When asked for a high performance shortboard, Midjourney gave me what essentially looked like a CI Neckbeard sitting in some sort of brutalist warehouse.
AI is seemingly everywhere right now, from think pieces about high school students using chatgpt to do their homework, to those AI-generated videos of fictional characters as Balenciaga models. Anywhere you turn, it looks like AI is poised to augment, or possibly completely upend, basically every industry.
So, are surfers the next target of the sweeping eye of our new automated overlords?
The first immediate possibility is in the world of shaping. We’ve already seen technology transform the process once. Where our beloved boards were once designed and shaped by hand, now most are created with the aid of CAD software and a CNC machine. The result was a revolution in the ability to fine tune and then mass produce boards – one that has also seen surfers and journalists questioning whether it has led to a loss of the personal touch their watercraft once had.
So AI is here to stay, and technology has changed the world of surfing before, but what would AI shaping even look like? In order to get the answer from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, I asked chatgpt what it thought the potential uses for AI in shaping were:
“Design optimization: AI can analyze surfboard design data to identify optimal design parameters for improved performance.
Virtual testing: AI can simulate surfboard performance in virtual environments to test and evaluate different design options.
Customization: AI can create customized surfboard designs based on individual surfer characteristics, such as height, weight, and skill level.
Production automation: AI can automate and optimize the surfboard manufacturing process, including shaping and material usage.
Quality control: AI can analyze surfboard shapes and materials to identify defects or areas for improvement in the manufacturing process.”
The last two are no brainers. Mass-produced surfboards are made in factories, and manufacturing is already starting to be affected by the use of AI. Similarly, computational fluid dynamics have been used to virtually test the performance of surfboards, so automating that process seems like a logical next step.
However, the use of AI to create the design of a surfboard itself is the most intriguing. Using AI to fiddle with dimensions for custom orders seems like it could happen tomorrow, but I can sense an even greater possibility here. With just a subscription to an AI service, is it possible for an average Joe to design the next Average Joe?
With that in mind, I decided to try my hand at some AI-generated shaping using the program Midjourney. My first attempt was the picture at the top (so far, so good?). Fairly normal. Then came the following:
Things are starting to get wonky. MJ appears to have a rather impressionistic taste for fin placement, often sticking them on the top of the board. Good luck getting a traction pad on that thing.
For the surfer who simply refuse to take lefts. Once again, MJ insists on placing the fin on the deck, but maybe it’s just the next innovation in surfboard technology. Who am I to argue with science?
The good news is I now have a gun in my AI quiver for the heavier days. The bad news is that the fins look like they were designed by whoever does the costume design for the Thunderdome and they’re on the deck again.
My future as an AI shaper was starting to look bleak. It was time to use some lateral thinking.
“Surfboard made of Chinese porcelain” returned a rather beautiful piece. I’m not sure if the material is the most durable choice, but I would buy a board with that design printed on it.
What’s better than a Wavestorm to keep kooks alive when getting brained by their own board in a crowded lineup? How about a board made out of a quilt?
I don’t know what’s going on with the fins here. It looks like a Hajime Sorayama took a trip to Kandui and never came back.
If a Dark Arts board is a little too pricey for you, how about considering a surfboard made from the bones of an Eldritch god?
Obviously, if AI does revolutionize the world of shaping, this isn’t what it will look like. Midjourney is more of an artist than an engineer, and we’ll have to wait until AI technology is integrated into CAD shaping software to truly see what the future will hold.
One thing is certain, though: I won’ be shaping surfboards any time soon.
