Saskatoon’s new WCBL baseball team is gearing up to hit the field next summer, but its new name—and the mascot it inspires—is yet to be decided.
The team recently held an online poll to suggest 10 fan-suggested names, then narrowed the list down to four finalists, voting for Cobra Chickens, Saskatoon Belize, River Pirates and Bridge Pigeons.
The team was always ready to announce new names, so we turned to free AI art tools to see what the mascots and logos for each series would look like.
Even with relatively simple prompts, the AI-generated results ooze weirdness.
That said, we’ve decided to add words like “tough” from time to time. We thought it would be a good fit for a team trying to establish themselves in their first year.
While the name “cobra chicken” is sometimes a meme-inspired term for the whimsical Canada Goose, we commissioned AI art platform Aitubo to create a literal representation of two baseball-themed animals. I asked them to come up with a combination.
(Created by Aitubo)
When directed more specifically for a goose-themed product, Gencraft gathered the right birds, but the images showed signs of the infamous struggle of AI art drawing appendages. .
(Generated by Gencraft)
Gencraft and other free AI art tools had some issues with the basics of anatomy throughout our experiments, but they did a great job anthropomorphizing the fruit as a potential Saskatoon berry logo. However, some of the results seemed a little unsettling.
(Generated by Gencraft)
(Generated by Gencraft)
Imagine an AI Art Generator coming up with something that veers in the direction of mammals rather than fruit-based creatures, with very endearing results. The three-pronged bat you have is not allowed in regulation play.
(generated by Imagine AI Art Generator)
One of Gencraft’s interpretations of the River Pirates was one of the more plausible AI team logos, albeit with an extra vague weapon.
(Generated by Gencraft)
The different image it created seemed to become a more earned favorite with fans.
(Generated by Gencraft)
The obvious standout was Jencraft’s effort to create a mascot for the Bridge Pigeons, but with what looks like a baguette substituted for a baseball bat.
(Created by Aitubo)
Aitubo’s design depicted a bat growing out of a human hand, but actually included two bats.
Drawbacks of AI
Technology analyst Kami Levy said the exercise shows that AI image generators still have a lot to learn.
“AI is still in such an early stage of development that it’s not even a baby in terms of overall intelligence,” Levy said.
“Just because we ask a question, we should not assume that we understand what the question is about.”
Like Google in its early days, Levy says it seizes opportunities when it comes to putting AI under control.
“At the moment, they’re not quite there yet. So what you’re getting is a more or less broad range of general reactions. It can be scary.”
Levy said it will probably be years, even decades, before people can actually rely on artificial intelligence.
“Until then, this is just another tool to add to our toolkit. It won’t replace us any time soon.”
-With files from Keenan Sorokan
