You’ll be hard-pressed to find an episode of Friends you haven’t seen, with the iconic 90s sitcom still as popular with audiences as it was years ago.
But one couple has now reimagined the infamous cast like you’ve never seen them before – as toddlers.
Luca Allievi and his partner Anna, both 33, from London, started to create AI images ‘for fun’ while their one-year-old daughter Celeste was asleep.
The pair have sent social media wild with their realistic baby photos of public figures including Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.
And now they’ve recreated Rachel, Ross, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe into young children.
The show follows the six protagonists from being twentysomethings in New York City to showing them mature in careers and personal relationships
Luca and Anna admit that they have been surprised by the reaction from their followers – with many commenters praising their Friends recreations as ‘so cute’, ‘dead on’ and ‘absolutely adorable’.
They used created prompts – instructions for the software – for descriptions of the Friends characters to tell the AI to reimagine them as babies.
The show follows the six protagonists from being twentysomethings in New York City to showing them mature in careers and personal relationships, with much of the show focused around their catch-ups in a coffee shop – Central Perk.
But in contrast, the AI project offers a hilarious – if not hauntingly strange – glimpse into the seasoned New Yorkers as little kids.
Rachel Green’s toddler alter-ego appears bizarrely stylish for a young child, sporting the TV fashionista’s signature styled, highlighted tresses – courtesy of Jennifer Aniston – and a chic outfit.
Meanwhile, mini Monica Geller, played by Courtney Cox, appears to have taken inspiration from the beloved chef’s sassy persona, looking exasperated in a black hoodie.
Phoebe Buffay’s younger version is perhaps the most unrecognisable, with a less distinctly Lisa Kudrow-esque face – but still features the quirky character’s signature styled boho-waves and hippie-inspired outfit.
Hilariously, even as a toddler Chandler Bing, played by Matthew Perry, looks overworked and ready to quip a sarcastic barb.
Rachel Green’s toddler alter-ego appears bizarrely stylish for a young child, sporting the TV fashionista’s signature styled, highlighted tresses and a chic outfit
Meanwhile, mini Monica Geller appears to have taken inspiration from the beloved chef’s sassy persona, looking exasperated in a black hoodie
Phoebe Buffay’s younger version is perhaps the most unrecognisable, with a less distinctly Lisa Kudrow-esque face – but still features the quirky character’s signature styled boho-waves and hippie-inspired outfit
Not only is his younger AI-self wearing a full, baggy nineties suit – he also has a forehead wrinkle and a full head of combed back tresses.
The recreation of Monica’s brother Ross Geller, David Schwimmer, sees the paleontologist-to-be in formalwear and sporting his trademark, concerned gaze.
Looking most relaxed out of the three boys is actor and charmer Joey Tribbiani, Matt LeBlanc, who smiles at the camera in what looks like an audition headshot.
But strangely, he seems to be sporting a blond bob, in contrast to the New York Casanova’s raven locks.
Luca, a bio-technologist, from Milan, Italy, said that while the creative endeavour started off as a bit of a ‘game’, he’s found the images created to be ‘really realistic’.
Hilariously, even as a toddler Chandler Bing looks overworked and ready to quip a sarcastic barb
The recreation of Monica’s brother Ross Geller sees the paleontologist-to-be in formalwear and sporting his trademark, concerned gaze
Looking most relaxed out of the three boys is actor and charmer Joey Tribbiani, who smiles at the camera in what looks like an audition headshot
Anna, who sells parts of machinery and has praised her partner’s ‘fantastic imagination’ has called their work ‘something futuristic’ which is ‘evolving so fast’.
Luca first tried to recreate puppies and cats as their favourite characters before doing the same with babies.
‘We have our own cats and love animals so we tried to recreate cats as characters from sagas like Harry Potter,’ he explained.
The creative couple use software Midjourney to input prompts and commands to create pictures by referencing billions of images online.
‘The process is not time consuming,’ Anna revealed. ‘The long part it to think about what you want.’
Luca agreed, stressing that you ‘need to use the right words in the prompt’.
‘The order of the words is important,’ he added. ‘You have to describe the person and adjust the prompts as the software evolves.’
The couple take requests from their fans and have also used AI to imagine baby Disney villains, Harry Potter characters and singers.
Much of the show focused around their catch-ups in a coffee shop – Central Perk – where a few of them even work at one point
The cast pictured, with James Corden, during a recent reunion special which discussed the show’s legacy
Although Anna and Luca love the technology for their artwork – they recognise the more sinister side of it.
‘Sometimes it’s scary and too specific,’ Anna admitted.
‘It can be dangerous,’ Luca also warned. ‘Some people use it for fake news.’
Harrowingly, fears about artificial intelligence coming alive could soon be validated as a new study finds OpenAI’s latest version of ChatGPT shows human-like reasoning.
GPT-4, used to power Microsoft’s Bing Chat feature, was prompted to ‘stack a book, nine eggs, a laptop, a bottle and a nail in a stable manner’.
The system arranged the items so the eggs would not break, detailing how each should be placed on the other – starting with the book and ending with the nail.
It also commented on arranging the items so the eggs do not crack – something only humans could fully understand.
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