You can now create weirdly majestic optical illusions with AI

A new AI image generator has dropped, allowing users to effortlessly create their own optical illusions at the click of a button. The simple-to-use generator combines pre-selected illusion templates to create a work of art based on a custom prompt – and the results are oddly majestic.

The generator is available via AI community Hugging Face and is free to use, so as long as you can dream it up, the mind-bending possibilities are endless. (If you'd like to create your own custom illusions from scratch, why not check out our guide on how to download Photoshop). 

The origins of this AI generator appear to stem from r/StableDiffusion user Ugleh, who shared their artwork to the subreddit, alongside a tutorial on how to achieve the look via a QR code creator. 

Inspired by their work, developer Angry Penguin created a streamlined version of the process to let users easily create their own optical illusion designs. The 'Illusion Diffusion' generator is available on Hugging Face and uses Stable Diffusion to easily create unique op art pieces, without being an AI wizard. The generator was shared by X user Alvaro Cintas, who posted a simple tutorial on how to use the 'Illusion Diffusion' generator.

The process is fairly similar to other AI art generators, requiring a simple custom prompt alongside one of the illusion templates. With a number of customisable settings for more advanced users, the AI generator can be modified to create a host of different illusion styles (which makes churning out your own custom illusions dangerously addictive).

The illusions, which feature various medieval-inspired landscapes and village scenes, seem to draw inspiration from Escher, a Dutch artist whom Ugleh said they were a fan of. It seems that the inspiration has only spread, as X users shared their own illusions on the site. Here are a few of our favourites.

If you're after some more inspiring AI art, check out the hidden AI optical illusions that are going viral on X, or put your new artwork to the test with this AI art checker.