Experiment With AI Widely
It’s Thursday October 5 and I’m really excited to be sharing AI tools with my new students. I feel it’s essential to bring them as much information as possible. To be clear, I’m not saying that Generative Tools are a substitute for a classical design education. I am telling them that if they don’t adapt now, it will be much harder to learn the next generation of tools that’s right around the corner. And the high point of my day was this message I received from a grateful reader. I found it really encouraging, so I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.
"Hey Erik! I’ve been part of an ongoing AI. interest group at work and your newsletter has been such a valuable resource! It’s so helpful to have a reliable digest to help me keep up with the endless quantity of newness. #Erikwasright"
Want More Clarity? Experiment Widely
I’ve only been studying Generative AI tools for a year now, but my biggest gains in knowledge have happened in the last 4 months, since I started this newsletter. If I could point to one habit that’s been really useful it’s that I’ve just experimented. I wasn’t trying to make something precious, I wasn’t trying to impress anyone, I wasn’t hunting for likes on social media. I just kept playing with over a dozen different tools and asked, “What can I make this one do?” We’re still in the beginning stages of what’s possible and the tools of the near future will be mind-blowing and incredibly powerful. Once again, I was very encouraged by this article from the Sloan MIT technology review that offers the same advice Experiment Widely. My advice is to just pick two tools, one for words and one for pictures, (ie. Claude and Midjourney) and just go nuts. Act like a fourteen year old and do something different every day. Just try to break it. I guarantee we’ll see new usages and revelations in the near future that nobody has thought of yet.
How to Explain AI to Executives
Regular readers of this newsletter will know that one of my goals is to help you look smarter when discussing these things with your boss. In this article, Rei Inamoto discusses the history of AI (How we got here) as well as the future (where things are headed. It has a few points that I’ve referenced in previous posts and it definitely the best long article I’ve read this week. Check it out
Don’t Overlook Perplexity.ai!
While I have mentioned perplexity previously in this newsletter, I wasn’t actively using it…until I read this article explaining it’s concept of “co-pilot search” or actively engaging the user in finding the desired information instead of our traditional overloaded link dump. Read the article if you’d like a deeper understanding, watch this 90 second video if you need to be convinced, or just start using Perplexity today.
Dalle-3 Now Available in Bing Image Creator
If you’re a Windows user you might just get lucky and be able to use Dalle-3 right now. To be clear, they’re rolling out gradually and you might need to experiment with different browsers, but I’ve read and watched several accounts and people have clearly generated some amazing images. However, this is still not the full version that will roll out with Chat GPT next week. Check it out
Creative Directors: How You Really Feel About AI
Hopefully you can click on the link below without going through the tedious registration process like I did. However, if you’re patient, this site THE DRUM has tons of great content if you’re on the advertising or marketing end of things. The article is a bunch of quotes from Creative Directors telling us how they really feel about AI. Check it out.
What’s Up with the AI Scene in San Francisco?
Well this might just be a gushing hype piece, but it seems that the AI scene in San Francisco is exploding with creative energy, networking opportunities, and investment money. This article from Mission Local makes it sound like the center of the AI universe, which it probably is.
I’m Still Optimistic About AI For Education
While there are a lot negative (dystopian?) possible outcomes for AI, I’m still optimistic that it can usher in wave of personal tutors and completely transform k-12 education. This article from Fast Company echoes the idea of been suggesting to my students on the first day of class:
In essence, this means that one-on-one tutoring is now available to anyone with a smartphone or laptop, and not just the affluent. AI tools have the potential to offer that individualized attention on a scale previously unimaginable, providing new hope for tackling educational inequality.
Quickies
Michael King returns with even more mind-blowing Midjourney prompts to copy
Andy Wood shows us what can be done when we simulate high speed photography
Kate Koidan shows us how to render complex scenes with MJ’s ‘Vary Region’ feature
That’s it for this week. I hope you’re having a great time and getting some value out of this newsletter. As always, if you’d like me to do a deeper dive any topic, just send me a message.