Hello Fringe friends,

Today: Can AI really compete with human imagination and creativity?

Plus some cool tech news. Let’s get into those first.

Tech Fringes

Midjourney 5.1 Update

Take a look at this picture:

Pretty good, huh?

Midjourney just updated their engine to 5.1 — what does that mean? It just means more impressive looking images, approaching a higher fidelity of realism.

What’s that mean? Probably more deep fakes to come. And election season is coming up soon? I smell disaster looming.

Anyway, here’s more on their latest update:

It’s improving fast. It’s hard to say where we’ll be in a year from now, but at this rate, it won’t be long before we can’t tell the difference between human and machine made. Kinda scary, kinda cool, very interesting.

The IBM & WatsonX Comeback

Remember Watson taking on the Jeopardy champ and crushing him? That was AI, and more specifically, natural language processing in action.

Many don’t know, but IBM has always been one of the leading developers of AI, even if they’re not very loud about it. Today, the company’s Watson tools are used by more than 100 million people, according to IBM.

Soon they’ll release WatsonX. IBM CEO, Arvind Krishna

Krishna didn’t stop there. Sipping his own champagne, he also said the company expects to pause hiring for roles it thinks could be replaced with artificial intelligence in the coming years. Dropbox can relate.

That’s roughly 7,800 IBM jobs that could be replaced by AI.

If Watson could become the world Jeopardy champ back in 2011, it won’t have any problem beating up on repetitive task workers in 2023. Yes, people will lose jobs, but that means other opportunities will open up, right? Right?!

Survey says!

IBM also surveyed executives around their thoughts and feelings around AI in the workplace. There’s still some challenges to overcome. From Techcrunch:

I expect that number to dwindle as AI’s inevitability becomes more undeniable, and every company continues to seek its competitive advantage.

Google and… Wendy’s??

Repetitive task workers will eventually get replaced, whether it’s in the next 3 months or in 10 years. Things are changing — fast. Now Wendy’s and Google are teaming up to create a “frictionless” drive-thru experience.

I guess we saw this coming with Amazon’s cashier-less “go” stores, even though they’re starting to shut them down across the country. Having been to one, I must say, it’s nice to NOT have to stand in line.

Human Imagination vs. AI

Artificial intelligence excels at mimicry. But can it mimic the human imagination and creativity? Well, yes and no. Yes in the sense that if you’re lousy at drawing or art of any kind, but you’re an excellent writer (or prompter, in this case), then AI definitely outperforms your artistic skills.

And no, AI can’t compete with humans on the imagination front — yet — in the sense that AI is great at mimicry and finding patterns, but not in envisioning futures, and imagining new products or solutions to long-standing problems.

There are still ethical dilemmas when it comes to using AI in your work, particularly creative work. Artists continue to spot their work in the AI wild, and some are furious to learn that their art was used to train the latest models — and they want to stop it. 

As you read this, people are using AI to pump the internet full of mediocre (yet still effective — for now) SEO content.

What are the ramifications when the world is flooded with content in this way, knowing that AI is simply mimicking and repurposing what’s already out there? How will Google and all the SERPs respond? Will you get points for being first?

I’m still a believer in thinking of AI as “augmented” intelligence, or a tool to enhance your current abilities. Better writers will become more efficient, even better writers. Poor writers will become “good enough” writers.

Will humanity have a crisis of imagination in the coming years as AI takes on the majority of everyday tasks for everyday people? Through a lack of mental exercise? Remember, imagination is just as relevant to developing strategy, since it’s really the art of seeing around corners.

Regardless of what happens, personal AI assistants will be the norm for everyday people in the next 3-5 years. Every business will have one, serving their customer base, answering (and even asking) questions.

Every citizen will have theirs, learning its owner’s tendencies and preferences. Our Fitbits and Apple watches already do this, but this next iteration will be different. Very different.

Final thoughts

ChatTCM or Total Crap Magazine

What will the sarcastic writers at McSweeny’s come up with next? Ah yes. Total Crap Magazine, a magazine written entirely in AI.

Please, for the love of content, find you a good editor to chisel the David out of your AI spewed content marble block. People still want to be entertained, inspired, or educated properly with your content.

AI is just not there yet.

Wes Anderson LOTR

I guess they’re not going to stop. But I’m enjoying these fake trailers — for now.

Here’s The Whimsical Fellowship, another AI generated trailer:

The Fringe Podcast

Completed a first (read: rough) take of The Fringe podcast. This was just a test run with my good friend Zach, who’s a walking encyclopedia on technology and building products.

So please forgive the poor jump into the middle of the conversation (I hit record after the fact), and our conversational tangents on AI and technology.

This is building in public.

Until next time.

Paul