OpenAI Releases a Video Generator
Nothing will be the same
I’s amazing how quickly the world changes. I had been in a writing slump for the past few weeks, but Wednesday’s post had re-energized me. It’s Thursday evening and I was planning on elaborating on the whole Google Gemini-ChatGPT $20/month thing. Earlier today, I briefly noted that one of my students (thanks Fawn!) had posted about something called Sora, and I made a note to check it out this evening. While it’s still in private beta and you can’t use it yet, I can tell you by the demos I’ve seen that this is the day that everything changes. I’ve been experimenting with AI generated video almost every day for the last 8 months and I’ve either tested or read about all the major tools out there. I thought I had a good idea of what was coming next, but I have to say I am completely blown away. While I’m sure these are cherry picked examples, you really just have to take a peek at these examples if you’d like to understand the state of the art in AI generated video. Check it out.
Why it matters? These videos are up to 60 seconds long and have a level of fidelity and coherence that we haven’t seen before. While there are still some tell-tale signs that they are AI generated, we are now at a tipping point where AI video can easily replace stock footage.
PROMPT: Several giant wooly mammoths approach treading through a snowy meadow, their long wooly fur lightly blows in the wind as they walk, snow covered trees and dramatic snow capped mountains in the distance, mid afternoon light with wispy clouds and a sun high in the distance creates a warm glow, the low camera view is stunning capturing the large furry mammal with beautiful photography, depth of field (Credit: OpenAI).
Last night, Sam Altman was on Twitter taking requests and generating video on the fly, you can see some of those posted here.
Remember, it was only 11 months ago, that we were laughing about Will Smith Eating Spaghetti. Oh yeah, Google, Midjourney, Meta, and Apple are all releasing new AI video tools soon.
Google Gemini Roundup
While I was planning on writing about Gemini, instead I’ll provide the links to the articles have specific information.
If you are concerned about your privacy, you should definitely NOT use Google Gemini. If you carefully read their own statement, it says “don’t include any confidential information, the information is read by human reviewers, and stored for up to three years”. Check it out
If that didn’t scare you off and you’d like to read a mostly positive review of Gemini and it’s capabilities Check it out
If you’d like to see how Gemini fits into the larger Google ecosystem Check it out
This article was the catalyst for I wrote on Wednesday and it asks, “Is it really worth it to pay $20 a month for any chatbot”? Check it out
If you’re a Google power user and already paying for a Google One plan, here’s an article explaining what you get for $20/month Check it out
Don’t worry, they just announced Gemini version 1.5 which is alleged to be better than ChatGPT check it out
Slack Adds New AI Search Features
Has Slack really been with us for 10 years now? I remember when one of my students first showed it to me in 2014 and how excited I was when our department first implemented it. We felt so cutting edge and innovative and explained to our students that we were simulating a professional work environment. Perhaps I’m just a curmudgeon, but SLACK doesn’t seem as shiny and fun anymore. Just as many people had grown weary over email by 2010, I now hear that SLACK has become the new bane of office existence. (Don’t get me started on MS Teams). However, I was excited to learn that they have now added AI powered search and channel summaries. So if you’re a SLACK user, you should check it out. Theoretically, it should make getting caught up much easier.
Best Free (and Almost Free) AI Tools Roundup
If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter, you can probably skip this part since it’s summary of many of the points I’ve covered recently. But if you’re new to AI tools, here are some of my recommendations.
Image Generation: If you’re a designer, I strongly recommend Recraft.ai. it generates both vector and raster images, and it won’t be free forever. If you just need an occasional image, go to Google Test Kitchen.
Video Generation: While RunwayML and Pika are the most powerful tools, Pixverse.ai is still free and produces great results. Sometimes it’s slow and clunky, but it’s a great way to get started in AI video.
Music Generation: While you’re over at Google Test Kitchen, you should experiment and make some music as well. The interface is the same, and it’s a lot of fun.
Voice Generation: I use Eleven Labs for all my voice over work. While I am paying for their $5/month plan, the free starter plan is more than enough to get started.
Sound FX Generation: Meta has an multi faceted audio generation tool called Audiobox, that could fill up an entire, but I just use when I need a certain sound effect.
Best AI Assistant: I used to be in love with Claude; then it was ChatGPT, and there was a brief fling with Bard, but now my heart belongs to Perplexity.ai
Okay, that’s it for today. I’m going to spend the whole weekend trying to make sense of this and recalibrating my AI video trajectory. I hope you’re having fun and learning a lot out there. As always, if you have questions, suggestions, or any hot tips, send me a message.