The AI Upgrade

Silicon Humanism founder, Sylvia Gallusser, worked for television and radio in France and in strategy consulting in California before making a career transition to become a professional futurist. The job title of a futurist might not have been on the shortlist of many children’s dream jobs growing up, but the discipline has become essential as companies and brands race to incorporate changing technology into their long-term strategies. Futurists are trained to read the signals playing out in society that offer clues to how the world will look down the road and advise the rest of us about how to prepare. Futures thinking is also an invaluable resource for individuals, from the youth to the elderly. Host Peter Bittner talked with Sylvia about how a futurist views the development of AI technology.

Show Notes:

(2:13) Sylvia’s career from journalist to futurist 

(4:08) How one becomes a futurist

(6:06) What, exactly, does a futurist do anyway?

(7:20) Sylvia explains what she calls “the generative AI revolution”

(8:39) How a futurist reads the signals of how AI will influence the world 

(9:59) The new challenges AI presents to journalists 

(14:46) What can be done to stop the damage caused by deep fakes

(17:25) Deep fake detectors

(19:21) Sylvia breaks down the different groups of actors who will use AI for bad and good

(21:26) The gray zone: the ways people can unintentionally cause harm with AI

(22:21) How artists and musicians might be tempted to use image-generating AI to enrich themselves

Reach out to Sylvia on LinkedIn:

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

Sylvia’s Company Silicon Humanism:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/siliconhumanism/

Sylvia’s newsletter about Futurism:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7158608122360512512/ 

Want to become a futurist yourself? Check out the Institute for the Future:

https://www.iftf.org/about-iftf/

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

Since the internet took off, the relationship between publishers and advertisers has been fraught. Co-founders Christopher Brennan and Reagan Nunnally of Overtone are using AI tools to analyze articles and help both sides maximize their success online. The two previously worked on all sides of the publishing industry, with Christopher working as a reporter in Russia with The Moscow Times before moving on to cover tech and Reagan helping media organizations and marketers navigate the digital landscape. In this episode of The Upgrade, host Peter Bittner talks with Reagan and Christopher about how AI can help maximize the success of publishers, advertisers and brands.

Show notes:

(4:42) Overtone AI's work helping players from all sides of publishing

(10:15) How large language models can help publishers determine the best way to distribute their content 

(12:40) Reagan breaks down how these tools can benefit advertisers

(15:46) AI’s biggest promise could actually be in its ability to read, not write

(20:27) The bad guys can flood the internet with articles written by ChatGPT, but the good news is we have the tools to find them

(23:55) AI tools really can help make journalism more sustainable (yep, you read that right)

(29:33) Peter pops the big question: What does the future of the internet look like? 

(32:23) Christopher offers some helpful advice for entrepreneurs looking for success online

(33:18) Publishers and editors have traditionally been divided from the business side of publishing, but in the future they don’t have to be 

Where to find the good people at Overtone:

https://overtone.ai

Want to give Overtone’s products a spin? Pop on over to:

https://try.overtone.ai

Connect with the guests:

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

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-brennan-65565950/?originalSubdomain=be

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

Nick Toso and Catalina Villegas are journalists who previously worked at CNN Español and understand the pressures that the daily grind puts on reporters. Connecting with reliable sources is one of the most time-consuming tasks a journalist faces, but quick deadlines often prohibit them from having enough time to find diverse voices. Villegas and Toso responded to the problem by founding the platform Rolli, which uses AI tools to assist journalists to find the best experts for their stories. In this week’s episode, Peter speaks with the Rolli crew about how new technologies have the power to increase the diversity of voices we hear from in the media.

Show notes:

(1:13) A LinkedIn for experts

(2:15) Catalina explains the typical kind of miscommunication between journalists and PR companies

(5:06) Takes one to know one: Nick and Catalina describe their experiences as working journalists

(12:01) How we can overcome the lack of diversity in the voices we hear from in media

(13:48) AI tools can help journalists find the best sources quickly while they’re on deadline

(18:14) Rolli is designed to be the dinner party you always wanted to go to

(21:32) How Rolli vets their sources

(24:37) The curious case of the fake Barbie press release 

(26:57) Why Nick thinks AI can’t replace journalists

(28:24) The ways in which AI can help journalists produce more quality reporting 

How to roll with Rolli:

https://rolliapp.com

Connect with Rolli’s founders:

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

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

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

Tony Elkins is a journalist and citizen of the Comanche Nation who worries he’s becoming the doom and gloom person among those focusing on how AI will affect the journalism industry. As a faculty member at the Poynter Institute, Elkins has closely followed the challenges and opportunities AI is creating for both reporters and their readers. In this week’s episode, Elkins and host Peter Bittner have a sobering conversation about AI scams, deep fake horror stories and how – despite the odds – AI can still be used as a force for good.

Show Notes:

(1:55) What the Poynter Institute does

(5:00) The implications of AI for photographers

(7:34) How photo organizations and tech companies can combat the spread of fake, AI-generated images online

(9:42) Taylor Swift and AI deep fakes

(13:55) Willy Wonka and the perfect AI scam

(16:19) How AI could influence reputable publications that rely on a paywall

(18:10) The implications of generative search

(21:03) Peter’s community talk about AI in Washington State

(22:19) Some tech workers are sounding the alarm over publicly-available AI tools

(23:01) The dangers of the AI visual generator HeyGen

(26:03) The Martha’s Vineyard Times, an example of how AI can help local news reach diverse audiences 

To follow the Poynter Institute’s valuable work head on over to:

https://www.poynter.org

Connect with Tony Elkins on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-elkins-0a827870/

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

Kris Krüg’s career began in a Vancouver dorm room back in 1995 learning how to build basic web pages with a group of foreign exchange students. In the years since he’s worn many hats, working in corporate marketing, photojournalism and as an educator in the AI space. Host Peter Bittner talked with Kris about being a boundary-pushing creative explorer, an intuitive tech whisperer and a tenacious culture hacker. They also discuss the new course they’re offering to help media professionals and creatives better understand AI.

Show Notes:

(1:09) It all started with Netscape Navigator Gold: The epic origin story of Kris Krüg

(4:17) Kris discusses his work as a photographer

(7:06) Peter and Kris explain their shared mission for teaching others about the changing tech landscape

(8:21) The power of collaborative learning

(10:46) Future Proof Creatives, the latest venture Kris has launched

(14:06) A heated discussion on generative AI 

(18:28) The underlying economics of AI (plus, Peter and Kris reveal how much their monthly digital subscriptions cost)

(22:05) Kris talks about some of the questions he receives in his online classes

(26:10) The key to eternal technological youth 

(29:25) Peter and Kris announce their upcoming course

Where to find Kris Krüg:

https://kriskrug.co/

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

Kris’s Discord channel dedicated to understanding image generating AI:

https://discord.gg/YhJFa45m

Future Proof Creatives:

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/future-proof-creatives/?originalSubdomain=ca

Peter and Kris’s upcoming course:

https://www.theupgrade.pro/c/ai-upgrade-for-creative-professionals/

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

For The Upgrade’s inaugural episode, Peter talked with Caoimhe and Gerard Donnelly, the founders of Legitimate. Their new platform uses AI tools to help journalists save time, easily connect with reliable sources, produce groundbreaking reporting and fight misinformation. It’s a surprisingly optimistic conversation about the future of journalism in the age of AI.

Show notes:

(1:00)  The origin story of Legitimate

(5:12)  How Legitimate benefits journalists 

(7:40)  Peter and the guests take a look under the platform’s hood

(11:29) How the founders stop their AI tools from hallucinating

(14:29) Cicero, Oh Cicero

(16:13) Wait, so you’re telling me AI isn’t going to kill journalism?

(21:31) What publishers can do to protect their content from large language models

(26:00) The unfortunate truth about bad actors on the internet stealing content

(27:25) Legitimate’s founders weigh in on the anthropomorphism of AI tools

Where to find the Legitimate team:

https://legitimate.net/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/caoimhe-donnelly/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerard-donnelly/

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