FAQ .

A lot of people want to try AI images without paying right away. If that's you, give a free method a go first.

The fun becomes clearer once you start making things, so try it. Free tools can produce reasonably good images, too.

You can create AI images for free, but getting better results often means paying for a tool.

There are lots of image generators. Personally, I think Midjourney is a good place to put your money. I've put together a guide on note.

Midjourney can give you a good starting level of quality. To take it further, you need to understand the fundamentals of prompts and how they're structured.

Copying a “viral prompt” from X and getting a similar-looking image won't build much skill on its own. I'd recommend putting in the steady work to understand why things work.

There are different ways to do it; my note guide covers the Midjourney approach.

The two images in the article were also made with Midjourney. They should give you a sense of how well the facial features can be maintained.

A lot of people are particularly interested in making anime-style AI images.

You'll find my anime-related articles in the “AI Anime & Manga” magazine on note. It's a useful place to start.

If you're interested in creating realistic female AI portraits, take a look at the step-by-step guide on note.

For that particular kind of image, I'd personally choose a tool other than Midjourney.

Reimagining existing anime in a live-action style is one of the interesting things you can try with AI.

This kind of image needs a strong foundation, but making them is also a way to build your skills.

There are basically two ways: 1. Generate a video from a written instruction (text-to-video). 2. Prepare an image and animate it (image-to-video).

Very roughly, the first means asking for “a cat walking through Shibuya.” The second means generating a picture of the cat first, then telling the tool to make it walk.

Both have their strengths, but I think more than 90% of people using AI video seriously use the second approach. I've explained the workflow in a video.

The quality of your AI images has a direct effect on the quality of the videos you make from them.

If you feel you've reached the limits of learning alone, you can also take a look at my material on Tips.

For many people, cat videos are what first got them interested in AI.

I've put together a cat-video guide on note.

If you're posting AI videos on social media without much traction, the note article may help.

But going viral isn't the whole point. It's worth experiencing, yet getting fixated on it can be a trap. “I'll teach you how to go viral” advice often misses the bigger picture. Personally, I'd treat virality as a bit of seasoning.

Lip-sync technology moves the mouth in an image naturally in time with a voice or song.

Plenty of AI tools support lip sync. I share my personal recommendations in articles and videos.

Once you can make AI videos, you can combine them with the lip-sync techniques above to build a music video.

You'll also need music. The note article and video explain the basic process.

If you've never used AI before, ChatGPT is a good starting point.

It's easy to get stuck thinking, “I don't know what I want to do.” Try doing something first. The article might give you a little motivation.

Using AI tools seriously usually involves paying. I often get asked whether there's a free option.

To be direct, I think being unable to invest a few thousand yen a month is a serious disadvantage, because the gap between people who can use paid tools and those who can't is growing. Even as a student, I think I'd work part-time and put the money into trying AI tools.

Same here, haha. The pace of AI development is pretty intense.

My basic approach is to follow the tools' official accounts and get information early. I've written more about it on note.

There are many different ways to approach an AI side project.

I cover them in the AI Side Projects magazine on note. Pick an article that interests you. I also share the numbers from my own experiments earning through note.

Because a female presenter explains things on YouTube, people sometimes think AI FREAK is a woman. I'm actually a man. Sorry about that!

I'm based in Tokyo, creating with AI and sharing what I learn. You can read my background on the About page.

Want to ask something about AI without sharing who you are? Use the anonymous question box on note.

I can't answer every question, but I reply to ones that interest me. Some answers become note articles.

My note uses a membership model. There are free articles as well as many members-only posts.

Standard (¥980/month) includes the latest month's paid articles. Gold (¥1,980/month) includes paid articles from all periods, including the archive.

I'm grateful to receive many project requests and inquiries. If you're contacting me for a company, please include a budget or detailed project information.

I also receive many requests to discuss things in meetings, and can't accommodate them all. Sharing as much detail as possible beforehand helps. If you don't hear back, please understand that the timing, budget or availability may not have been a fit.