We’ve all been inundated with reports on the power of generative AI recently. Text-to-image generators like Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, and GPT-4 are adept at creating vibrant images from user-provided prompts. Now, however, the tables have turned.

Pamera - The Poem Camera - is an image-to-text generator. Or, more specifically, an image-to-poetry generator. Powered by ChatGPT-4 and an object identifier AI, Pamera creates personalized poems based on real-time images provided by users. Simply snap a picture within the app, and, within seconds, you’ll have a thoughtful, relevant, and often bizarre poem to accompany your photo.

Pamera is the brainchild of Damjanski, a technologist and artist based in New York. He programmed the app’s poetry to mirror the style of Jorge Luis Borges, an Argentine writer, essayist, and poet. Borges’ trademark magical realist style is ideal for this sort of thing. It’s the perfect way to inject a touch of fantasy into everyday, mundane imagery.

Source: Damjanski

If you’ve tracked the bumpy journey of AI over the last year, it’ll come as no surprise that Pamera isn’t perfect. The generative AI occasionally creates poems that have very little to do with the subject matter of the image provided. When I took a photo of my living room, the resulting poem referenced a doll, despite there being no dolls in the image. Either the app is misinterpreting what it sees, or I should be worried.

Flaws aside, Pamera is an exciting reminder that we’re yet to experience all the possibilities AI has to offer. While the app won’t make you a wordsmith, it will provide you with a clever Instagram caption whenever you need it. Plus, every now and again, it may just conjure up something genuinely poignant. You can try the new Pamera app on iOS today.