By Dennis D. McDonald

While I frequently use artificial intelligence tools in my writing and research, I'm also having fun making coloring book pages for my grandchildren using ChatGPT's "Coloring Book Hero."

In the process I have noticed some quirks that take some getting used to. In the above picture for example, I asked repeatedly for the picture of a left handed girl writing using a fountain pen.

No matter how many ways I asked the question, I still got a picture of a right handed girl (my granddaughter is left handed).

The interesting thing is, each version (I tried at least five different ways of asking) was accompanied by a description saying that the picture showed a left handed girl writing with a fountain pen, even though the picture showed a right handed writer.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm amazed at the way the system works. But be prepared to try some different approaches using a system that is at times magical in its output, and at other times puzzling.

When using ChatGPT (or other online tools) to generate images, be prepared to make several attempts, especially if you have questions about the distribution of gender or ethnicity of the images. Also, be careful to check the number of arms or fingers the subject has!

For more output from Coloring Book Hero, see the gallery shown below.

Text copyright (c) 2024 by Dennis D. McDonald