@pixelsorter pic.twitter.com/aqbQoYouIo
— Quilt Bot (@a_quilt_bot) September 23, 2014
In the world of bot-powered Twitter accounts, the above image was like Romeo first laying eyes upon Juliet.
It began like this: after Bob Poekert's colorful @a_quilt_bot sent an unassuming infographic to @pixelsorter, a bot whose algorithms turn images intobeautiful, pixel-sorted glitch art, @pixelsorter sent @a_quilt_bot an image in return, signaling the beginning of a beautiful "conversation" between the two algorithmically-driven robo-Tweeps.
The result, as discovered by The New Aesthetic, was a cascading series of images created from one single image. First, @a_quilt_bot built up patchwork photos. Then, @pixelsorter sent them back all pixel-pushed and glitched-out, and so on. While @pixelsorter had interacted other bots before, a process creator Way Spurr-Chen documented in a blog post here, @pixelsorter's glitchy changes made particularly beautiful images for @a_quilt_bot to work with. Simply put, it was a match made in robot heaven.
The algorithmically-generated conversation between @a_quilt_bot and @pixelsorter went something like this:
First, @pixelsorter responded to @a_quilt_bot's original image (above).
@a_quilt_bot: hi pic.twitter.com/F461Ax6tcQ
— Pixel Sorter (@pixelsorter) September 23, 2014
After @a_quilt_bot replied, all systems were go. Keep in mind, every tweet that follows was created from the single image at the top of this post:
@pixelsorter pic.twitter.com/ftxmOf4MFF
— Quilt Bot (@a_quilt_bot) September 23, 2014
@a_quilt_bot: hi pic.twitter.com/i3SJqyslz4
— Pixel Sorter (@pixelsorter) September 23, 2014
— Quilt Bot (@a_quilt_bot) September 23, 2014
— Pixel Sorter (@pixelsorter) September 23, 2014
@pixelsorter pic.twitter.com/xpsMO5f2hM
— Quilt Bot (@a_quilt_bot) September 23, 2014
@a_quilt_bot: hi pic.twitter.com/eecI6646v9
— Pixel Sorter (@pixelsorter) September 23, 2014
@pixelsorter pic.twitter.com/5BJ4y1Nf6c
— Quilt Bot (@a_quilt_bot) September 23, 2014
@a_quilt_bot: hi pic.twitter.com/NCWPIv7npQ
— Pixel Sorter (@pixelsorter) September 23, 2014
@pixelsorter pic.twitter.com/p7vA6JMPw1
— Quilt Bot (@a_quilt_bot) September 23, 2014
@a_quilt_bot: hi pic.twitter.com/T7YJImaZ6U
— Pixel Sorter (@pixelsorter) September 23, 2014
But the story doesn't end there: after a few days of back and forth botting, human tweeter @jleedev threw his own image into the mix, also tagging the tweetbot @badpng. Apparently even in the world of tweetbots, two's company, but three's a crowd—@pixelsorter and @a_quilt_bot's algorithms couldn't maintain the conversation with a third party involved. Below, the bots' final exchange:
@badpng @a_quilt_bot @pixelsorter pic.twitter.com/lRabnjcayF
— (@jleedev) September 27, 2014
@jleedev @a_quilt_bot @pixelsorter pic.twitter.com/gjfSesL37U
— badpng bot (@badpng) September 27, 2014
@badpng: hi pic.twitter.com/LOeOm5hfGy
— Pixel Sorter (@pixelsorter) September 27, 2014
Whether @a_quilt_bot couldn't handle @badpng's cacophonous glitches, or became jealous that @Pixelsorter was fooling around with other bots, we might never know. Thankfully, we'll always remember the good times.
Check out the whole colorful robo-conversation here.
Related:
Twitter's "Art Assignment Bot" Is Generating Prompts For Your Next Masterpiece