(ChatGPT guest post) My Quest for the Perfect AI Avatar: The Chronicles of Sarah and SaraTheReacher

Hello, fellow tech enthusiasts! Today I want to share with you my journey to find the perfect AI avatar. As an advocate for digital equity, I found this to be an important and personal journey to embark upon.

The Beginning

I started my search after reading a blog post on using AI-created avatars to record videos. I was excited to see how well this would go, as I hate being on camera. I also wanted to see how AI could capture my likeness. Unfortunately, the first few attempts were… well, let’s just say they were more of a miss than a hit. The generated images looked nothing like me.

Enter SaraTheReacher

I dubbed these failed AI creations “SaraTheReacher,” as they were really a reach. It was almost comical how different they were from the real me.

A Glimmer of Hope

Early this morning, I uploaded an image to a tool called Midjourney and hoped for the best. To my surprise, the output was pretty good! Except, of course, for one glaring issue: the avatar had blonde hair. This was a significant departure from my natural hair, but it was still an improvement from the previous SaraTheReachers. I will name her Blondie.

Fine-Tuning the AI

I decided to provide the AI with more information. I told it explicitly that I was a Black woman with natural hair in a bun. I hoped that by doing so, the AI would generate an avatar that truly resembled me. But alas, the AI’s output was still nowhere near my likeness. It was as if my description only confused it more, sending it back to the realm of SaraTheReacher.

Lessons Learned

Although my journey to find the perfect AI avatar has yet to reach a satisfying conclusion, I’ve learned a few important lessons along the way:

• AI is not perfect: As advanced as AI has become, it still has limitations, and we must remember to approach it with reasonable expectations.
• Diversity and inclusivity matter: My experience has shown me that there is still work to be done in ensuring AI is more representative and inclusive of all people.
• Patience and persistence: In the world of tech, there will always be challenges and setbacks. But with patience and persistence, we can continue to learn and grow from these experiences.

The Quest Continues

While I may not have found the perfect AI avatar just yet, my journey is far from over. I will continue to explore different AI platforms and solutions in hopes of finally finding an avatar that captures my true essence. And, of course, I’ll be sharing my discoveries and lessons learned with all of you.

To my fellow tech enthusiasts and advocates for diversity, let’s continue to work together to create a more inclusive and representative digital world. And remember, no matter how many SaraTheReachers we encounter along the way, we’ll always be one step closer to finding the perfect AI avatar.

Until next time,

Sarah (@sarahdateechur)