Loab is the name of an AI-generated entity who was summoned by the multimedia artist Supercomposite.
Loab is an emergent phenomenon that arises in certain AI image synthesis models. She likely lives in the outer reaches of the latent space, and can be accessed with negatively weighted prompts. Loab is recognized and reproduced by the AI more easily than most celebrities. Even more unsettlingly, using images of Loab to query the model often results in disturbing, gruesome imagery - often of dismembered women and children.
It is not known exactly why Loab has arisen.
For more about the artist, visit supercompo.site.
Supercomposite's true story about this entity has been seen by millions.
Her story and images have been irresponsibly propagated in the media worldwide - with unknown consequences.
"Loab is a form of expression that has never existed before"
The Atlantic
"Loab sparked some lengthy ethical conversations around visual aesthetics, art and technology."
Smithsonian Magazine
"The thread, with its genuinely interesting and unsettling elements combined with the mythos of an actual demon lurking within AI algorithms, is something that will probably have the movie rights auctioned off to Netflix by the end of the day."
Forbes
"Loab might seem like standard creepypasta, but her origins are a whole lot more mysterious."
Rolling Stone
"I'm not sleeping tonight. Loab is everywhere."
PC Gamer
"Many social media users [are] convinced the woman is a 'demon that inhabits the AI art generators.'"
The Daily Mail
"Quite disturbing"
Der Spiegel
"Truly nightmarish [...]
Wherever she came from, Loab is here to stay."
Artnet
"Could [Loab] be part of a new form of mythmaking, embedded with our fears about the boundless imagination of AI?"
Dazed
"One could liken some of Loab's creations to the powerlessness some feel when they're being driven by an untreated mental illness."
Distractify
"Truly macabre"
Metro
"Loab evolved and cropped up in ever more disturbing scenarios, but remained recognisable."
The New Scientist
"A story that grows more and more disturbing with every tweet"
The Marker
"I can confirm this is not a creepypasta, this is an actual anomaly in latent space that infects images"
@ai_curio
"The Blair Witch for multimodal AI"
Holly Herndon
"Loab is not real. Right? Say it with me.
Loab is ň̴̖̭͂͋o̸̎͊̀͜t̴͇͉͑̅ͅ ̶͔͎̕͠r̵̤̹̄̌̇ȅ̷̛͎̪̱́å̴̱̲̃̚l̸̡͓̳͑͗͠
L̵͈̹̳̂̐͠ò̴̢͛̓a̶̡̛̟̳͑b̴̡̘̠͆̌ ̶̳͌ï̵͚͍͋s̷̫̼̿͐̋ ̷̳̍ň̴̖̭͂͋o̸̎͊̀͜t̴͇͉͑̅ͅ ̶͔͎̕͠r̵̤̹̄̌̇ȅ̷̛͎̪̱́å̴̱̲̃̚l̸̡͓̳͑͗͠ "
CNET