AI News for the Start of June
Another mind-blowing week
Whose Job Will be Eliminated?
Are you worried about losing your job due to advances in AI technology?
I have a poll at the end of the newsletter.
Would you rather watch this week’s news as a 5 minute video?
Inspiration of the Week
Everywhere I look, I saw examples of Adobe’s Generative Fill at work, but one of the best examples of this was expanding the background of iconic album covers. Multiple artists on Twitter have extended famous album covers into a much larger canvas with dramatic and amusing results. And Cody Young even goes so far as to extend famous artworks by DaVinci and Van Gogh, but Elisabeth Lopatto of the Verge says “Enough already” and suggests that an overuse of generative tools displays a lack of understanding about the original artwork.
For those of you who are thinking creatively for the first time, I’d like to introduce you to the idea of the edit.
And if you’d like a step by step walkthrough about how to expand the background of famous memes, check out out this article.
Tool of the Week: d-id.com
While their are several AI video generators out there, I hadn’t played with any of them yet. While I’m certain they’ll produce some negative outcomes (such as deepfakes), they’re a lot of fun to play with. I was able to build this in under 5 minutes by generating an image in Midjourney, extending it’s canvas with the new Photoshop Beta, recording an audio clip on my phone and mixing them together on the d-id website. You can also type in your dialogue and choose from a variety of voices.
Job Losses, Job Gains
Nobody really knows whose job is going to be replaced by AI, and everybody tries to write smart sounding articles acting like they do. Here are two different takes that I read this week. In Generative AI comes for Advertising, Sara Fischer of Axios details the major technological shifts that the industry is going through. If you work in advertising, check it out. Personally, I think it’s a little too optimistic. And in Why UX Research has a bright future in the age of AI, Kai Wong of the UX Collective says that the age of AI will usher in a whole new wave of employment for UX Designers and UX researchers. Maybe I’m just biased, but I feel more confident about this one.
Ethics: Center for Humane Technology
Wednesday June 7 from 9-10 am Pacific Daylight Time (GMT-7)
The Center for Humane Technology will offer a livestream on YouTube . The session, led by CHT Co-Founder Randima Fernando and Innovation Lead Andrew Dunn, will cover the latest developments, trends and risks. They recommend viewing The AI Dilemma from CHT Co-Founders Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin, and say “please check it out before the event”. With over 2 million views, it's helped close the gap between splashy public company presentations and what concerned insiders from AI labs are telling us. I’ve been recommending to all my students.
Modern Workflow Wrap-up
I was really inspired by Dan Mall’s article about how he’s using Midjourney to increase his initial output while brainstorming multiple options, but putting it away when it’s time for a human to take over.
Midjourney is great, but it lacks “in-painting” and “out-painting”. Paul DelSignore describes his workflow of starting in Midjourney and finishing, or expanding, in the new Photoshop Beta.
And if you don’t want to spend money on Midjourney, but you’re ready to get started with Leonardo.ai, check out this guide by the PyCoach. You’ll be generating great images really quickly.
And as a final note, check out this article from Create Boom about “7 Ways Creatives are using AI Tools in Their Art and Design workflows”