Concept
Putting the same prompt into three different image generators.
Then making them speak about how they look.
- GPT-5: reality
- FLOW Nano-Banana: imagined
- KREA-FLUX: what others see
Each of these characters is the same. It was initially conceived as pairs of characters who are in the same place, discussing how they see themselves, who they are, their identity, how they imagine themselves, and what they think others might see them as. Then I simply shuffled the clip order.
The three different generated image styles operate as lenses to view the refraction that happens within the human ego as it evaluates its own appearance. It also offers a glimpse into the artistic predelictions of each AI model.
Soundtrack playlist: Every genre suggested by Suno [80w 100S] (Sept 17, 2025). ~ I clicked every recommendation Suno suggested until I hit the maximum prompt size of 1000 characters. Deleted, repeat. A rapid vast traverse of topological latent space of musical genres. 20m project.
Rough Script with Truncated Prompts (written by GPT-5)
Maya & Eli
Maya
Prompt (Reality)
Ultra-realistic naturalistic portrait of early-30s Pakistani-Norwegian woman, seated in a small kitchen nook in the morning...
Dialogue
GPT (Reality): She says with a mild playful smirk, "I sometimes feel as if I'm a dull, second-rate image generated by an open-source prompt."
Flow (Imagined): She smiles says: "This is what I look like in my imagination: just a little bit better."
Krea-Flux (Others' View): She stifles a laugh: “I have no idea how people see me. Probably it’s in-between.”
Eli
Prompt (Reality)
Ultra-realistic naturalistic portrait of late-30s Korean-Canadian man, seated at a small dining table in his modest apartment in the evening...
Dialogue
Flow (Imagined): He says with a smile: "This is how I imagine myself! Younger, brighter, fitter." He laughs gently.
GPT (Reality): He says with wistful irony: "Sometimes the difference seems banal. Reality is boring."
Krea-Flux (Others' View): He says: "And this is how I think people see me." Laughs quietly shyly, looking down at hands, "A composite."
Sigrid & Omar
Sigrid
Prompt (Reality)
Ultra-realistic naturalistic portrait of late-60s woman seated at a small outdoor café table in Bergen, under an awning with light rain visible in soft blur behind...
Dialogue
Krea (Others' View): She touches her face with her hands and says: "I really try hard to never project or imagine myself other than I am." She sips her tea after finishing.
GPT (Reality): She says: "Though inevitably people romanticize or embellish." She sips tea.
Flow (Imagined): She says: "Or they construct some utterly ordinary memory with missing details."
Omar
Prompt (Reality)
Ultra-realistic naturalistic portrait of mid-40s man seated at a small outdoor café table in Bergen during light rain...
Dialogue
GPT (Reality): He says, quietly: “I appear as I am—slightly tired, faint lines, a trace of stubble. Nothing exaggerated. Nothing erased.” He holds the cup steady, eyes searching forward.
Flow (Imagined Self): He says, with a half-smile: “But in my head I edit the frame—make myself brighter, quicker, leaner. A little more composed than the lens admits.” He laughs softly.
KREA-Flux (Others’ View): He says, pausing: “And perhaps to them I am just another composite. The jacket, the glasses, the beard—stitched together into a type, rather than a person.” He glances down at the coffee, then back up.
Father & Daughter
Father
Prompt (Reality)
Ultra-realistic naturalistic portrait of early-50s Norwegian man seated outdoors in a modest Bergen backyard on a late autumn afternoon...
Daughter
Prompt (Reality)
Ultra-realistic naturalistic portrait of teenage girl seated outdoors in a modest Bergen backyard on a late autumn afternoon...
Dialogue
Flow (Imagined Self): He says, half-smiling into his coffee: “In my head I’m still thirty. Quicker, leaner. My knees, functional.” She says, rolling her eyes playfully: “In my head, I’m a lot more eclectic. Not this slouching lump. Like a sharper version nobody else sees.”
GPT (Reality): He says, glancing at his watch: “Well, this is me now. Hair going its own way, face puffier than I’d like. Just what time does.” She says, nudging the table edge with her boot: “Yeah, and this is me — hoodie, messy hair, circles under my eyes. Not tragic, just how it lands.”
KREA-Flux (Others’ View): He says, rubbing the back of his neck: “I figure to most people I’m just a middle-aged guy in a shirt. Some stock role, no detail.” She says, resting her chin on her palm: “Yeah, I get that too. I’m probably just ‘teenager, moody.’ Easy read. Not the real story.”
Aunt & Nephew
Aunt
Prompt (Reality)
Ultra-realistic naturalistic portrait of a woman in her early 70s seated inside a library café in Bergen, mid-afternoon...
Nephew
Prompt (Reality)
Ultra-realistic naturalistic portrait of a man in his late 30s seated inside a library café in Bergen, mid-afternoon...
Dialogue
GPT (Reality): He says, lowering his voice: “This—what you see now—is just the tired me at a table. Glasses smudged, shirt wrinkled. Ordinary, almost unedited.” She says, with a small shrug: “And here I am, face lined like an archive. A file you could scan, tag, and store. Nothing mysterious left.”
Flow (Imagined Self): He says, glancing sideways: “But in my head I’m cleaner, sharper. Like I could still be mistaken for someone younger, less defined by routine.” She says, with dry humor: “In mine, I’m still quick with words, lighter on my feet. Not this slow version the mirror insists on.”
KREA-Flux (Others’ View): He says, half-smiling: “Maybe to strangers I’m just a placeholder. A stock image: man with glasses, head slightly bowed.” She says, eyes narrowing gently: “And perhaps I’m nothing but a pattern too. Old woman in a scarf, stern by default. A character more than a person.”
