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.

[@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 😂😂

[@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.

[@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. 😆

[@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

[@bloemundude]

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

[@isthislegs5934]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@gdworkshop]

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

[@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!

[@bea_sho4565]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@theothertonydutch]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@javadivawithdog]

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

[@ugginator6876]

Reacting to the AI generated top gear videos would be great

[@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.

[@bonitahighley7922]

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

[@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

[@SpoonieMcspoonington]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@purplehaze4063]

Finally another video on this channel

[@jimmylepog5133]

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

[@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?"

[@Corkoth55]

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

[@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.

[@oliversherman2414]

I love how James has alcoholism in all the pictures 😂

[@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.

[@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

[@Homieguerneville]

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

[@StaceJohnson]

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

[@TobRacer]

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

[@gabrielv.4358]

THIS IS SO AWESOME

[@ggrahame09]

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

[@waltzingaranel]

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

[@mithikx]

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

[@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

[@ryanjones6741]

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

[@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.

[@zbigniewg339]

8:18 that's James May and Sting combined

[@shootingzen28fav]

Seriously distracted by that fly on the window.

[@Del-Lebo]

Absolutely silly!!!! Laughed SO hard!

[@fillpereira]

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

[@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.

[@Bruno-xb2mt]

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

[@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

[@Ghoulwood]

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

[@Dan_Gyros]

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

[@shuflie]

We need a follow up where the crew recreate the bar in the last picture, wardrobe finds the same clothes and James has a few pints/gins to match the complexion then do a side by side.

[@21c.fenidecht]

02:18 James May + Billy Connolly Mashup.

[@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.

[@ericboone6162]

Should have May make an image of one of those prompts and see how well it comes out.

[@MikkoRantalainen]

I agree with James's comments about which image looks like him (or doesn't, including the last one that didn't look like James). I haven't seen how well James can draw with a pencil but I wouldn't be surprised if he did really well.

[@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 🤔

[@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.

[@mr.100rupees3]

We need our yearly dose of cheese related James May content

[@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

[@adamfry1125]

The first few had me in tears of laughter😂😂

[@merlinsclaw]

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

[@jacob8294]

If you want quality AI of James, i recommend to watch Top Gear - Dark Souls 2 Special. The video does great justice not only of James, but also Hammond and Clarkson quite splendidly. So much so in fact that I've thought for a moment the madman actually hired you to do the voices.

[@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.

[@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. 😮

[@wiktoriaslominska8078]

If this is available on-line then imagine what has already been developed but not yet released.

[@rezetor]

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

[@Jistarii]

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

[@jamesdyble7468]

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

[@timhiltonsuperstar]

I can't believe that I just watched this. Thank you for the apology Mr. May.

[@haralamc]

The last one is probably the closest but you can still tell its off. Would like to see a video version deep fake of James may repairing a lawn mower while eating cheese

[@AIBollocks]

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

[@Vandal42]

I love James and Lucy talking about anything.

[@lucasjolley]

This was absolutely hilarious! 🤣

[@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.

[@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.

[@unclebulgaria2105]

When did James front Led Zeppelin?

[@HillJamie17]

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

[@John_Ridley]

I don't think I would be fooled into thinking any of them were really James, even the last one.

[@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.😉

[@TheLucidChiba]

The recent Top Gear / dark souls 2 ai video is incredible.

[@richsackett3423]

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

[@LockedInWithLovebirds]

That first pic had me laughing far too long. Looks like you just finished the entire bottle.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Or a lemonpost.