Shit’s about to get really crazy.

I’ve been using some of the new generative AI tools, mostly just for fun, but also to see how hard it is to use them. Oh my.<br><br>I’m not trying to get into the evil vs. good AI debate here. I’m just trying to illustrate how accessible the technology is right now.<br><br>I’m a middle-aged guy in tech - I’ve worked in the tech industry for 25 years, but I’m not a programmer, have never written a line of code, and have no idea how to use Python. None of that matters, anymore.<br><br>I’m absolutely not saying that you can just throw some words at these applications and voila! What I am saying is that the process is simple enough that, for someone who knows generally how to use a computer, we’re down to hours of fiddling and testing.<br><br>I played around with Midjourney, and generated a perfect image of what my mother’s face looked like when she was in her 30’s. I’d been trying for about a month, with maybe four or five hours of trial and error. Sure - I would have ended up with the same image if I used Adobe Photoshop, or something similar. The point is that you don’t need that level of expertise, anymore.<br><br>I used a new model to instantly create an absolutely perfect imitation of Christian Bale’s voice. I was able to ask him questions, and he’d respond in complete sentences, with perfect tone and timbre.<br><br>These models are going to improve dramatically, and quickly. They’re going to get smarter. And they’re going to be available to anyone, with even the most basic understanding of technology.<br><br>People are going to lose their jobs. They already have. I feel for them, and wish them the best of luck.<br><br>But I’m concerned. Our leaders don’t know what to make of all of this - they’re not sure if it’s a good thing, a bad thing, or both. But they have no idea how to control it, or even if they should. I don’t think anyone around them knows, either.<br><br>As I’ve posted before, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I know that this is a turning point in history, for better or worse.