise,” with the Flora homepage exhibiting a dwell feed from a GoPro digital camera on Wong’s head, and web site guests getting the chance to make use of AI to stylize the footage after signing up for the Flora waitlist.

Given his background, Wong is aware of there are artists and professionals who’re skeptical and even vehemently against the usage of AI in artwork — in truth, Pentagram generated some controversy final 12 months when it used Midjourney to create the illustration fashion for a mission with the US authorities.

Wong stated that the place present fashions have been embraced by “AI natives,” he’s hoping Flora can win over the “AI curious,” and ultimately turn out to be helpful sufficient that even “AI haters” really feel they’ve to present it a strive.

Once I raised considerations that AI fashions could be skilled with out regard for copyright and mental property, Wong famous that Flora isn’t coaching any AI fashions itself (as a result of it’s utilizing different firms’ fashions), including, “We are going to observe societal requirements.”

And whereas he’s captivated with not wanting Flora for use to unleash a flood of AI slop (“We’re going to get hats that say ‘anti-AI slop’”), he prompt that as an alternative, the startup will permit artists to unlock “new aesthetic and inventive potentialities,” in the identical approach Kodak’s Brownie digital camera reworked images by making it extra informal and accessible.

Flora isn’t disclosing funding particulars, however its backers embody A16Z Video games Speedrun, Menlo Ventures, and Lengthy Journey Ventures, in addition to angels from Midjourney, Stability, and Pika. The product is obtainable at no cost with a restricted variety of initiatives and generated content material, after which skilled pricing begins at $16 monthly.