We asked AI to come up with mascots for Saskatoon's new baseball team. It didn't go well.

Saskatoon's new WCBL baseball team is getting ready to take the field next summer, but its new name — and whatever mascot it inspires — has yet to be determined.

The team recently held an online vote, offering up 10 fan-suggested names, later narrowing the list down to a vote for four finalists: the Cobra Chickens, the Saskatoon Berries, the River Pirates and the Bridge Pigeons.

With the team set to reveal its new name any day, we turned to free AI art tools to see what a mascot or a logo might look like for each franchise.

Even with our relatively simple prompts, the AI-generated results ooze weirdness.

That being said, we did occasionally indulge in adding a descriptor like “tough” as we felt it would fit a squad looking to carve out a place for itself during its inaugural season.

While the name "Cobra Chickens" is a meme-inspired term to describe the sometimes volatile Canada goose, we turned to the AI art platform Aitubo and asked it to dream up a literal combination of the two animals with a baseball theme.

(Generated by Aitubo)

When directed towards a more specifically goose-themed offering, Gencraft mustered the right bird, but the image exhibited signs of AI art's infamous struggles drawing appendages.

(Generated by Gencraft)

While Gencraft and other free AI art tools had some trouble with the basics of anatomy throughout our experiments, it did an admirable job of personifying a piece of fruit for a potential Saskatoon Berries logo — although some of the results seemed a little unsettling.

(Generated by Gencraft)

(Generated by Gencraft)

Imagine AI Art Generator came up with something that veered more in the direction of a mammal — rather than a fruit-based being — with pretty adorable results. Although the three-pronged bat it's holding wouldn't be permitted in regulation play.

 

(Generated by Imagine AI Art Generator)

One of Gencraft's takes on the River Pirates was one of the more plausible AI team logo offerings, albeit with extra ambiguous arms. 

(Generated by Gencraft)

Another image it whipped up seemed like it would be more of an acquired taste for fans.

(Generated by Gencraft)

A clear standout was Gencraft's swing at creating a mascot for the Bridge Pigeons, however what appears to be a baguette is standing in for a baseball bat.

(Generated by Gencraft)

An Aitubo design managed to include a bat — actually two — although one growing out of a human hand in a questionable location..

(Generated by Aitubo)

SHORTCOMINGS OF AI

Tech analyst Carmi Levy says this exercise shows AI image generators still have a lot to learn.

"AI is still in the very early stages of its development, so it's not even a baby in terms of overall intelligence," said Levy.

"Just because we asked a question, we shouldn't assume that it understands what that question is."

Like Google in its early stages, Levy says you take your chances when you put AI in control.

"For right now, they're not quite there yet. So what you're getting is a general response that's more or less in the ballpark. It's passable, but it's still mediocre. And in some cases, it can be downright scary."

Levy said it will likely be years, even decades, before people can really lean on artifical intelligence.

"Until then, it's just another tool to add to our toolkit. It's not going to replace us anytime soon."

-With files from Keenan Sorokan