made me some #StyleGAN Pokemon sprites pic.twitter.com/4jUL5VlLST
— Michael Friesen (@MichaelFriese10) May 12, 2019
With the upcoming release of Pokémon Sword and Shield on November, a new generation would be upon us, which is generation VIII. The upcoming generation will have over 800 Pokémon. Could you catch them all?
As a person not so much into the iconic series, I find the current number of Pokémon to be a large one. But for fans of the game, this might not be the case.
Though there are currently more than 800, it’s always fun to think up more, and what better way to do so that to use an AI generator, which has already been used to design hundreds of original anime characters? And so Twitter user Michael Friesen (@MichaelFriese10), who likes to experiment with AI generators, shared some of his original AI-designed Pokémon on Twitter.
Friesen used StyleGAN, a style based generator architecture system, into which he would have first had to feed images of Pokémon from one or more of the games. The AI then used those images as a reference for designing new Pokémon, and what resulted where creatures that look like they could appear in the new games! They’re colorful, have cute and interesting shapes, and appear to even look like they could be a specific type, like ghost, water, or dragon.
What are your thoughts on the AI-generated Pokémon?
(Image Credit: Michael Friesen/ Twitter)