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Today is a good reminder that this newsletter is 100% made by humans.

And one middle-aged goblin named Mâtthias.

Links for the Top 25 drops are HERE.

This AI drop is historical

(starts tomorrow) 

You’ve heard of DALL-E, OpenAI’s text-to-image tool that recently got embedded into ChatGPT4. 

And you might also know about Midjourney, a similar AI image generator living in a Discord server that gets visited by 2 million people daily. 

But have you heard about alignDRAW? 

No? 

Well then, come with me. 

Please make sure you’re sitting down, or at least not operating any heavy machinery while reading this.

What you’re about to witness are the baby steps of an alien lifeform. These are outputs from alignDRAW, the first ever text-to-image AI model, circa 2015: 

Blurry? Yes. 

Unsettling? Kind of. 

Historical? Definitely. 

alignDRAW was first introduced by a group of researchers from the University of Toronto, led by Elman Mansimov – who also shows up in a great Vox video about text-to-image art here.

And now, for the first time, these 8-year-old images are being sold onchain as NFTs. 

Specifically, this four-part drop includes 2,709 original images split into two categories: 

• 168 images that were included in Mansimov’s original academic paper (“Paper Prompts”)

• 2,541 images that were produced while building the model (“Process Prompts”). 

How to get an alignDRAW NFT 

There are four phases to this sale: 

1. Christie’s will auction a Paper Prompt set of eight 1/1s on Dec 5 in a 7-day English auction

2. Fellowship will auction several Paper Prompt sets of eight 1/1s on Dec 12 in a 24-hour English auction (0.01 ETH reserve price)*

3. Fellowship will then sell 100 Process Prompt sets of twenty-one 1/1s on Dec 14 at a fixed price of 3 ETH (available for 45 minutes) 

4. Finally, all unsold 1/1s from phase 3 will go into a Dutch Auction on Dec 14 which will start at 0.5 ETH and end at 0.1 ETH 

Physical prints are also available for sale. 

*Fellowship Pass holders will get 10% in phase 2.

Bottom line

Dearest Readers, this drop is different from most AI mints mentioned in this illustrious newsletter. 

While most collections have the intention of being viewed as art, these alignDRAW outputs were instead originally made as research illustrations.

In other words, their value is historical in nature – an artifact that preceded a global movement, as opposed to any kind of creative visual storytelling. 

To state the obvious: the long arc of AI-generated images is just beginning. 

For example, look at the insane progress we’ve made over the last 8 years, using the same prompt from alignDRAW in 2015 and DALL-E 2 in 2023:

It’s hard to grasp what progress might look like over the next few decades. 

But it’s safe to say alignDRAW’s place in history will only gain more recognition as time goes on. 

✨ Added to Top 25 & Favorites 🔥

NOTE: These drops are lightly curated. Our only requirement is that they have recognizable founders. As usual, DYOR. To learn more go here.

CINQUECENTO

It’s been 2 weeks since I dropped my This is cringe disstrack dissletter on the FIAT Pass, and now we have the first drop that passholders get dibs on: CINQUECENTO.

A 10k-supply generative art collection that grants priority order on the 2024 FIAT 500e (US only) and a $180 credit toward driving one of these, among other perks.

This is not a diss on Stefano Contiero, the artist for this drop (whose art has proven successful on various platforms), nor do I dislike the Fiat 500 (a classic), but a $1.5M corporate mint on Arbitrum feels like a stretch.

Illuvium x Team Liquid Promo D1SKs

Illuvium, one of the most anticipated web3 games, recently announced a collaboration with esports organization Team Liquid (TL).

Without question, this is a huge collab for web3 gaming in general. TL is (by some metrics) the most successful esports franchise ever, boasts a huge global audience, and doesn’t really partner with web3 games.

However, the actual drop isn’t breathtaking: a 7-day open edition for “D1SKs”, which contain TL-branded Illuvitar PFPs and in-game skins.

Very cool if you are a TL fan, and there’s a world where these gain value as “collector’s items”. But it’s not a new promo type for Illuvium, and we can assume there’ll be more in the future.

NeuroRhyme Synthesis by Frank Manzano

Double Fellowship feature all the way on today’s edition as they are set to launch a daily.xyz solo show for sixteen Frank Manzano AI videos.

Manzano was the first artist to sellout in their Post Videos show last July (covered here), and he’s also sold over 60 pieces in their daily shows since (also covered here).

His art can be polarizing, given the accentuated vintage psych ward back-alley schizophrenia vibes, but if you are into it, this might be a good time to bid the madness.