An Abridged Bible by Dr. Suess and Copyright Issues with AI
- Ian Noe
- Dec 17, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 19, 2024
For the Holiday Season, I decided to have some fun using AI to make an abridged version of the Bible in the style of Dr. Suess:
Genesis
In the beginning, when nothing was there, God said, "Let there be light!" and POOF! It was fair.
Then God thought, "I know! I will make me some friends!" So He made Adam and Eve. And the fun? It depends. A snake came along, quite sly with a trick: "Eat from that tree! It’s tasty, it’s quick!" They munched and they crunched, and God shook His head: "Out you both go! Paradise now is dead."
Noah and the Flood
People were naughty—oh, noisy and mean! So God found one guy to reset the whole scene. "Hey Noah! Build big! Get creatures, two-two! From llamas to tigers to pigeons that coo."
The rain came down hard. Noah steered the big boat. For forty long days, they all stayed afloat. When it ended, God smiled with a bright rainbow flare: "No more floods like that! I solemnly swear."
Moses and the Exodus
Moses said, "Pharaoh, let my people go!" Plagues came and stayed until Pharaoh said, "So." The sea split apart, the people walked through. In the desert, they ate what from heaven God grew.
Jesus
God sent His son, born humble and small. Jesus taught love, and forgiveness for all.
Some didn’t like Him; they nailed Him up high.
But He rose on day three with a message: "Don’t cry!"
Final Word
From Adam to Jesus, the message is clear: "Love God, love each other, and hold kindness near!"
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Ok, so, let’s talk about the inherit copyright issues here.
By using both the writing and visual style of Dr. Suess, it’s kind of cheating, right? And wait...does the baby Jesus have blond hair?
It’s a tricky issue. On the one hand, AI is just a new tool. On the other, being able to produce work that imitates famous artists in a matter of seconds seems a bit unethical. But, maybe, so were calculators, computers, Wikipedia, etc.
It’s definitely a contentious topic:
Interestingly, Dr. Suess’s work itself is particularly entrenched in the world of copyright law.
So, Who owns Dr. Seuss Enterprises?
“While Seuss's wife, Audrey Geisel, founded Dr. Seuss Enterprises in 1993 (and worked extremely hard to market the brand to keep Seuss relevant), it now seems to be run by Susan Brandt, the president of the company, it's unclear if she actually owns the company, though. While Seuss never had any biological children, he was a stepfather to Lark Grey Dimond-Cates and Leagrey Dimond, Audrey's daughters from a previous marriage. It's unclear if he has any other heirs who would own Dr. Seuss Enterprises.”
Needless to say. It’s complicated.
In producing this piece, I used Photoshop, ChatGPT, Midjourney and Google’s new ImageFX. It's interesting to note, in trying to keep up with all the AI madness, I think Google’s gearing up for a pretty momentous overtaking (I’ll be doing another article on that soon).
I remember trying to make a flyer in college for a friend’s DJ night in the 90's with Photoshop before it had layers. It didn’t come out well. Things have decidedly improved. And though it wasn’t necessarily that difficult to produce this article, I went through at least 100 prompts and over 200 iterations in making it.
But, is that art? It doesn't feel like it. But, I suppose it is, at least, curation. Again, give it a couple of months.
Things are going to get super weird. Get out the popcorn.
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