James May reacts to AI versions of himself

As AI improves we thought we would try asking it to make some images of James May. The results ranged from hilariously bad to freakishly decent. Once we had a few put together we sat James May down and showed him what AI thinks of him.
Sync ID: MB01DBXXY9RSKXT

[@strandvaskeren]

I think this proves that I'll watch anything with James May.

[@under0ath109]

I'll 74th that

[@mclarenjohnf1]

I will 1.3k that after watching the great model train race.

[@TopStrikerMaverick]

COCKING NORA.

[@merlinsclaw]

Me too. Literally anything.

[@VKED23]

I knew that 30 min into him assembling a mini bike

[@ScrambleEverything]

I think James is tagged in so many photos with Hammond and Clarkson it pulls some of their features into his AI likeness.

[@Ormstunga]

I was thinking the same

[@SodaGG]

There's a lot of hammond in a few of the last ones

[@Ampelmannchen42]

​@@SodaGGThat would explain the gigantic gin bottle.

[@nejmsornejm2973]

Particularly in the "distillery" one@@SodaGG

[@richsackett3423]

The BBQ pic was the Orangutan's posture.

[@serisak]

AI Generated Top Gear is actually brilliant. "You can take my life, but you can't take my cheese." - AI generated James May

[@darrenwindle3592]

It's brilliant 👏

[@DarkestVampire92]

Perhaps its best if he never discovers AI Bollock's channel :P

[@BAKU2K2]

"Hammond, you idiot, everyone knows that bricks are edible. Look, delicious!" - A.I. generated Jeremy Clarkson

[@angrytvrobot6130]

The Stig is replaced with a giant tub of Lurpak spreadable butter invented in 1901.

[@Falkriim]

Thank you for bringing this to my attention

[@arturpopielski7051]

I just want to say how cool it is how james puts up and reacts with all this internet nonsense and meme culture. Rarely we get celebrities that are so open to do stuff their fans want to see. He at least understands that people want to see this kind of stuff.

[@CrunchyMotorsport]

James is so random no one can really replace him, not even AI

[@loneliberation3483]

I didn't know James was a gamer, funny idea to stick Glados in at the end.

[@TopStrikerMaverick]

COCKING NORA.

[@stradivarius151]

I mean nothing can be replaced with AI. Worthless technology. Save the planet instead so we can keep driving cool cars.

[@ArifRWinandar]

@@stradivarius151 AI can replace bad teammates in any video game.

[@WalterBurton]

Give it a week.

[@mr.hanfblatt9152]

Lucy: "The body looks a little bit like Clarkson's" Capt. Slow: "Well, the belly isnt big enough..." 1 minute in and we are already roasting Clarkson. Cant get better than this.

[@Ganiscol]

The segway from 'alcoholic' to Clarkson caught my attention first

[@sianwarwick633]

The 'segue'. Thing is, Lucy's absolutely right. AI thinks James and Clarkson are somehow one person

[@WalterBurton]

@@sianwarwick633 : Delighted I didn't have to scroll too far down in the comments to see this observation. 😆

[@BaldMancTwat]

I've tried making AI versions of James and Jeremy and it's funny, no matter what setting Jeremy is being put at, it almost always puts a car behind him.

[@benulisse8327]

Sure this has been said already, but someone needs to show James the AI generated TopGear episodes and film his reaction.

[@SouthoftheHill]

Can we break the AI by doing this? A picture of James May with shoulder length hair reacting to a poorly rendered AI of himself

[@albertofernandez2490]

genius

[@FourthDrawerDown]

James Mayception

[@matttondr9282]

Brilliant

[@AndyCooper761]

I hope Lucy Brown is reading this!

[@TechBaffle]

I tried it. the results are terrifying and look nothing like James May 😂😂

[@x_chadboy2267]

They somehow make James May look like a mix between Santa and an American.

[@witchyoni]

I thought the same. Definitely a Father Christmas vibe on all the photos 😄

[@Dave_Sisson]

I thought some of them looked like a cross between James May and the actor Sam Neil.

[@stefanpalickimusic]

lolololol yup!

[@amandataebby]

The last one looks like a morph of James and Richard, so the latter checks out

[@bowiesinspace7152]

With that american being Jeff Bridges

[@isthislegs5934]

This man is endlessly entertaining, more stuff like this please 😂

[@meagain3876]

I'm so glad that I waited to watch this - I'm having a really difficult day (Tuesday - Saturday were barely any better). I've been crying out in severe pain; painkillers help a bit, but they're not miracle workers in my case (I wish that they were). Anyway, despite the pain, I managed to laugh at James's reaction to the AI images. I agree with Lucy that the last image is the closest representation of James. Btw Lucy - I love your hair

[@monkfishy6348]

It's very clear that the AI is combining James and Clarkson, probably because there's so many images of them together. Probably a bit of Hammond in there too, but it's harder to pick out.

[@atlehassum1492]

I think some of the pictures has sort of Hammond’s hairstyle, only gray

[@Valigarmanda]

If the AI has white teeth, it mixed Hammond's.

[@fosterfuchs]

Which goes to show how dumb AI really is. Can't even distinguish between different people on the same photo, by process of elimination. After all, not all pictures of James on the internet are together with the other two blokes.

[@gabrielv.4358]

yea

[@bobosaurus331]

Hammond is in the pictures, he’s just below the bottom of the picture

[@alexandergeorgegrauwiler7981]

I think because so many of the photos of James online would also have Richard and Jeremy in them then the AI is frequently blending them together. I think the cheeks and alcoholism are coming straight from Clarkson. And the Gin Distillery has definitely got bits of Hammond in it.

[@gran_turismo_fan]

Lol. That sounds right.

[@UdanaWijesuriya]

That's Hammond's teeth as well.

[@bloemundude]

So, basically, AI cannot tell the difference between James May, Robert Plant, and Eddie Izzard,

[@xapko87]

Would've been fun to put a real picture of him in the mix and see his reaction ;)

[@gabrielv.4358]

yesssssss

[@MsMakatralsy]

If James May and Billy Connolly had a love child.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

..Jay Leno's chin....

[@dannyseville2543]

I thought just looks like Billy Connolly

[@lyha91]

And the space one is Cesar Millan.

[@Digitallogic2597]

That’s exactly what I thought

[@b.w.9816]

Spot on

[@johnandrews3568]

Having sat through this to the end, is proof that even something idiotic like this.. I will still watch Mr. May because he's THAT entertaining.

[@Wiley_Coyote]

His fuddy-duddyness (an old reference, but he's an older gentleman) is entertaining, because he really doesn't G.A.F. about it, but at the same time has these weird, random pet peeves he rants on about. That randomness is hilarious.

[@macrocosm4442]

Fuiefnr❤r

[@macrocosm4442]

Neinnduefr❤r

[@Lily-Bravo]

This has really cheered me up. James' soothing voice, the clattering in the background, the neighbours walking past, the way AI gets things slightly wrong which in faces always seems to make things very wrong. Plus, I am doing some plastering and the patch on the wall near Lucy has cheered me up no end.

[@keithjackaman9427]

James May is really turning into a genuine National Treasure.

[@danielforeman8934]

What? We need some germans to steal him, hide him in a billionaires mansion, and leave an AI replica of him for the internet? I think it's been done mate. Bazos did that on Day One of the Grand Tour. Everything since then has been holywood CGI. Enjoy the conspiracy.

[@HFC786]

Get James to try cheese from around the world

[@BenBulks]

🤣🤣

[@chilli-iceolive-abode2447]

😂

[@sianwarwick633]

Careful, he'll make James Gin Cheese

[@GDMonty1029]

Would love to see a video where a professional photographer recreates these scenes with the real James May, and compares the results to the AI

[@ArifRWinandar]

Along with a comparison of the money and time spent.

[@__ruebee]

yes!!

[@Tharus12]

With a portrait artist doing one of James in oil paints.

[@JD-cw4qg]

Lucy, none of them looked like James but they were so blooming funny and James's reaction to them was hilarious, especially that first one. Just laughing so much at this video, absolutely epic. More like this please 🤣🤣

[@darkpinktv6721]

The face looks like James. The hair is always terrible though it never seems too understand "light grey" or if it does it gives him short hair.

[@gabrielv.4358]

yesssysyssysys

[@gdworkshop]

Great video. A lot of the images I would recognise as James May. Hope for more food content but still a fantastic channel.

[@giftheck]

The first one was what happens if you fuse Jeremy Clarkson and James May. 🤣 The second was a bunch of people cosplaying as James May

[@christophb2736]

I‘m guessing, the AI researched a picture of „James May“, got one with Clarkson in it as well and picked the wrong body.

[@bea_sho4565]

The last one looks like if James May had a secret side gig as a Richard Hammond impersonator .

[@MdvK13979]

I think the oil painting version looks the most like James, apart from the chin line. Not the last picture. The alcoholic penchant is probably because of all the drink-related parameters in the prompts!

[@javadivawithdog]

This is much more entertaining than I thought it would be 😂

[@steven6161]

11:42 A rare moment of Lucy sounding like a vivid butterfly. Lovely!

[@Gogettor]

She’s a robot

[@gabbonoo]

must be, she doesnt like food.

[@user-cw8lo3cf1s]

Fantastic video! Would love to see a Clarkson & Hammond version eventually too haha

[@nickrgeorge]

Yes. This please.

[@e46racer02]

I really want to see that. LOL.

[@theothertonydutch]

Truly this is one of the videos with content of all time.

[@zbigniewg339]

8:18 that's James May and Sting combined

[@TheRogueAdventurers]

I was really hoping it would be James reacting to those amazingly terrifying, AI top gear videos that have been floating around recently, altho they're all very crass but could be funny

[@slik1977]

The gin distillery was definitely a crossed James and Richard. Some of the images did look like James more than he thought

[@lloydcollins6337]

I reckon when the AI searched it found lots of photos with the three presenters in and combined the features from all the photos into one, which included younger versions of them all too.

[@SpoonieMcspoonington]

Things I never expected to see in my life, glados in a james may video

[@Alistair]

kind of interesting to see how normal folks don't realise how astounding this tech is, and how rapidly it's gone from non-existent, to absolutely terrible, to vaguely passable, and should keep improving until it's incredible. Similar to how GPT-2 was like a fever dream, then Chat GPT basically passed the Turing test

[@bonitahighley7922]

James's voice is so calm ,I would enjoy his company

[@dolan-duk]

In general the generated ones look like May had a secret love child with Richard Branson. Also, the last picture had a drink that looked almost identical to what May was drinking IRL.

[@theessentialguideforblokes7960]

I was thinking Noel Edmunds but yes!

[@tlshortyshorty5810]

he looks like Richard Branson anyway lol

[@ugginator6876]

Reacting to the AI generated top gear videos would be great

[@TheYorkie1954]

I thmk James' summing up of the photos as bollocks was very accurate

[@jonathanjanowski6729]

This shows that Ai can never replace the greatness that is James May.

[@rezetor]

Last one looks like James and George Clooney was melted into one face. A Clooney-ish James.

[@purplehaze4063]

Finally another video on this channel

[@Corkoth55]

Really great idea for a video loved this one. James's reactions were perfect 😂

[@waltzingaranel]

😂 Laughed to tears. Great video idea. James can never be replaced!

[@bletheringfool]

I've just seen the Clarkson AI singing My Way, please get him to react to that

[@mindedchaos]

and angels thats the funniest video ever

[@Homieguerneville]

Watching James May is like ticking away the seconds of a boring day.

[@TobRacer]

When AI generates wax statues of James May and we all got the same reaction of the trio in the wax museum.

[@StaceJohnson]

Now I want to see a video of James May reacting to him reacting to these images.

[@jimmylepog5133]

I would love to see the trio trying AI to roast each other

[@92plates]

literally looks like it has blended May, Clarkson and Hammond all together, and some of them look even like Richard Branson in there aswell haha

[@cyberleaderandy1]

Does the AI version drive extremely slow like the real one?

[@TimSlee1]

Self-driving AI based on James May's driving style, at least it wouldn't have a habit of crashing though.

[@ryanjones6741]

Looks like the AI was combining James May and Billy Connolly for a lot of them 😂

[@washellwash1802]

If you want to do a part 2, and show james why artists are worried. Train the ai first with a bunch of recent pictures where it's just him in the frame. The current model is working off whatever picture was labelled with james may, and odds are there were two other blokes in the shot

[@oliversherman2414]

I love how James has alcoholism in all the pictures 😂

[@paleoph6168]

Despite these disappointing works, there is a video titled _AI writes an episode of Top Gear_ in which the dialogue is spot on. James should definitely check that out.

[@imallfordabulls]

Yes it is cold

[@paleoph6168]

​@@imallfordabulls "why do you need to do that?"

[@21c.fenidecht]

02:18 James May + Billy Connolly Mashup.

[@shootingzen28fav]

Seriously distracted by that fly on the window.

[@nukichu3933]

Ai : ah yes that alcoholic

[@ggrahame09]

A 55 year old James May with shoulder length grey hair sitting in a pub in denial about how accurately AI pictured him.

[@fillpereira]

The last one is bang on lol.. "it still looks like I have alcoholism" as he has two drinks on the table.. 😆

[@RonLaws]

Very entertaining video. Agree with james, AI isn't after creative jobs, at best it's another tool for the people in them XD last pic is sorta similar but there's a distant uncannyness to it like a not quite doppelganger.

[@mithikx]

I'd swear the AI is combining James with Clarkson and Hammond.

[@Ghoulwood]

james may is a mystic and this is his gift to the world

[@Del-Lebo]

Absolutely silly!!!! Laughed SO hard!

[@Bruno-xb2mt]

Really enjoyed this video of James May with shoulder length hair reacting to AI versions of himself

[@QuadHealer]

The last picture was the best, but I agree that the face is too round. It is no wonder it gives him an alcoholic look when you keep giving prompts with alcohol-related themes 😊 Made me laugh - thanks for that. James is in no danger of being replaced just yet.

[@bigdaddigaming]

Someone needs to explain to May that the chubby cheeks looking like an alcoholic is what he actually looks like to everyone except him, he permanently looks like he's been drinking his own gin for the last 24 hours

[@danm2173]

I agree Lucy. The last one was definitely the one that looked the most like him. 90% correct. With some minor touch up it would be closer to perfect. Nice to see you in the video Lucy.

[@chilli-iceolive-abode2447]

We'll leave the _minor touch up_ to you.

[@miroslavmilan]

I think James had wrong expectations from an AI generated image. You should not expect the accuracy of a photograph, but rather a portrait made by a mildly talented artist.

[@gabrielv.4358]

THIS IS SO AWESOME

[@richsackett3423]

I love the Dutch Masters James May. It's a keeper. Honorable mention to Slow Dr. Who.

[@00jeffwc]

My answer to Lucy's final question is NO. Also, the particular AI needs to be aware of many more images of James before it will be getting really accurate with its own versions of him.

[@yoda68zac11]

Yes I think the last one looked most like James and wasn't that far off... and yes. I think given the direction of robotics, AI and our habit of creating wars, we should be very worried indeed 🤔

[@x3ckid]

James May kinda looks like a Gandalf-ized version of Obi Wan Kenobi being old

[@mr.100rupees3]

We need our yearly dose of cheese related James May content

[@merlinsclaw]

No one can make any computer image to replace James May. He is an original. 😍

[@adamfry1125]

The first few had me in tears of laughter😂😂

[@theprodigalstranger5259]

Last on looked 2nd most like James. The one that looked most like him was the one with "in the style of an oil painting"

[@BalefireBombshell]

Imagine him and Hammond watching the AI Top Gear episodes...

[@CrustyOldDave]

I think, while the AI is not getting it right now, it is effectively a child and will terrifyingly learn and expand. That's when it will become a problem. They age so fast.

[@suicidalbanananana]

Don't worry, these kind of systems have been at the level of "a child" for several decades and nothing is changing any time soon at all, sensationalist media is greatly overselling the capabilities and intended use cases of AI at the moment because drama sells, but don't be fooled.

[@-BlazeK-]

AI can do this much better, but you have to train it. This seems to be from a universal generator, which could just be replicating from 10 images that have been tagged james may during its training. Which is why it seems to generate the same wrong face.

[@TechNextLetsGo]

In ten years, I will ask AI to make another season of Man Lab.

[@Chad_Thundernuts]

Yep, even in their infancy, the true potential of AI is beyond our understanding.

[@danielforeman8934]

@@Chad_Thundernuts look up "The Jupiter Brain"

[@JoshTordsen]

The last picture didn't look any more like James than any of the others. They were all a mix of James, Kenny Rodgers, and Santa Claus. 😮

[@lucasjolley]

This was absolutely hilarious! 🤣

[@Dan_Gyros]

James May, I believe your old Man Lab Series, with a few adjustments, would make for an amazing KZbin series

[@AIBollocks]

It'd be great to see James reacting to some AI song covers!

[@Jistarii]

I think the real twist is its actually AI James may reacting to real life photos of himself over the years

[@CaseyW491]

When May is gone, there better be more fuss than the Queen's passing. I dread that day.

[@HillJamie17]

The oil painting and the pint one are elite 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Vandal42]

I love James and Lucy talking about anything.

[@jamesdyble7468]

Please get James to react to those bonkers AI generated Top Gear episodes!

[@Jebediah]

The one in the distillery looked more like Richard Hammond, or a mashup of Hammond and May. Which would probably be the case if AI was just sourcing from media you've all been on.

[@Local_Lich]

9:28 I think AI just has the anime styled hair-type in mind, since he looks like Dante from Devil May Cry

[@shannono8397]

Nothing can compare to the original :) James is far too handsome for the AI to generate that accuracy~

[@jeremyfong5684]

"a crushing criticism from one so handsome"

[@TheBellacullen1988]

I think that last one looks like someone who could be related to him but not like him.😉

[@MrPilotStunts]

AI thinking James May is an alcoholic for 13 minutes straight:

[@markrothwell-eq7sg]

Most of them looked like Hibernicised versions of James May.

[@unclebulgaria2105]

When did James front Led Zeppelin?

[@BBKing1977]

While I would agree that none of these would be mistaken for real pictures of James, you also can easily see that he was the intent, and the last one was really quite close.

[@CPTCosmos]

This was brilliant 😂 I'd have to agree with James here, none of them really looked like him. There was a subtle likeness in some of the pictures but AI still has a way to go.

[@TheDrugOfTheNation]

02:47 pretty sure that's Clarkson's cheek. AI is picking up Clarkson in photos of May like a fly in a teleportation pod.

[@tech9110]

AI is just a newborn baby right now and it can do pretty amazing stuff already. Imagine what will it be capable of in the future😲