I’ve always been fascinated by technology, so when Adobe announced their new AI tool, Generative Fill, I was intrigued. I’m a professional photographer by trade, but my fascination with technology often led me to dabble with the latest advancements in my field.
The Generative Fill tool promised to add, extend, or remove content from images, all through simple text prompts. I was eager to test it out on some of my old photographs. Little did I know that my curiosity would lead me down a path I could never have imagined.
One evening, I sat down with my laptop, a cup of coffee steaming next to me, and opened Adobe Photoshop. I selected an old family photo, taken at a reunion years ago. A few empty spaces caught my eye – perfect for testing the Generative Fill AI.
I typed into the prompt box: “Extend the garden scenery into the empty space.” A moment later, the AI filled in the blank space with more garden. It was fascinating, almost magical. However, something seemed off. The extended garden had an odd shadow that wasn’t there in the original photo. It was a small anomaly, but it didn’t match the rest of the image. I brushed it off as a software hiccup and decided to try another photo.
This time, I chose an old black and white image of my childhood home. There was a large blank wall in the picture, so I decided to add a window there. “Add a window to the blank wall,” I typed into the prompt box. The AI did as instructed, generating a window that blended almost seamlessly into the old photograph. However, I noticed something unsettling in the reflection of the window – an indistinct silhouette that almost looked like a figure.
A shiver ran down my spine, but I dismissed it as a trick of the light. After all, it was late, and I was probably just tired. I decided to call it a night and shut down my laptop.
Over the next few days, I continued experimenting with Generative Fill. Each time I used it, the anomalies became more defined. The indistinct shadows transformed into distinct figures, faces materialized in empty spaces, and strange symbols started to appear in the corners of my photos. Each image I altered with the AI had some form of eerie addition.
One day, as I was examining a newly edited picture, I noticed that one of the figures bore a striking resemblance to my late grandmother. The figure had her characteristic bun and the same posture she always held. The realization made my blood run cold. I started going through other edited photos and noticed that some of the figures resembled long-deceased relatives and friends. There were also figures that I didn’t recognize.
The figures were always there, in every picture that I used the Generative Fill tool on. As if they were waiting in the wings, eager to step into the frame at the slightest opportunity. It felt as though I had tapped into some spectral plane, a realm that had been hidden until now.
Around the same time, I began experiencing strange occurrences in my life. I would hear whispers when I was alone in my house, see shadows flitting in my peripheral vision, and notice objects not being where I left them. The line between the digital and the real world was blurring, and it was starting to scare me.
One night, as I sat in front of my computer, an edited photo opened on the screen, I saw a figure standing in the background that I didn’t recognize. It was tall, with a long dark cloak and face hidden in the shadows. I felt a chill run down my spine. “Who are you?” I found myself asking out loud, my voice echoing in the empty room.
The next morning, I woke up to find aseries of strange symbols drawn on my living room floor. It matched the ones I’d seen in the photos. That was the last straw. It was clear that I was dealing with something beyond my understanding.
After several days of experimenting with Generative Fill, I came across a Polaroid photo from my past. It was an old snapshot of a bike ride with my ex-girlfriend Alisa in our local forest. One corner of the photo was smudged and blurred, likely a glitch from the old Polaroid camera. I decided to scan the photo and use Generative Fill to fix the blurred part.
After typing “Correct the blurred image with forest scenery,” into the prompt box, I sat back and waited. The tool quickly worked its magic, and the result was chilling. Instead of more forest scenery, the AI had generated this unsettling image (due highly disturbing imagery and respect to this person, i’ve decided to blur out the body). A human-like figure stood next to a tree, and from one of the branches, a small body dangled by the rope.
The image sent a cold shiver down my spine. It was morbid, gruesome, and completely out of place. I stared at the screen, my heart pounding in my chest. It felt as though the image was staring back, pulling me into its dark reality.
Haunted by the image, I decided to revisit the forest. As we’ve been going on the trips quite often with the same road, i knew exactly where we’ve taken that polaroid photo. The air was cold and crisp as I made my way to the location of the tree in the photo. As I approached, my blood ran cold. There was a rope hanging from one of the branches, frayed at the end as if it had been ripped apart.
I reached out to touch the rope, and as I did, a distant scream echoed through the forest. It was high-pitched, like a child’s. I whipped around, but there was no one else in sight. The scream echoed in my ears as I hurried home, the image from the photo burned into my mind.
Once home, I felt compelled to research the forest’s history. I was hoping to find a logical explanation for what I had seen and heard. As I scrolled through old news articles and forum posts, a headline caught my eye. “Martin South Jr., 10, Goes Missing - Never to be Found.”
The article was from 20 years ago. The boy had gone missing from the very same forest. A sense of dread washed over me. It all felt too real, too close for comfort. The spectral figures in the photos, the whispers, the shadows, and now this. It felt like I was crossing a line, treading into a realm I had no business being in.
That was the moment I decided to stop using Generative Fill. I closed my laptop, a sense of finality in the action. The tool was fascinating, yes, but it had taken me down a path I wasn’t ready for. It felt like I had been dabbling in things far beyond my understanding.
The days following my decision were filled with a sense of unease. But gradually, the whispers faded, the shadows stopped flitting, and my home returned to its peaceful quiet. It felt like I had shut a door on a world that was never meant to be opened.
I am left with a chilling reminder of the terrifying power of technology. It was a lesson I would carry with me, a stark reminder of the thin line between the seen and the unseen, the living and the dead. I promised myself never to forget the dangers that lurked behind the screen, in the unseen corners of our digital world.