It’s mid August already and there’s so much more I wanted to do. Maybe it’s time to stop reading so many articles on AI and get outside and enjoy the sun while it’s still here.
Paul Krugman Says AI Will Wipe Out Jobs
Let’s just get the realistic bad news out of the way first. Nobel Prize winning economist, Paul Krugman says that it’s inevitable that the AI boom will wipem out some white collar jobs.
How many people out there in the real world are in fact being creative? How much of the work that we pay people a lot of money to do is in fact a lot like super-expanded autocorrect? And I think the answer is quite a lot. So this is potentially a really big thing, and it could displace a lot of jobs
So if you work in marketing, or copywriting, or advertising, and your job is the same as it was a year ago, you might be at risk. Read about it here.
The Role of AI in Your Innovation Process
If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter, than you know that I’m a big fan of The Board of Innovation. If your boss is still pestering you for actionable solutions about how to use AI, you might like this article with real world examples.
Trends in AI Startup Companies
Obviously this is a great time to look for work if you are a product designer or want to work at a startup. There is a ton of VC money being invested in AI startups and these companies will all need designers. Want to understand the trends and the type of problems bein g solved? Check out this article about Y Combinator’s latest batch.
Adobe Firefly Hits 1 Billion Images
Do you remember, like 15 years ago, when cheap digital cameras allowed anyone to become a photographer and sell images on stock photo sites? And the price of a photo plummeted? And now we have sites like Unsplash.com, where stock photos are basically free. If you were hoping to pay off your student loans by generating AI images, I think that ship has sailed. Those who are uploading new imaged to Adobe Stock are getting 50-60 cents for each image. This technology is now headed into Adobe Premiere, read more here.
Optimistic Half Hour: Bill Gates and Sal Khan
If you just needed a little inspiration about our AI future, check out this 30 minute podcast where Bill Gates interviews Sal Kahn (of Khan Academy). YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts links available.
Midjourney Roundup
Midjourney just might release version 5.3 this week and it’s supposed to include inpainting…meaning you can select and modify a portion of your image. I have no idea how they will do this in Discord. I’ll have a full report as as soon as it comes out.
Until then, check out this excellent article on color, or this new technique for creating consistent characters with the pan tool. I found both of them really helpful.
Sponsor Message: 7UP
I couldn’t do this work without the help of our sponsor 7UP. Just kidding, here’s a fake commercial I made in Runway ML
Thanks so much for reading. If you’re curious about something, or would like me to do a deep dive in to any subject, just send me a message. And if you know anyone who would enjoy this newsletter, please forward it to them.
The 7-Up commercial is the beginning of "MorphWave" design