I was surprised. I was able to get the basic shot from AI rather quickly. It was one of the few images that got my very detailed instructions almost entirely correct. The only issue was the "West Coast Pride" gang sign. Just that little bit had me dancing around for hours, working some of it by hand and having 4 different AI platforms tweak it to finally get what you see. It was insane.
"Balanced the deficit to zero" by cooking up a budget loaded with projected new taxes (like the pied-a-terre tax that hasn't passed or collected a single dime yet), one-time gimmicks, shaky state aid, and deferring pension payments.
Projected = optimistic future guesses on paper right now.
Actual = real money that actually shows up in the city's bank account later.
The rich have been fleeing NY for years already - higher targeted taxes will just speed up the exodus, so those rosy projections will likely fall short when the actual numbers roll in.
Working with AI to get images is like running the gauntlet. I was impressed with this outcome even though I had to do quite the dance to achieve it with all the necessary elements.
I recognize all those issues but when working with AI to create images, it's an adventure in frustration. This meme in particular was very challenging because I had to try and maintain continuity from one frame to the next while still struggling to get all of the requested elements in each frame. I had to accept some small failures to get a solution that comes together in a cohesive whole. I usually average about 2hr per meme, but this one pushed that average even further. When one AI platform fails to get something right, I then pass it to another to fix it or recreate it completely. Sometimes even then, I have to bring it into MS Paint and tweak it myself.
