In a previous post, I experimented with creating AI-based art for the tobacco industry. The system I was working with produced 64 proofs at a time, in the form of a 64×64 matrix. The matrix I created based on images of cigars produced two proofs which work quite well when combined together. I find it fascinating that these two proofs happened to be displayed one-on-top of the other as if the machine was making an aesthetic suggestion based on the combination of proofs.

The blob in the lower left-hand corner looked like a hand. So here it is with a hand with a cigar photoshoped in.

Working with the hand to make it fit better with the rest of the work.

At this point, the process has tied back an actual image of a cigar to the base images which were used to train the system which produced the proofs.

 

In this post, I use General Adversarial Networks (GANs), to generate images based on three training sets. All three training sets are image-based and happen to feature tobacco products. As an avid cigar smoker, who works out of cigar shops quite a bit, it’s not difficult to see where the inspiration came from.

Since there are many excellent resources that provide a good general introduction to the theory of GANs, I will refrain from going into depth on the topic. To keep things simple, the general idea is to create two neural networks, one called a Generator and the other referred to as a Discriminator. The Generator creates fakes. The Discriminator passes judgment of whether the output of the Generator is a legitimate example of the class, by developing a data distribution (think model) and judging images based on that distribution.

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One of the main problems that software developers often face when looking for a new opportunity is managing the signal-to-noise issue. Once we put ourselves “out there” and actively start searching, we can be bombarded by so many opportunities that it becomes really difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

This situation makes some job seekers dread hearing from recruiters and HR professionals. Since most opportunities will not be appealing, they often cringe whenever an HR rep contacts them. So what options do we have? Are we supposed to just “grin and bear it” every time we hear about a new position?

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