Mumbai re-imagined through the lens of AI

Artist Manoj Omre harnesses AI to pay tribute to Mumbai’s transport system and iconic skyline and to salute the Mumbaikar’s fiercely-protected autonomy over movement

Who in Mumbai doesn’t know the value of a BEST bus or a local train? Even with all its follies of toll nakas, flyovers and arterial roads, they help us manoeuvre through the metropolis to Chowpatty or sit at Marine Drive with a cutting in hand.

No surprise that they receive a hat-tip in Manoj Omre’s AI renditions.

A couple of his series on the same, which were shared by Omre on his handle @manojomre, were well loved. This included images that show an enclosed red water-float with BEST written on it in the Devnagri script.

Manoj Omre uses AI to create some stunning visuals with iconic structures such as the Gateway Of India or Sea Link. He also looks at services we take for granted, like the BEST, with not-so-jaded eyes and gives them a fantastical feel. Pics/Manoj Omre

Omre, a multi-media artist, enjoys working with AI as an artistic medium. He moved from the capital to this mayanagri in 2017, when he was just 23 years old. He looks at the city through not-so-jaded eyes, at things we take for granted.

“I just love what transport means to the city,” says Omre. “It’s just fun to dabble in AI about things that you see around you.” Other than the BEST bus, one of our favourites is the open-roof bus floating in the city sky tethered to helium balloons.

Contrary to the almost universal fear of AI taking away human contribution, especially in creative fields, Omre feels that while it may seem, from the outside, that the technology is growing rapidly, it isn’t the case. “I feel AI has not progressed much from where it was around the same time last year,” says the Andheri resident. “People may think that AI can do a project end to end, but that isn’t so. For a 30-second short about Mumbai transport, we had to make the frames for scratch, the minutiae of the streets and the faces of people—which AI helped with. But the final touches are by the artist only,” he says.

Manoj Omre

Instead of negative attention for using AI, the questions he gets on Instagram are about the creation process. “AI prompts are not a Google search,” he says. “It takes time to learn workflow and creativity, only the correct combination of these two factors results in interesting work. Some of my friends felt that it was as simple as typing out a command on an AI generating platform, but found that they were unable to generate anything despite several tries.”

Omre also doesn’t find the AI space to be as unethical as it is perceived and lambasted—many digital companies do not use the technology as much as a lay person would assume. “Many are particular about ethical concerns since they use art or work of artists from around the world, and it’s [plagiarism, adaptation] not a practice they want to encourage,” he says. 

Wherever AI is headed, VR screens or VR videos on phone screens, we hope the city and we are around to experience it.

What is the tech? Software that uses AI to create artistic images.

How it works? Software such as Midjourney allow you to experiment by entering work flow commands that create realistic images with a touch of fantasy.

Whom it help? Will sophisticate India’s VFX’s industry  for cinema, Over The Top (OTT) platforms and virtual reality.

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