Has AI replaced rock n' roll as the fist raised slogan of this generation? A strange historical juxtaposition popped into my head, waking up in a strange city in a hotel room. What would the Woodstock music festival look like if it got held this summer instead of fifty-three years ago? Would today's Woodstock Music and Art Fair happen on Zoom as we watched artificial intelligence (AI) generated Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner as machine learning begins to trip and become sentient?
As depressing as that logical farce is, finding the line between AI hype and one of many possible futures is becoming increasingly difficult. The Prof G clip linked below illustrates a lot of narratives, but the numbers still need to arrive. And I stress yet because once large language models, generative AI, and chatbots work their way into use cases for you, me, and everyone we know, websites numbers for increased profits, better customer service, and better content for less will bring the return on investment (ROI) numbers currently missing for everyone other than OpenAI and Microsoft. Microsoft looks like the new Google, so up is down, black is white, and our AI drug is kicking in.
A lot is riding on this next act in the AI drama OpenAI's human-sounding chatbot started last November, including my, yours, and everyone we know jobs, so this Flipboard Friday looks at five generative AI companies aiming to help create end-use applications to make AI's hype and promise become profitable realities.
"If I have to attend one more stupid meeting, I'm out of here," is a universal thought, so Loopin uses AI to tap into how your employees feel. Loopin's AI helps managers coach and encourage to retain the most valuable assets in any company. These people walk into the office or log in to help your company win customer hearts, minds, and loyalty.
Loopin's pitch focuses on employee retention, but there is another layer to their meeting analytics because their AI sees patterns you may miss. For example, when one customer asks a question, the issue may be a one-off, but when several ask similar questions, there is an opportunity in their hills. Opportunity we may walk right by, but not if Loopin's AI works the way it sounds. Notice the trends your business needs to compete in an AI future with Loopin.
WTE does many things, but we are web and software developers at our core, so when a new tool appears to use AI to do more than code completion, we take notice. As Eric outlined in his GitHub Copilot X review, WTE has been using AI to help write code for years. Refract has all the usual suspects, such as code completion suggestions and chat, but Refract's refactoring assistance excites our left-brainer coders.
Refactoring involves tasks like renaming variables and methods for clarity, breaking large methods or classes into smaller ones, reducing duplication, and removing dead code. Automated tools, known as refactoring tools, can help identify pieces of code that need to get refactored, and in some cases, they can perform the transformations automatically. So if that refactoring description sounds tedious but essential busywork, you've got it.
We do our refactoring carefully because improper changes introduce new bugs into systems we've worked hard to create and debug. We strive for a good set of unit tests before starting our refactoring process. These tests help ensure that the system's behavior remains unchanged after refactoring. It is possible to refactor your way out of days or even weeks of work in the blink of an eye, so having a new AI tool to help is something we'll take a hard look at using to see if Refact beats Copilot.
I know I have it, but I have no idea where "it" is, and if that kind of "digital clutter" happens to you as much as it does me, then Fabric is an AI tool for me, us, and everyone we know. Fabric is a unified collaborative workspace tool designed so you can know where "it" is, find it, use it, and share it fast. Life is short, and I'll take an hour less looking for something I know I created, borrowed, or stole. How about you? I signed up for the beta after reading about Fabric on Forbes, and maybe you should too.
No one can create enough excellent video content, but what if we could tap into and license unique user-generated content (UGC)? Jukin makes finding and licensing the great videos your brand needs to engage the next generation of your customers' hearts, minds, and loyalty. Why create when licensing is faster, cheaper, and more profitable? Junkin allows marketers to license one, two, or a few videos from an influencer without stroking a big check until they've tested the influencer's content. We are big believers in testing before you plunge, and Junkin Media will help your marketing team test before they fly.
I was going to write about Deep Art Effects. Still, the promise of a tool that can easily apply painterly filters to your photographs told me my new Apple laptop doesn't have enough memory, asked for a licensing key, and the free option was buggy, so let's discuss what it would be hard to switch me off of now that I've had a little taste - Photoshop's new AI Beta.
Photoshop's AI will be a lifesaver for a graphic designer wannabe like me because while I don't have the technical skills of our talented graphic designer Rachelle, I've been using text-to-image prompts for months. Photoshop's AI is easy to use. You select a subject like the background of this picture I took of UC Health from my hotel room window and type the Ai prompt such as "blue sky with puffy clouds," and Photoshop fills based on your prompt.
And here is the fill my "blue sky with puffy clouds" prompt created.
In the past, I would have found a fill I liked, copied it, and pasted it into the image with a lot of work to match lighting and crop it into a new layer. But, thanks to Photoshop's new AI prompt tool, I use the same kind of text-to-image prompts I've been using on Dall-E. Too Good! If Photoshop's new AI tool can do something this fast and easy for a hack like me, imagine what a real graphic designer can do with this powerful new tool.
Hate to say this to a new startup, but Deep Art Effects feels moot. Why would I switch from Photoshop when they can do what I did? I've experimented with artist styles from Shepard Fairey to Cy Twombly, and Photoshop's AI does a good job with those prompts, too, so I don't see Deep Art Effects breaking away from Adobe and OpenAI. If someone from Deep Art Effects reads this post, please email me why I'm wrong (martin (at) WTE.net).
I'll write more about my Photoshop AI experiments soon, btw the hero image for this post was created with Photoshop AI.
Watch Prof G sum up generative AI hype and reality better than I've heard starting at 33:47: