Loab (AI Cryptid)

About

Loab (AI Cryptid) is the name given to a photo and characteristic set researched and posted to Twitter by the user @supercomposite in September of 2022. The theory by supercomposite is that AI generated images have a higher than usual chance of generating a face that can be described as a 'Loab', in a similar circumstance to the Ever Dream This Man phenomenon, made real through AI.

Origin

On September 6th, 2022, the Twitter account @supercomposite^[1] made a thread detailing their research which they claim started in April on an entity called Loab, which was a reoccurring set of facial characteristics that would appear within an AI-generated art system. The system they were using differed from others of the time, such as Dall-E Mini, in that while Dall-E mini tried to create art based on a prompt, this particular AI tried to create an image that was the opposite of a prompt. The resulting thread would get over 44,000 likes in one day while putting Loab on everyone's radar (shown below).

Spread

Immediately, people began to react to Loab with their own experiences with AI and asserting that they've seen several examples of them in various other pieces of art. With the original thread detailing how negative prompts and weighted AI generated art works, others began trying to generate more images of Loab, or add to the mythos of why different AI systems seem to make her more often. On September 6th, 2022, the Twitter account @duncantrussell^[2], creator of Midnight Gospel, added to the lore by generating an image called 'Loab's Mother' which received over 170 likes in one day and signal boosted the Loab lore to other brand-name creatives (shown below).

Taking the lore of Loab in another direction, Twitter user @redpyrameadhead^[3] posted an image of Aimee Terese, a fake photoshopped urban legend from 2006, using the exact same wording that @supercomposite used when introducing Loab to the world. This joke would go on to get over 300 likes in four hours (shown below). This using of the wording from the original thread would go on to create a phrasal meme template that others would copy with their own pictures.

Later in the day on September 7th, 2022, the Twitter account @macbrecipher^[4] posted some fan-art that they drew of Loab, cementing Loab as a part of the online collective consciousness for receiving it's own fan-art and having people run with the idea of a cryptid that lives within AI generated art, and gaining over 70 likes in three hours in the process (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References