Tag: generative ai

Posted on

Social Media The Amplifier

Social media is a powerful amplifier of the human mind.

Human problems, such as selfishness, hatred, lust, greed, and laziness are amplified. We see this in an increased amount of depression being reported. We see this in research which shows social media correlating to increased feelings of depression among its users and another study that connects increased screen time among teenagers with a higher risk of depression and suicide.

Social media has also magnified positive traits like generosity and kindness.

This is because social media algorithms, whether you are talking about Facebook, TikTok or Youtube, are designed to maximize human engagement and consumption.

As a result, social media can be both a force for positive change and a source of negativity.

What is the difference? Mental fitness and wisdom. If individuals are emotionally stable, mentally sound, and self-aware, they are less likely to be negatively impacted by social media. Conversely, those who struggle with mental health issues, or are unaware of the impact of social media on their mental well-being, are more vulnerable to negative effects.

Social media is one of our first encounters with an artificial intelligence (AI) at scale, and it has already had a significant impact on the human mind.

The next generation of AI, such as generative AIs like ChatGPT, have the potential to amplify the human mind even further. Therefore, mental health and fitness are more important than ever, as we continue to navigate the complex and evolving landscape of technology and its impact on our lives.

As a parent, I am consciously weighing my options as we move into this new world. I have friends who try to put off exposure of their children to social media as long as possible, by limiting their usage of the Internet. This is possible because their children are home-schooled.

For me, that isn’t really an option, but it is also not an appealing one to me. I try to control exposure, and guide them to the realities of these technologies while teaching them how to be mindful of their mental being.

It is tantamount to giving my kids drugs in order for them to experience addiction, so that they can manage their minds better. Much like how vaccinations work, we have to expose their minds to inoculate them from harmful effects.

Sounds scary? I am not exaggerating when I describe social media now, and the GPTs that are arriving as drugs, I really am concerned. But what can I do, when this drug is going to be a part of the new reality we are moving into?

Posted on

3 Word Game With My Kids – ChatGPT powered

It was late at night, and my kids found it difficult to sleep. I was taking improv lessons (at The Improv Company!) so I thought, why not create something for them to challenge myself?

The game was simple – my kids would give me three words, one thing, one place, and one person, and I would come up with a totally original story using those words on the spot. The game allowed for endless possibilities and creativity, making each bedtime story a bit more unique and exciting (for me, because it was quite stressful! But the story was sometimes exciting, but sometimes fizzled to a disappointing end. Sometimes, it was so beautiful that I am shocked with what I managed to come up with.)

Today, Feynman came to ask me if I could do one for him on the spot. I said, “Why not?” but also realised that I was doing something similar to what ChatGPT is doing, forming something with concepts I know to come up with something original. As I was putting everything together, I felt a bit of pride at coming up with something original. It was something that I thought was beautiful.

So here it is!

Of course, I typed it out after I was done with my ‘generation’, and got ChatGPT to flesh out the rest of the details. The words were “a cute cat”, “with “a powerful crystal” and “a volcano” Want to try? What would you come up with?

“Mr. Cottonsworth! Oh Mr. Cottonsworth!” The old lady’s voice echoed through the narrow corridors of her HDB apartment. She shuffled through the cluttered living room, calling out for her beloved pet, but he was nowhere to be found. Little did she know, the grey feline had been waiting for this moment for years – an escape from the mundane life of a domestic cat.

As BBK, or Bad Bad Kitty, slipped out of the apartment, memories flooded his mind. He wasn’t always a house cat; in fact, he was over 3000 years old, hailing from an ancient tribe of cats with magical abilities. BBK had been one of the council members tasked with guarding the powerful crystals that granted them their powers, until the fateful day when the tribe decided to destroy them. The crystals, while providing immense power, had corrupted the tribe with their greed.

BBK’s crystal was the one that gave him infinite lives, and as the other crystals were thrown into the boiling volcano of Timbuktu, he succumbed to their evil influence and jumped into the fiery pit, activating his crystal in mid-air. For 100 years, he died and came back to life repeatedly, until he emerged from the volcano, the only survivor. His family and friends were long gone, and he was left to wander the world, watching as civilizations rose and fell, and time marched on.

For 3000 years, BBK had seen everything there was to see, and yet he couldn’t shake the loneliness that gnawed at his soul. So he embarked on a dangerous journey, trekking from Singapore to Timbuktu, hopping on planes, trains, and buses, and hiding in the shadows. Finally, he arrived at the top of the volcano, where he spotted the other half of the crystal lying at the bottom, its power still intact.

Without a moment’s hesitation, BBK leapt into the molten lava, and as he held the crystal halves together, the power surged through him, one last time. The heat was unbearable, and his body was consumed by the fiery inferno, but he didn’t care. He was finally at peace, reunited with his family and friends in the afterlife.

Posted on

Be Water, My Friend – AI and How It Will Affect You

I have written about how we are adapting to use solutions provided that are powered by AI at Brandcore, now I am going to discuss how it looks like as a creative in the field.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly going to change the way we live and work, and it’s only going to become more prevalent in the future. As a layperson, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of how AI will affect you personally. Here are a few ways you can prepare for the changes that are coming, in short, as Bruce Lee said, “Be water, my friend” even if we are now dealing with a massive teapot and the pressure is higher than ever before :-

1. Be open to change :

AI is a disruptive technology, meaning it has the potential to fundamentally change the way we work and live. This can be both exciting and scary, but it’s important to be open to the changes that are coming. Don’t hold on to romantic ideals about what your job was or what experience you had. An example would be a photographer holding on to using film for his work even as the world moved to digital. There are examples of photographers who are still able to survive, but these are usually very good at what they do, or excellent at marketing to the niche market. In actual fact, 99% of professional film photographers would disappear if they cannot change their ways.

Those who are willing to learn new skills and adapt to new technologies survive to fight for another day.

2. Be more efficient :

As AI becomes more prevalent, it’s likely that your work scope will change. In the short run, you’re competing against humans with AI in your own field, not AI directly. It’s important to be more efficient at using AI tools and learning, and adapting fast.

As tools start to get built, there will be transitional gaps that professionals can fill. For example, tools like Midjourney can produce work, but it’s up to professionals to adapt and make it something that serves their clients’ needs. This means being adaptable, creative, and always looking for ways to improve your skills.

Some Photoshop work had to be done to adapt an image generated by Midjourney

3. Be one step ahead :

Try to predict how AI will affect your industry, and be proactive about adapting.

Some industries will disappear completely, and it’s important to pivot quickly before that happens. Look at the example of Blockbuster Video, which was completely destroyed by the rise of streaming services like Netflix. However, some companies, like Kodak, were able to adapt and pivot while phasing out their old products. They moved from film to digital cameras, and now they’re involved in a variety of industries like printing, packaging, and functional printing.

In conclusion, AI is going to change the world as we know it, but it doesn’t have to be a scary thing. By being open to change, being more efficient, and being one step ahead, you can prepare yourself for the future and thrive in a world where AI is everywhere.

Will we survive in the long run? We are looking at global trends, and only time will tell, but in the meantime, we best move fast to stay in the game.


Posted on

3 Ways Generative AI Can Be Applied To Your Marketing

So I’ve shared a bit about my philosophy when using Generative AI like ChatGPT, Dall-E and Midjourney. Companies across different industries are harnessing its power to improve their business processes. Here are three ways that generative AI can take your marketing strategy to the next level :

Source: Rethink Ideas

  1. AI-Generated Visuals

With the help of marketing agency Rethink Ideas, Heinz launched what they described as “the first-ever ad campaign with visuals generated entirely by artificial intelligence.” Using the AI image generator DALL-E 2, the agency noticed that prompts related to ketchup frequently produced results that look just like bottles of Heinz. By encouraging consumers to share their own AI prompts for ketchup-based imagery, the campaign resulted in unique and creative visuals that captured the essence of the brand.

  1. Personalized Content

Generative AI can help you create personalized content for your audience. With the ability to analyze vast amounts of data, generative AI can create personalized ads, emails, and social media posts that cater to the interests and preferences of individual customers. This not only increases engagement but also improves customer satisfaction and loyalty.

One quick example is putting the following prompt :

  1. Product Recommendations

By using generative AI to analyze customer data, you can provide personalized product recommendations that cater to the needs and preferences of your audience. This not only increases the chances of a sale but also improves the overall customer experience.

Similar to the example above, you can provide customer data for ChatGPT to analyse. There will be new plugins that would be catered to these tasks, no doubt, but these are what you can do immediately now with ChatGPT.

So have you started playing with the technology yet?

For now, just by using AI-generated visuals, personalized content and product recommendations, one can create a marketing strategy that’s not only effective but also tailored to your customers’ needs and preferences.

But as a caveat, one should always apply some common sense and bring your own business experience in understanding what is generated. ChatGPT is known to be inaccurate and would ‘hallucinate’, i.e. make up things when it doesn’t have the data, and still sound extremely confident. So it is prudent to do a bit of follow up research to check what it comes up with.

Even a simple Google search would do wonders.

Posted on

3 Steps to Getting Started with Generative AI

Generative AI is taking over the world

You would have heard about the buzz around generative AI and its potential to revolutionize the creative industry by now. I just saw a friend post a survey on LinkedIn asking if we are getting tired of hearing about it yet.

If you have spoken to me within the past 10 years, I have been shouting about AI for a long time now. I am concerned about the impact of the technology on us as professionals, as well as the economy at large, but I will share these on a separate track. As a player in this industry, you may be apprehensive about its limitations and possible dangers but if you’re not willing to play, you risk losing out in the long run.

So in this post, let me shall three steps I recently shared with my team at Brandcore to help them get started with generative AI, I hope it helps you too!

Step 1: Play

The first step is to try it out. There are plenty of platforms available to experiment with, such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Bing Chat for text generation, and Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, or even Bing Image Creator for image generation. Keep an open mind and see for yourself what the limitations are. You might be surprised by what you can achieve.

Step 2: Learn

The key to using generative AI effectively is prompt engineering. This involves writing a prompt that enables the platform to produce something useful for you. There may be some jargon to learn and unique idiosyncrasies to each platform to be aware of. For instance, Bing image doesn’t respond well to the word “fat,” while Midjourney has no issues with it.

Step 3: Mix

At this stage, we are not at the point where the technology can replace professionals. It’s essential to combine the capabilities of the platform with your experience and training to achieve the desired outcome. Visualize what you want, and direct the platform towards that outcome. Then use tools like Photoshop or Canva for design work and search engines for writing tasks to complete the final product.

In conclusion, generative AI is a powerful tool that can help you optimize your results. By following these three steps, you can get started on your journey to exploring the potential of generative AI. Remember to approach the technology with an open mind, be willing to learn, and mix it with your skills to achieve the best outcome.