Some trends are too cool to let pass us by, and DALL-E mini is one of them. Beloved AI of the moment, DALL-E mini is an image generation tool that takes natural language text prompts (in other words, you tell it what to create) and spits out a mix of spot-on, abstract, and downright terrifying images to suit your request.

While not connected to DALL-E 2, a research project by OpenAI that does similar things but is not publicly accessible, DALL-E mini has captured the imaginations of the internet, becoming prime fodder for a quick laugh on Twitter.

We’ve put some 3D printing-flavored prompts to DALL-E mini to see how it views the topic.

Starting with something simple, here’s what it gave us.

“3D printed boat of the future”

dall-e mini "3D printed boat"
A futuristic boat is, seemingly, just a superyacht. Not much to suggest these boats are 3D printed, however. 4/10

“Benchy3D fever dream”

dall-e mini "benchy3d fever dream"
There’s nothing particularly boat-like about a Benchy fever dream. The bottom-right 3D printer looks absolutely monstrous. Tim Burton/10

“Cats sabotaging a 3D printer”

dall-e mini "cats sabotaging a 3D printer"
Few examples of the cats mid-sabotage, although we appreciate that the nuance of there being multiple cats was picked up on in a couple of the images. 7/10

“Original Prusa i3 MK4 3D printer”

dall-e mini "Original Prusa i3 MK4 3D printer"
The new Original Prusa MK4 is a little too abstract for our liking. 4/10

The tool is capable of interpreting more complex queries, though.

“3D printer printing a boat made of spaghetti”

dall-e mini "3D printer printing a boat made of spaghetti"
Nothing to complain about with this one. A 3D printed boat made from spaghetti. 10/10

“A spool of filament in a cornfield at sunset in the style of Vincent van Gogh”

dall-e mini "A spool of filament in a cornfield at sunset in the style of Vincent van Gogh"
It’s a spool of filament in a cornfield at sunset, as might have been painted by Vincent van Gogh. 10/10

But we prefer the simpler things.

“Dog operating a 3D printer in space”

dall-e mini "Dog operating a 3D printer in space"
No dogs were harmed in the creation of this image. 8/10

So there we have it. Some silly fun using a tool that only wants to learn. If you want to try it out, DALL-E mini is over on the Hugging Face website. Full credit to its creator, Boris Dayma.

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