The AI Upgrade

Kevin Broome is a graphic designer and brand strategist in British Columbia who started playing around with AI image-generating technology as a way to process the experiences he had during a three-day ayahuasca journey. The images he started making felt deeply personal. But it was only after he started using a local historical forest manifesto as a prompt in the program Midjourney that Kevin understood the awesome potential of generative AI. On this week’s episode, host Peter Bittner talked with Kevin about the positive ways AI can impact the world of graphic design.

Show Notes:

(1:52) The connection between psychedelics and image-generating AI 

(3:50) A written manifesto about the environment that led to an AI adventure

(5:41) An amazing prompt you can use on Midjourney

(8:30) Alice in Wonderland meets Midsummer Night’s Dream: Kevin describes some of the amazing images he made using AI

(9:31) More prompt ideas to make your Midjourney experiments pop 

(10:18) Kevin reads a passage from the document that helped him create a prompt that made mind-blowing images with AI

(11:40) How AI can help people connect with nature

(13:35) For nonprofits with small budgets AI can potentially be a game changer

(16:18) The ways AI is changing graphic design

(17:19) Copyright issues that artists working with AI might encounter

(19:53) AI’s effect on the value of the work that artists produce

(21:44) Kevin explains how he works his prompting magic to generate amazing images

Where to find Kevin Broome:

• Kevin’s agency Wall on the Fly
• Check out Kevin’s insanely cool meets GUCCI images
• Follow Kevin’s Instagram account
• Learn more about the Living Forest Institute

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork

The unofficial slogan of the Center for Cooperative Media at Monclair State University is collaborate or die. The Center, which works to help small newsrooms both in New Jersey and around the world to succeed, believes in the power of sharing resources to help local news outlets survive during these challenging times. It was that sort of spirit that inspired Joe Amditis, the Center’s Associate Director of Operations, to create free guides to help small newsrooms and media professionals understand how to use AI tools. In this week’s episode, host Peter Bittner talked with Joe about these resources and how small newsrooms can succeed in a world where AI-generated content poses a threat to quality journalism.

Show Notes:

(4:43) A roundup of best uses for AI tools

(10:03) Resources Joe created for small news organizations about how to use AI

(11:34) Where to find Joe’s free AI guides

(12:31) The basics of prompt writing

(13:34) Joe’s guide for newsmakers about image-generating prompts

(16:16) The mistakes big tech made with generative search

(21:07) Joe’s manifesto of hope about why small newsrooms can succeed in a digital sea of artificially generated nonsense 

(22:40) How the monetization of GPTs can hurt small publications

(25:28) The demise of the tinkering generation and a call for an open source movement

(27:05) The pros and cons of trying to regulate the open source community 

Learn more about the Center for Cooperative Media – a hub of collaborative resources and ideas

Where to find Joe’s free AI guides:

• Beginner’s prompt handbook: ChatGPT for local news publishers
• Beginner’s guide: Custom GPTs for local news publishers
• A beginner’s guide to image generation with DALL-E 3

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork

David Arkin has more than two decades of experience in audience and content which he now uses as a consultant helping publications better hone their strategies for SEO, content and social media. Among his diverse skill set, David has immersed himself in the development of AI technology with an eye toward how it can help publications to both become more efficient and grow their businesses. On this week’s episode of The Upgrade, host Peter Bittner talks with David about the best ways media companies can harness AI to help their publications become more successful.  

Show Notes:

(3:25) How publications can hone their SEO strategy

(5:15) Why we’re seeing Reddit pop up to the top of so many Google searches

(7:05) Simple ways that publications can be transparent about their processes to earn credibility with readers

(11:25) David shares how he teaches reporters to become more digital 

(14:24) Best practices for keeping up on new developments in AI

(17:33) AI’s effect on the way companies should consider their social media strategy 

(20:47) The ways David uses AI in his own business

(21:25) The four questions you should ask about whether an AI tool is worth incorporating into your business

(21:56) Strategies for including AI in company policies

(23:43) An argument for creating company policies around AI when the technology is changing so fast 

(25:03) An example of how to fact check content produced by AI

(26:01) David’s predictions on how new organizations and publishers will use AI in the near future

Where to learn more about David’s consulting:

www.davidarkingconsulting.com 

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork

Wes Shields started his new venture, Synthminds, almost by accident. A rather obsessive interest with exploring AI inspired him to offer his knowledge as an AI consultant on Upwork. To his surprise, the company eventually promoted him on their platform as one of the world’s “top AI experts” –  that’s Upwork’s words, not his. Shields went on to found the AI consulting company Synthminds, which helps organizations and individuals better understand AI. In this week’s episode of The Upgrade, Wes and Peter have an unhinged conversation about the latest developments in AI.

Show Notes:

(1:55) How Wes started a successful AI consulting business almost by accident 

(5:28) Goda Go, the Queen of AI

(7:37) Like driving a car: How Wes approaches teaching clients about AI

(10:09) Wes describes the courses Synthminds offers

(13:28) The different consulting and AI development projects that Synthminds offers

(16:35) Wes explains what Auto-GPTs are

(18:35) What aspects of AI Wes thinks have been correctly hyped

(20:30) Why you should be wary of prompt lists

(21:24) The problem with universities betting that AI content detectors can detect plagiarism

(30:54) What voice actors have to gain from AI

(32:39) AI’s capability to create 3D

Where to find the folks at Synthminds:

https://www.synthminds.ai/

Connect with Synthminds on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/synthminds-ai/

For more on Synthminds, check out their Linktree:

https://linktr.ee/synthminds

The Goda Go YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@godago

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork

When Erin McNeill became a mother she started developing strategies for how to best educate her kids about media literacy. As a reporter who used to cover Congress, Erin eventually realized she could use her knowledge about the legislative process to improve media literacy for students all over the country. Her organization, Media Literacy Now, has helped pass state bills that improved how the subject is taught and developed resources to aid teachers all over the country to create lesson plans. 

In this week's episode, Erin talked with host Peter Bittner about how teachers and parents need to change the way they think about media literacy as new technologies like AI exert a greater influence over young people.

Show Notes: 

(00:58) How Erin came up with the idea to found an organization that works to expand media literacy across the United States

(3:08) How Erin’s background as a journalist helped her become an advocate for media literacy 

(4:34) How Media Literacy Now works to help improve curricula in schools 

(5:19) Ways media literacy can prepare students to better understand the dangers posed by AI

(6:28) The challenges facing young students growing up with AI

(7:35) What parents can do to educate their children about how to understand the dangers of the internet

(11:30) What worries Erin about AI 

(14:04) Effective strategies for teaching children how to be media literate 

(19:37) States are taking an initiative to combat the effects of smartphones by strengthening media literacy in schools 

(21:162 Peter talks about his career as a foreign correspondent in Mongolia and pivoting to working at the intersection of tech and media

(23:03) The pandemic’s influence on education 

How to read more about Media Literacy Now’s work:

https://medialiteracynow.org/

Subscribe to Media Literacy Now’s newsletter and mailing list:

https://medialiteracynow.org/subscribe/

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork

Peter Frelik’s path to becoming a storyteller began seeing a matinee of a James Bond film as a kid and eventually led him to becoming a feature film editor for Hollywood and a director of commercials. AI image generators will soon make it possible for most anyone to produce a blockbuster from their own living room. But instead of crowding the field, Peter believes AI has the power to help established filmmakers and creatives to better succeed. In this episode of The Upgrade, the Peters talk about everything AI and film.

(5:12) Why TikTok will stand the test of time

(6:27) Aristotle and the three-act narrative

(8:11) It’s all about the story beat 

(11:12) How the AI explosion has influenced Peter’s filmmaking 

(15:21) Potential competition between established filmmakers and AI wannabes 

(17:30) Copyright issues between LLMs and creatives 

(22:20) The ways in which AI is reshaping the creative process

(25:20) How AI will cause filmmaking to evolve in the next year

(27:09) Peter describes his new podcast Virtually Everything!

Follow Peter Frelik:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterfrelik/?utm_source=www.theupgrade.ai&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=media-experts-reflect-on-ai-in-2023

Frelik’s Virtually Everything! podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/virtually-everything-podcast/id1732098353

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork

John Biggs imagines a time in the near future where a human editor will manage a team of robot journalists using AI to report the news. A programmer turned journalist, Biggs is now co-founder of The Media Copilot, a consulting and media group that examines how AI is changing journalism and the news. In this episode of The Upgrade, Biggs spoke with host Peter Bittner about AI’s effect on the media industry and what newsrooms of the future might look like.

Show Notes:

(00:26) John talks about the Media Copilot, a new tool for media and PR professionals 

(5:14) The mysterious connection between longshoremen and journalists 

(7:57) John describes the future world he imagines where robot journalists will report the news with the assistance of humans

(9:00) How reporting tasks could eventually be divided between humans and AI tools

(12:39) The effect Google Books had on the traditional publishing industry

(15:01) The New York Times vs. OpenAI

(16:48) Ways that publications could get paid when AI scrapes proprietary data

(18:16) The half-human centaur editor

(19:39) John’s take on the most over and underhyped aspects of AI

(21:54) Some of the most critical things professionals need to get up to speed on about AI

For more on the Media Copilot visit their website:

https://mediacopilot.ai

The Media Copilot’s Substack:

https://mediacopilot.substack.com

The new tool Sublimewire that Biggs created uses AI to help media professionals write blog posts:

https://www.sublimewire.com

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork

During the pandemic Jeremy Toeman tried – and, as he puts it, failed dismally – at editing a video preview of his podcast. That experience gave him the idea to create an AI-powered tool to help novices put together a video instantly. The Upgrade’s host Peter Bittner talked with Jeremy about his latest venture Aug X Labs and how to ethically build a new platform powered by generative AI in the age of deep fakes. This episode was recorded at the end of 2023 before the release of Sora, OpenAI’s video generator.

Show Notes:

(1:00) Augie: An AI-powered tool that can turn words into videos

(4:23) How Aug X Labs was founded

(6:58) The strengths that those working in the journalism industry can bring to the tech space

(9:59) "Don’t empower badness": Jeremy talks about the safeguards his company uses to stop bad actors from maliciously using generative AI

(15:16) Why Jeremy believes AI isn’t overhyped

(16:42) One of AI’s biggest gifts

(17:45) Which jobs will disappear because of AI 

(19:37) Common misconceptions about AI

(20:59) The race to create quality, AI-generated video might be a longer one than many anticipate

(23:57) Jeremy explains the business strategy of Aug X Labs

Try out Augie for yourself:

https://beta.meetaugie.com/sign-in

Read more about Aug X Labs:

https://augxlabs.com

Connect with Jeremy Toeman:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtoeman/

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork

Simon Owens started his career as a newspaper reporter, but today he covers the media himself through this popular Substack and as the host of his podcast The Business of Content. Simon has successfully built an audience for his independent work by honing in on a concept known as parasocial relationships – the personal connection between a creator and their audience. Simon talked with host Peter Bittner about how generative AI is changing the way both publishers and content creators can develop these relationships.

Show Notes:

(1:35) The parasocial relationship

(4:55) AI: To hype or not to hype – that is the question

(8:11) How AI can assist journalists digging through public records

(12:16) The Upgrade’s course on how to use LMMs for research

(13:43) The differences between AI and crypto

(14:57) The problem with disinformation and how AI can increase the dangers 

(18:27) How the courts might help to regulate generative AI

(19:06) The New York Times vs. OpenAI

(21:24) Generative AI’s ability to strengthen parasocial relationships between creators and those who consume their content

(22:22) The Globe and Mail and the rise of the so-called dynamic paywall

(23:39) AI-powered audio players and their ability to increase subscription revenue for publications

(26:44) How Simon uses social media after the implosion of Twitter

Simon’s podcast The Business of Content:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-business-of-content/id1339451218

Simon’s Substack:

https://simonowens.substack.com

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork

Salvador Klein came from humble beginnings in a single-parent household in Canada surviving off welfare to become a successful post-exit founder, angel investor and an advisor to the CEOs of early-stage ventures all over the world. His Substack, Three Strikes Theory, examines real world case studies of companies large and small, and the three strikes that led them to disaster. Host Peter Bittner spoke with Salvador about the startup world and how one of the biggest stories in internet history, which has been underreported, can be a potential first strike that can take down a business. 

(3:17) How investors can give startups good advice

(5:49) The three strikes theory that explains why startups succeed or fail 

(7:04) The case of a successful startup that unexpectedly had three strikes against it

(10:16) What setback hurts founders the most

(11:42) Why we often don’t hear stories about when founder fail 

(12:34) How generative search can pose a threat to new companies 

(14:09) One of the biggest news stories in the history of the internet that has gone almost unreported 

(16:00) Why Google’s use of generative search hasn’t received much media coverage

(17:52) Google’s business model 

(18:39) Facebook and the organic reach of zero 

(18:26) What businesses can do to protect themselves from the effects of generative search 

Salvador’s Substack Three Strikes Theory: 

https://salvadorklein.substack.com

Find Salvador on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/salvadorklein/?originalSubdomain=au

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork