How an LLM Works: Visualized
Are you still struggling to explain how all this stuff works? Here’s a great explanation of how a Large Language Model works, a great data visualization, and a great example of “scroll-to” interaction patterns all in one article by the Guardian. If you click on one link today, this is it!
Getty Images: You CAN Have it both ways
Remember when Getty Images sued Stable Diffusion back in February? And then launched their own AI image generator in September? Well, they are back for more as they have now launched an AI image generating tool within the iStock Photo site. This new service is powered by Nvidia’s powerful Picasso engine and includes in-painting and out out-painting. While I haven’t used it, I‘ve seen video footage of it and it looks like a amazing tool. You can read the article and view the video here.
Fortunately, everything as been trained exclusively on Getty Images’ vast creative library — including exclusive photos, illustrations and videos — providing users with a commercially safe way to generate visuals.
Wizards of the Coast and Wacom Stumble…
Remember when Wizards of the Coast vowed to never use AI generated art in any of their materials? I’m not trying to call them hypocrites, I’m just acknowledging that it’s an incredibly high standard to uphold. After being called out on Twitter (X), they did issue an apology and blamed the “AI Art Incident” on a third party vendor. People have deadlines; sometimes it’s by any means necessary. Wacom, however, are you kidding me? Traditional artists are your bread and butter. Using an AI generated image was either stupid, insensitive, or both. Update: Wacom has also issued an apology. If you’d like more details, read this excellent article from the Verge.
How Far Have We Come With Midjourny?
I’ve been using Midjourney on a pretty regular basis for about 13 months and I think I started on v3 or v4. I never saw the early generations, but If you’d like to see how much it has improved in the less than two years of it’s existence, check out this article from Gold Penguin
Design Better: AMA with Jeff Gothelf
As you might imagine, I subscribe to a lot of newsletters. One of them is called ‘Design Better’. They’re hosting an AMA with Jeff Gothelf (Author of Lean UX). Obviously, this is a push towards membership for their site, but it would be money well spent. I’ve been discussing his book in my classes for years, so I’m sure his take on AI + UX is worth hearing.
Best-selling author, coach, and product management expert Jeff Gothelf joins us Tuesday January 16, 2024 at 12PM ET/9AM PT/5PM GMT for a conversation about how Agile and design can work together better, the emerging role of AI in product design, and how OKRs keep us pointed in the right direction when done right.
DB+ subscribers attend for free (become a member for just $8.75/mo). Tickets for non-subscribers are $15.
Designing With AI is Doing Something as Well
I’m also a big fan of ‘Designing with AI’ from Mia Blume; here’s their event lineup.
One of the most valuable learning experiences of the Maker membership at Designing with AI is the live discussion series. I personally love this series because it’s an opportunity to learn and explore AI with fellow industry experts—either folks designing AI products, or leading the way in integrating AI into creative work.
To kick off the year together, and thank you for your support, I want to invite you to attend our first few sessions.
As a participant, you’ll be able to feed the discussion questions or ask Q&A live at the end of the session. You'll have a chance to learn and explore AI with some of the industry's most knowledgeable and creative minds.
To participate, please click the exclusive Substack-only links below and register on Luma:
1/24 at 12pm PT
Helen Zhou (Founder of Galileo AI) on the future of interface design2/6 at 12pm PT
Colin Dunn and Adam Menges (Co-founders of Visual Electric) on AI creative tools and process
Please note: recordings will only be available to Designing with AI Community Membership, and will not be available to Substack subscribers.
AI Generated Voice-Over Updates
Admittedly, I don’t know anything about the voice-over industry. I just read about and play with AI voice generating tools. If you’d like a solid review (and predictions) about how text to voice works in RunwayML, check out this article from No Film School
And if you’d like to read about how SAG-AFTRA is evolving their point of view to allow AI generated voices in video games, check out this article from Variety
Obituary for InVision
Ok, this isn’t really AI related, but it’s timely, relevant, in my reading pile, and from another Substack writer. If you remember using InVision over the last decade, you might enjoy this read. Check it out
I’ve recently had a wave of new subscribers, so if you’re one of them welcome aboard! And if you’ve been forwarding this newsletter, thank you so much! As always, if you have questions, suggestions, or hot tips, send me a message!