AI is a crazy thing that continues to freak us out at times and it seems it can do almost anything at this point – including creating unique designs for engagement rings inspired by your favourite football teams, apparently.
If you can think of it, someone’s done it using artificial intelligence.
That’s right, popular bookmakers Betway have created a unique football team-inspired engagement ring design for each one of this year’s 20 Premier League teams and, much to our surprise, a lot of them are actually pretty nice.
For instance, here’s a glimpse at the engagement ring for Manchester City:
Big and bold, just like those who sing ‘Blue Moon’ when their boys are out on the pitch. This design doesn’t have any feature relating to the treble-winning campaign but the centre does give a subtle nod to the Lancashire rose featured on City’s crest and it’s genuinely quite cool overall.
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Another aspect of this AI project that we were quite impressed by, besides the genuinely plausible concept art, is that Betway also worked with jeweller Edward Fleming to reveal the materials, stones and styles of each club in order to create each bespoke ring on request.
Fleming even helped value these hypothetical pieces of jewellery based on their components; for example, Man City’s nine-carat white gold aquamarine ring would come in at just £1,000, whereas if you were to swap the gem for a blue diamond, you’re talking a hundred times that amount.
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But what about the red side of Manchester? Well, United‘s is predictably a much more devilish design with horned elements and ‘gothic’ influences, as well as a dark ruby stone which puts it as the second most expensive ring on the list, valued at around £30,000.
You can see the full list of rings and how they look HERE.
We’ve already seen what AI can drum up when it comes to the greatest Premier League starting 11 of all time, we just never thought we’d be talking about what those teams would look like in jewellery form.
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Technology, eh?
Nevertheless, red, blue or otherwise, if you were ever debating to make somewhat of a Premier League proposal, at least you’ve now got some ideas for what you want the ring to look like.
It’s not the only AI take on something Manchester-related that we’ve been impressed with recently either — it’ll take a crack at anything.
Mancs stunned as Northern Lights glow above Greater Manchester in rare solar storm
Daisy Jackson
Greater Manchester was treated to a once-in-a-lifetime display of the Northern Lights overnight.
The skies above our region lit up in shades of pink and green in a shimmering spectacle that had the nation stunned.
The Northern Lights are normally only visible much further north, with many travelling to countries like Iceland and Norway to catch a glimpse – but last night, the show came to Manchester.
It’s all been caused by a ‘severe solar storm, which hit Earth on Friday night, and may continue into Saturday.
Space weather experts issued the rare geomagnetic storm warning – the first in 20 years – on Friday.
But most of us were blown away to actually see the Northern Lights dancing over Manchester.
The huge solar storm predicted by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) supercharged the Aurora Borealis.
They said that ‘additional solar eruptions could cause geomagnetic storm conditions to persist through the weekend’.
Then here comes the science: “A large sunspot cluster has produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday at 5am ET.
“At least five flares were associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that appear to be Earth-directed. SWPC forecasters will monitor NOAA and NASA’s space assets for the onset of a geomagnetic storm.
“CMEs are explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona. They cause geomagnetic storms when they are directed at Earth.
“Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations.
“SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action.
“Geomagnetic storms can also trigger spectacular displays of aurora on Earth.”
If you look to the skies over Manchester tonight, there’s a chance you’ll see the Northern Lights again.
Just try not to cry as much as we did.
In pictures – the Northern Lights over Manchester
Joyful as a big kid. Mesmerising. Real life moment, never seen them before. Anyone else looking up? pic.twitter.com/a7B4kqBkfY
— NOT QUITE LIGHT – NQL (@NotQuiteLight) May 10, 2024
A company has created some extremely sarcastic greeting and birthday cards mocking Co-op Live
Danny Jones
A UK card company has decided to join in with the pile on over Co-op Live’s chaotic ‘opening’ weeks by creating a series of greeting and birthday cards mocking the arena and its ongoing saga.
If you’re a deeply sarcastic person who struggles to be sincere with those you hold nearest and dearest or simply want to get a co-worker something that says we care that you’re leaving but not so much as to let go without one final dig, these are right up your street.
So, with that in mind, greeting card company thortful – who are just as good at novelty as they are being actually thoughtful when it comes to words – have come up with a few clever little ways of wishing someone a happy birthday or congratulating them on their new home at the arena’s expense.
There’s a new home version of this one too.(Credit: thortful)
Not bad, to be fair.
Tim Leiweke, Chairman and CEO of Oak View Group (which owns and operates Co-op Live), recently released a statement offering his ‘sincere apologies’ and explaining the steps being taken during the venue’s ‘short pause’.
He admitted, “It’s not been the smooth start we had planned for, and I know that has caused a huge amount of disruption and frustration to thousands of people”, adding that they are “working incredibly hard to get the building up and running, and we look forward to welcoming you to the arena from 14 May 2024.”
The London-based card company is known for lots of comedy captions and with every Tom, Dick and Harry taking a pop at the venue already, they clearly thought ‘We might as well join in’.
In fact, they’ve been taking the mick ever since the whole thing kicked off.
The date mentioned above will see Manc music legends Elbow arrive as the venue’s new opening act artists after so many other acts ended up having their gigs pulled and we can only hope and pray that everything is on course for next week.
With more and more names being announced for their 2024 and 2025 calendar left right and centre, the most recent being rapper Travis Scott, it looks as though they’re confident that the arena will open and live up to the expectations it has built up given its billing as the biggest indoor entertainment in the UK.
As for thortful and everyone else, we just have to wait with bated breath to see if there’s set to be another twist in this tale and enjoy the light-hearted jokes in the meantime.