Humanizing Technology : The Intersection of AI and Creativity
[00:00:02] Daniel: Hello everyone. And welcome back to another episode of Making Sense Of Technology in Multimedia. I'm your host, Daniel Douglas. And I'm thrilled to examine the fascinating world of creativity and technology in multimedia. Today, Nejc Sušec is on the show. Nejc has been involved in the creative field for nine years in various roles and positions from creating social media content, marketing campaigns, video editing, and animation.
He's been at the forefront of innovation, exploring how artificial intelligence can enhance creative processes. Across various multimedia specialties today. We're discussing a hot topic, humanizing technology. It's all about striking a perfect balance between cutting edge AI tools and the human touch and creative endeavors.
We'll explore how these AI technologies transform how we create photography, videography, and more content. So whether you're an aspiring creative professional or just someone curious. About the changing landscape of multimedia. This episode will provide a balanced perspective offering insights from both sides.
So without further ado. Nejc welcome to the show.
[00:01:28] Nejc: Hello, Daniel. Thank you so much. I'm very excited to have a chat. I do love both technology and I love creating, and I feel like blending those two together is a very fascinating world indeed.
[00:01:39] Daniel: I've spent over 20 years in the technology industry and a lot of folks, well, some folks, I won't say a lot of folks, but some folks are just afraid of technology, afraid of, especially with artificial intelligence and the way it's going now.
So there's a couple of things we want to talk about. One is combining tech and creativity. So the first thing is how can, how can we combine new technology with existing creative processes?
[00:02:13] Nejc: I think that's exactly how you described it by using our existing creative processes. I feel like why people are afraid of technology is because it is often unknown, like people are afraid of the unknown and every new like development and progress we make as humanity starts as unknown.
You know, so that's why people, first thing to take is fear and rejection, you know for me I like to embrace new things. I'm very averse to risk, I guess I like to, you know, go towards the new and curious thing. And I like to communicate that to other people. So that's kind of like where my role is of communicating the unknown to the.
People who are in the comfort zone. So the way I like to explain it is basically do what you already do and like break down your process. Like if you're a video editor, if you're a videographer, whatever your creative field is, you know, just like break it down and make it into steps, be very strategic about it.
Like, how do you do what you do from like beginning of, okay, I will start my project to our, to the end, like, okay, this is the deliverable and then like each step, you know, it can be supported by AI more or less, and then it's more just about how will you. Introduce new tools into your existing creative process.
So I think it's not as much about reinventing everything and being afraid. I think just. Be comfortable, like whatever you're doing already, keep doing it, but introduce new skills, introduce new tools, and that will kind of help you create in new ways because the thing AI enables us to create in a very interesting new ways and yeah, like through history always has been technology always allows us to create a new way.
[00:03:43] Daniel: Let me ask you this. How does AI effectiveness how does it change the creative process? I guess is what I'm trying to say. I'm a photographer. I'm a professional photographer. I spent 20 years in the IT side of things. So I'm not afraid of, of the technology. I hear people, especially photographers talking about, Oh, it's going to take our jobs. This thing is out of control. And I don't know if you followed here in the United States, the, Writers Guild of America just settled their strike with the Hollywood studios. And I think SAG the Screen Actors Guild is still on strike right now. And one of the big talking points with that was They don't want AI, they don't want things like chat GPT, writing their scripts.
They don't want things like mid journey getting in the way of cloning them themselves. Now they have a point, in my opinion, they have a, they have a valid point, but what's your take on that?
[00:04:44] Nejc: 100%. I think it's a great point. For me, it comes down to humanity a lot, because I think. AI is not autonomous.
It does not just do things. It's not like you say, Oh, make a movie for me. No, that's not how it works. It has a user. So literally humans are the people who make stuff. And now we just use new tools, which is AI. So the way I see it is literally it is a tool, like you say you have been a photographer, you use a camera, you know, now there is a new tool, which is AI, you know, before photography, before camera, there was like pen and paper, you know, so we have all of these like available tools to express ourselves, like create things, you know.
I think not one is better than the other. They're just different. And I feel like for me personally, I like to use a lot of them and I like to, you know, combine them together. I feel like that creates like a lot of interesting outcomes as well. So I don't think, you know, AI is better, but I do think it is very powerful.
I think it is very, very, very powerful and it definitely disrupts a lot of fields and it will disrupt all of our lives. So, yeah, I feel that it is on us basically, like as humans, we. Make these technologies, we create these technologies and then we kind of just release them into the world. That is how it has happened with social media.
And that's how it has happened with AI as well. Kind of like the companies like made, you know, Chad, you PT and the journey. It's like, Oh, Hey, here you go. Play with it. You know, let's do your, do your thing yet, you know, which, you know, it can backfire very quickly because you know, not everyone will use it for something good or something positive.
You know, there are, there can be a lot of misuse and abuse of technology and has been in history as well. So the way I see this is. We are the choice makers here. We are the deciders of how we are going to do this. And that's why I think the conversation about the Writer's Guild and all that, it is very good, because we have to establish how do we want to use this.
You know, I think it shouldn't be just like free for all, or like, you know, everyone, yeah, just like do whatever, whatever you want. I think it is good to have laws, I think it is good to have rules, but I do think there is a challenge because technology goes very, very fast. And the laws are sometimes very, you know, it's difficult to keep up because technology goes exponentially and laws, you know, they are more slow and conventional.
So yeah, that's kind of my opinion on it. I think it is on humans. It is still like on humans. We need to decide what we want to do and we need to be human in that as well. We need to like, ask ourselves, You know, how will this affect us? How will this affect another human being? You know, something like that.
That is my perspective and thought on it.
[00:07:09] Daniel: Yeah. And I agree with probably 99 percent of what you're talking about right now. And, and for me, what I say to some other photographers, when I talk to them, is that the cost side of AI. It actually is saving me money. So things like Photoshop with, with the generative AI, there's nothing new about that.
We've been creating composites for years. So what's the difference now? We have a tool that's helping us do that. Yeah. Photo restoration. That took hours to do. Now we have a tool. And plus, it helps other people do that themselves. So that brings me up to another question. We hear this buzzword about democratization.
All the time and in multimedia and a creative on the creative side, you know, we often hear about that, that it may get in the way of creativity. What's your take on that?
[00:08:09] Nejc: I, my thoughts were also on this train. So we are kind of like aligned on what we're thinking about. I, I do think that it's very convenient and with convenience, it, I mean, I, I see it as like two, two like sides of like AI.
One side is like the pretty like parlor trick or like, Oh, take a photo and you'll be a cartoon character. You know, it's fun. You know, like everyone can do it. Everyone can have a little fun. They can express themselves and all of that. And I think on the other side, there is professional work, where we have like intention and direction in our creations, you know.
So, when you want to create something, pressing a button and hoping that, you know, it will give you a result, that doesn't cut it. You need to have your own process, you need to understand how to make it. And I think that's the difference that, yes it does allow a lot of people to create and express in new ways.
And I think that is beautiful. I think every human should express themselves, they should have an ability to, you know, Give their feeling some sort of form, you know? And if they felt like pen and paper is too much of a restriction now typing words into a box, maybe that is easier for them. You know, maybe that is more convenient, which it is, you know,
So I do think that is nice, but it can very quickly go down a slippery slope of just abundance, of the sameness of, I feel like often I hear the words and like the sentence like. If everyone's an artist, no one is, and I feel like, yeah, that is kind of true, you know, like, if everyone can create an image by typing text into a box, you know, what makes you different?
What differentiates you? So, in the end, I don't think it's much different than it was, like, if everyone can take a photo, what differentiates you again, you know? So, one thing I also think about on this topic is that it's very easy to turn your brain off when you work with AI, because it just does a lot of the work for you, you know?
The way I see it is like With AI, I am kind of a creative director and I have AI assistants, so I say, okay, make an image for me, make a video for me, make a script for me, make a character for me, like whatever I want, I just like give the task to AI and then I check in and say, okay, this is good, okay, this is not good, you know, make it like this or change it like this.
And in this process, it can sometimes be very easy to just take whatever the AI gives you and just do that, you know. But AI really is not that good, like it is not perfect, it does a lot of mistakes, like the outputs are often incorrect and also just distorted like images and like, you know, the hands and the eyes and all that, you know, so I do think if you're a professional, keep thinking like, as you have always, you have your, your creative process, just keep thinking and use this as a tool, like just say, okay.
Like you said, we have been doing composites for years. Now we have a new tool to do that, you know? So yeah, that's kind of my thought of it. I feel like there can be a lot of abundance of content and overwhelming information, and I think it is important to be mindful and thoughtful of what you're making in the world, basically.
[00:11:04] Daniel: And I, I agree with that and. I'm going to read something here. It's about open AI open AI recently released doll E3 image generator that allows artists to partially or fully opt out of having their work used to train future AI iterations. What's your thoughts on that? I think that's good. I think, and the reason I'm asking you Nejc is because I know you've used mid journey and some other things on your website that I'm sure you will get into a little bit later on.
[00:11:39] Nejc: Yeah. I think that's good. I think there should be a lot of conversations. Like I said, this is I think a trait of our human nature that we are so into progress and development that we sometimes don't take the time to talk about things of what does this mean? Like what will be the consequences if we do this thing, you know?
So I feel like with AI, it has been similar. We just. Did this we release the technology and now we are catching up on some conversations We need to have you know, and I feel like this is very important conversation as well Like if you're an artist and you don't want to have your art inside an AI model or like train AI with your art I think it's good.
Like I think you should be able to say no, you know But I think that is this leads to like a bigger issue of privacy that we have been having on in on internet and in the digital age Because even with social media, we haven't solved that. Like we haven't really solved that thing. You know, I feel like we, everyone who participates online in the digital world, social media, if you're a public person like you or me I have accepted and kind of resigned that I don't have privacy, like whatever I post online, anyone can see it, anyone can use it, anyone can do whatever they want with it.
And I feel like on one side. Is this the world like we want to live in? You know, just like resigned into no privacy, maybe not. Maybe it would be good to have an option of privacy and then you choose if you want it or not. So I think, yeah, it's good that they are giving an option to choose what you're going to do with your information and data.
And I also think there are more options for this because there could be compensation for this. You know, if you contribute to training AI, you should be compensated at least, you know, not just given your, your art away for free. Right. So I do think like there are things that can happen with this and I think definitely it starts with a conversation and I'm glad that like this has been happening as well like with the legal conversation as well like copyright and US there have been like a few for like comic books and stuff like that with which were AI generated.
Right. I think it's good that like this is moving forward but yeah, it goes fast.
[00:13:42] Daniel: It does. It does. So what advice would you have for creatives to keep up with this technology? Because it's moving real fast and it's not going to slow down. And, and, and one other thought is, especially in the EU they've already started moving, and correct me if I'm wrong, they've already started moving to enact some laws to attempt to slow down.
The development of AI. And I know there's been some talk here in the U S and, and for those on the show, Nejc is actually in Thailand and I'm on the East coast of the United States. So what are your, what are your thoughts on those Nejc?
[00:14:20] Nejc: A few, a few thoughts. To answer, to answer the first question of how to keep up.
Impossible. You cannot keep up with everything. And that's why I always say, choose your field, like choose your specialty, like what, what you are doing. Focus on that. Like, if you are a photographer, what would help you in photography? And that is why I go back to what I said at the beginning of how I like to explain this to people.
Like when I talk with them and like train them and stuff like that, I say, break down your process. Like, what is your creative process? And you will understand what is beneficial for you. So what does it take you to make an ad? What does it take you to make a product design? I don't know whatever you're doing, you know?
And break that down into steps and you will have like a, a print, a blueprint of like which steps are important. And then you will be able to look for tools that are able to compliment those steps and then you will know, okay, these are the tools that I'm following. And these are like the progresses that I'm following.
For example, for me, I, I love storytelling. I love visual storytelling. I've done a lot of video animation. I've been a part of like productions for film productions and like motion graphics and VFX and stuff like that. And that's why my process, I have that broken down. I know that like I need the script, I need a storyboards.
I need visuals. I need like footage. I need audio. I need that sound effects, like animations, motion graphics. You know, I have like my whole thing and then I just look for tools that are able to do what I need to do and I follow that. So for me, like. When I see all of these like marketing tools and, you know, like ad tools and stuff like that, I'm like, Oh, that's interesting.
It looks amazing. But then I'm like, ah, do I just want to spend like my time looking for that and learning that, which I'm not even going to use in the end? No, not really. But then when I see like, Oh, there's a tool that can make a 3d model. I'm like, yes, that is for me. I will follow that. So it's kind of like that.
I feel like just be focused and it's very easy to get overwhelmed because it's so much happening so fast. So I think just take it easy and focus on your thing and don't, don't, don't, you know, get caught up in all of it. Just like you've been doing your thing for a while. Just keep doing that and, you know, start adding like new things to it.
As for the second part of your question of slowing down things I don't think we as humans are going to be able to unanimously come to an agreement and say, Okay, slow down. I think as far as I've been following There is always one thing that people say in the end and it's it's a race that like if we don't do it They will do it and I feel like that is not good motivation to build technology That is life and world changing I feel like if you're building something that is, you know changing our lives like everyday lives and the whole humanity Maybe we should have a conversation of, is this good for us?
Not a conversation of, Oh, who will be there faster or like, Oh, if we don't do it, they will do it, you know? So that's why I think, yeah, like UAE, you, you has been, setting up some loss. And I don't know if they have like enacted them already, but it was definitely set on restrictions that like you can't use AI or like you can't train AI for like higher data token points.
And I think that's good. I think it's good to like take a moment, slow down, maybe think about it. Yeah, I think it'll be good, but I do have my doubts about it.
[00:17:43] Daniel: So if people think this is all just happening just now, no, it's not.
It's been out here, you know, machine learning has been out for about 50 years now, just no one has been talking about it. AI, artificial intelligence, this isn't new. It's just the processes now are, you know, being redefined and honed in and they can do some, in my opinion, some great things with it. For me.
When you train these deep learning you know, in AI and deep learning, it's. It's what we said back in the IT field, garbage in, garbage out. If you're training it with garbage, it's going to give you garbage. So, I, I tried to explain it to some people and I, I, I kind of stumbled when I explained it. Let me hear you explain how it is.
That these models are being trained like ChatGPT and Claude and these, these other and MidJourney and these other AI tools. And, and you used quite a few of them. I looked at your website as I was researching. And that I believe was like a one minute, one and a half minute video that you created using all AI tools, which I thought was kind of great.
So I'll let you jump in here and kind of answer that complex question.
[00:20:31] Nejc: Yeah. So just to start off, like I am a creative, I'm not a technical engineer or anything like that. But I do like to understand what I'm doing and how things work. I like to have an understanding of, you know, whatever is my, is it my life for the machine learning, as you said, I agree like garbage in garbage out.
And I feel like that is in a very similar way, how we can use AI. Like if you're going to put garbage in, it's going to be garbage out. And I see AI as a big amplifier. Like what you put in is just going to amplify, amplify, amplify. So. That's why yeah. Okay. Let's do it. It is a very complex question. Let's try to break it down.
I guess. So the idea behind machine learning is that you give The machine, the algorithm, you give it information, you give it data, and then you say, okay, learn now, learn about this or like make this. So, for example, I can use the example of images because that's like what I've been doing most of they give this AI I don't 100 images of a cat and then the AI scrambles it.
It like puts noise on top of it, so you can't really see what it is. You can't see what it is. And then the second like task the AI gets is, okay, now make a cat, make a cat. And because the AI has seen a hundred images of a cat, it can create a cat even though like the image is scrambled or it's just like noise.
Like we can see a cat, but the AI can't see it because it has seen it like in a hundred different ways. It has seen how a cat looks like, it has seen how the noise of the image of a cat looks like. So now when it like receives a new noise, it can make a cat. So that is basically. Like how these like diffusion models work of for image generation.
So like the more things we give into the AI, the more it's going to understand. Okay. This is a cat or okay. This is an Apple or okay. This is how a sentence works or okay. This is, you know, the medical field or whatever we feed it, you know, basically. So the, the problem with like this whole copyright and ethical thing as well is that these, some of these models were.
Train just on open data, just like on the internet. So there's like a data set called LS O N five, I think, or the song five, something like that, which is kind of like the, the open internet data. Basically it's a spare data from the internet. So like what people post on the internet, not, not exactly what people post, but like information that is on the internet.
So like from websites, from like social media as well, and. I'm not sure what all they feed in there. I mean, that's basically every company has their own method of data and which data they put in. And as you were saying, like Dolly, that they are going to like make a decision of which data to put in. And Adobe has similarly said exactly which data they use to train their image generators.
So they don't use like open internet data, but like majority of us and chat GPT has been trained on like the open internet data. So, yeah depends on the data and that's why I also feel like, I also just saw today that chatGPT got access to internet again, supposedly, so it's had it already and that means it's like, it can read anything now, which.
You know, I mean, that, that's a, that's a pretty double edged sword, you know, like giving it access to everything, you know, I mean, it should be like a moment to think about, you know, what this means, like, if you ask it. If I,
[00:24:07] Daniel: and that, that's the danger, that's the dangerous part, that's the dangerous part, right?
[00:24:12] Nejc: Like, let's say I ask it, Oh, give me Daniel's home address. For example, you know, it could probably give it if it has access to internet and you have posted your address somewhere. You know, that is crazy. That is crazy. You know, I think that, that is something to think about of what to do and how to. Use this technology, you know, so I do think like these companies have been better than, than some people might think.
I think they have been very considerate and ethical in their practices. They have put roadblocks in so you can't like. Get specific answers. You can ask specific questions. So even this example that I gave now probably it would be blocked I have not tried this thing because it's just like I saw it yet like now like a few hours before we we met and I feel like that is good.
And some people have been complaining. Oh, like I can't search for this I can't do that. Like I can't generate images, you know, like for example nudity This is like the biggest one and I'm like good you shouldn't you know, it's good that there are some roadblocks you know, you shouldn't be able to do whatever you want because That is quickly chaos.
And that is quickly, you know, dangerous. So I do think this company, some of these companies are probably not all have been putting efforts into this. And personally, I would love to see more effort into like human and ethical development. And yeah, I'm hopeful. I'm just hopeful because I'm a positive human being and I love humans.
And I feel like we are moving towards that, that we can create these kinds of systems with a more like human mindset in place. So like that. I'm not sure if this answered any of your questions, but here we are.
[00:25:51] Daniel: Well, it has, you know, and just like when I do these podcasts and, and actually this is my first video podcast I've done audio only before.
And I, I write up show formats and I kind of script it out and then I go back and forth. I use some AI tools to help me. It doesn't write it for me because I don't want it to write it for me. I'd rather be spontaneous and I'll jump around. For example, I was, we were going to talk about ethical stuff. At the end, but we've been talking about it the whole, the entire time.
So you get out of it. Like you said, what you put into it, if you want to be a human robot. Then let the chat, GPTs, Claude and all the rest of them, let it do it for you. And just sit there and hold a paper up and read it. You know, I mean, it's crazy. I believe, as you said, to use this as a tool. So in other words, I come to you, I say, Nejc, you're really good at creating a graphical stuff.
I want to hire you to help me create these things. So that's all I'm doing with AI. Except I don't have to pay it. Well, in some cases you do with subscriptions, but I look at it as a tool.
[00:27:18] Nejc: Yeah, 100%. I agree.
[00:27:21] Daniel: So I want to. I want to come down
[00:27:25] Nejc: and just to jump in, I had a thought maybe to go, go through the thought real quick that we have been talking about ethical stuff and that we've been talking about where like big picture stuff and like how these things are made of like, what can happen with them or like what we can do with them.
And I feel like. This also can get very like doomsday and like very overwhelming. So I do think there are like certain levels to look at this, like these companies create these models, they create these AI systems, AI agents, whatever you call them, whatever they make, you know, and. That is theirs, like that's what the company is made.
So as an individual, let's say you're an individual creator or a creative professional, really can't affect that that much, you know, you, you can like write them and say, okay, this is a good, this is good. And like, they listen to the community and the consumers and all of that. But in the end, like you will be using these tools.
And I think as a user of these tools, just think about how you're using them. Be human in your approach, like you said, don't just be an AI robot, don't just like, you know, write it and don't use it to like, you know, exploit and stuff like that, you know, so even like when you talk with these models or like communicate with them, be human, you know, be very human in your approach, like don't don't give bullshit in, like, don't, don't give bad things in, you know, give good things in and you're going to get good things back, so when people say like, oh, like this is going to take over the world, it's going to destroy us.
If we're going to lead it down that way, like if we say, Oh, destroy, destroy, destroy. Yeah, of course. But if you say, Oh, love, love, love, or like encourage, encourage, inspire, inspire, it's going to do that. You know, like I said, it's an amplifier. So what you're going to put in, it's going to amplify that. I think that's how we as individuals should also be thinking about it.
[00:29:05] Daniel: All of those are really good points. Whether it will resoNejc with other humans on the planet, I have no idea. I will say that I will continue to move forward and I'm sure you will as well. And I, and I know it's late there in Thailand, so I don't want to keep you too long. But I, I just want to ask you to, as, look at me as a beginner.
Assume that I'm a beginner with all of this stuff and all of that, what advice would you give to a beginner? To work with these tools, some solid advice and the followup question would be what AI tools do you use and which ones would you recommend?
[00:30:00] Nejc: Okay. So as a beginner, I'm going to assume you are on board for using AI because I think that is the first obstacle to, or hurdle to come over, like mindset change or like, okay, I will use AI now because, you know, some people are very against it and are afraid of it or whatever, like the reason is.
You know, consider it, I think like as a tool and it's also not autonomous, it's not going to take the job for you. A person who uses AI will take a job from you, something like that, you know. I feel like as, as, as like life goes, we always upscale, we always uplevel, we learn new things, and this is just another instance of that.
You upscale, you learn new things, you know. So, what you should do, like I said It's easy to get overwhelmed, so maybe you'll be overwhelmed, it's okay, but let it pass. And then, once that has passed, when you have like all the shiny things, like, out of your vision like I said, break down your process, like, what are you doing?
What, what is your work? Like, how does it look like? How do you get from nothing to your deliverable? How do you come from not having anything to like creating something, you know? Break down every step of the process as much as you can. And once you have that, you start thinking, okay, do I need images, do I need whatever you want, you know, and then you will start looking for tools.
And my favorite way to keep up with tools and information are newsletters. I think it's an overflow of information in general, so I just follow like a few newsletters and like, like read them sometimes. I also write my newsletter, which is specifically for like workflows and stuff like that. So that's how I would just like follow it and I would say, okay, these are the tools that I like, and I was following the developments.
And definitely the easiest way to learn is from others. You know, like now it has been like kind of more than a year since like these creative AI agents have become available and there has been a lot of people, me included, who have been experimenting and researching it. So we, we share now very openly.
I mean, I actually very openly. Of what I learned and what, how you can make stuff and a lot of other people do that as well. So I think that's just in general if you learn from others if you work with others You're gonna learn faster than if you go by yourself so that would be probably my advice is just don't get overwhelmed with the shiny things be very focused on your niche your special specialization what you're already doing bring down the process and then Start implementing tools in and I think and I think like you don't There is a tool for everything now, more or less.
Like there is like a hundred new tools every week that's becoming available and new platforms and stuff like that. I think as a creative, if you know how to use chat GPT, you already have like, I don't know, 60 percent of the things covered, like anything from like ideation, brainstorming, like. You know, script writing characters.
Like I sometimes like I train my own bot or just like, I create on my own bot and say, okay, you are this character now. And then I say, it gives me a dialogue and it gives me a dialogue for that character, you know, and I will read it and I'll say, okay, that's good. Or it's not good. You know, improve it, something like that.
But in the end, like. It's a, you always gotta have to finish by yourself because it's not as good. Like it can do the job for you. If you want to really impact people, you will need to do it yourself because you know, the feelings you want to communicate, you know, how these feelings will reach people. So you will have to like adapt the AI output with your own like expression.
That's how I do it at least. So, yeah, I think like using chat GPT or any like other larger language model, like barb also is okay. Or like cloud is also okay. Like whichever one you feel like. Is most natural to you use that I think like image generators are incredibly good. So like anything like mid journey but I think for me personally, I love stable diffusion And I think stable diffusion is like for really professional work because it can give you control intention and direction in your work So with mid journey, I feel like it's more of like kind of like a slot machine you know you write in a you're writing a prompt and you like hit the button and you're like Okay, you get to the images and maybe one of them is like, oh, yeah This is the one that I wanted, you know but like with stable diffusion, it's like, okay, I want to have this character.
I want to have like this composition and I want the background, you know, you can be very precise in what you're doing. So that's why I like to use that a lot. And I recommend it for like professionals really, who are like, you know, working in productions in ad agencies, like whatever, stuff like that, multimedia, basically.
Yeah there are other generators like volley and like dozens of others. Like I said, there are so many there are a lot of fees Some are paid. These are the ones I prefer There are video generators, which are select runway and Pico labs I like those, I think they are becoming very, very good, very quickly.
So like, I feel like in a couple of months, maybe next month it will be like another update or something like that. And they will be like, again, like amazing. So I do think that's good. There's like some 3d things happening and some animation as well. Happening has been for a while. Yeah, so like, these are kind of the things I use, I would say I have described a lot of things, but again, it's easy to get overwhelmed.
Start simple, start using larger language models, start using an image generator, then move maybe into video, maybe look for specialized use cases of whatever you are doing and just like move step by step, you know, like you dive deeper, yeah, something like that.
[00:35:02] Daniel: Nejc, it's really been a great talking with you.
I wish we had a little more time. I know you, you probably want to get some sleep. So as we wrap up I, I think you have, you do some training, online training. So talk about any services that you offer and, and, you know, close us out here.
[00:35:22] Nejc: Yeah. Yeah. Very good. I, like I said I love to be the bridge between the unknown and like the people in the comfort zone, you know, because not everyone goes out to research.
I do because I like it and I like to communicate that to people. So, yeah I have a website, Nejcoucette. art. I also have social media, of course. I have a lot of like free PDFs where you can like learn the basics, which is also a great place to start if you're looking to, or like mid journey or chadukati.
Basically, it's a lot about storytelling for me because I like storytelling and I've been working in collections and stuff like that. And I also have been doing like corporate trainings, which is like on the other side, but I'm also doing individual classes, which is more More what I really enjoy when I can connect with like a group of people, like five, 10 people, and just have like a hands on experience where we have a project and we make stuff, basically.
That is how I like to teach. I like to make stuff with people and along the way we will learn things. I will present how the tool works and in the end you will have like a project, a piece, you know, that, you know, feels nice. So yeah, I'm doing stable diffusion classes this month, actually in October and probably like in November as well, it will be an ongoing thing.
And I continuously just release like. PDFs, written guides or video courses, stuff like that. So yeah if you're looking to learn probably website is good or LinkedIn is good anywhere with my name, you will probably reach me. And it also has been very lovely to have this conversation. I'm glad we talked as much as much about the ethical side as well as like, you know, some technical side, but I'm glad to always talk about the humanity in AI.
[00:36:50] Daniel: That's all great. We'll have Nejc links and his contact information in the description for. You YouTubers looking at this on YouTube channel and for my audio only listeners, the links will be in the show notes. We talked about some really great stuff. So Nejc I really appreciate you taking the time.
I really enjoyed our conversation and hopefully we can connect again. Have a good evening and thank you for coming on the show.
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[00:00:02] Daniel: Hello everyone. And welcome back to another episode of Making Sense Of Technology in Multimedia. I'm your host, Daniel Douglas. And I'm thrilled to examine the fascinating world of creativity and technology in multimedia. Today, Nejc Sušec is on the show. Nejc has been involved in the creative field for nine years in various roles and positions from creating social media content, marketing campaigns, video editing, and animation.
He's been at the forefront of innovation, exploring how artificial intelligence can enhance creative processes. Across various multimedia specialties today. We're discussing a hot topic, humanizing technology. It's all about striking a perfect balance between cutting edge AI tools and the human touch and creative endeavors.
We'll explore how these AI technologies transform how we create photography, videography, and more content. So whether you're an aspiring creative professional or just someone curious. About the changing landscape of multimedia. This episode will provide a balanced perspective offering insights from both sides.
So without further ado. Nejc welcome to the show.
[00:01:28] Nejc: Hello, Daniel. Thank you so much. I'm very excited to have a chat. I do love both technology and I love creating, and I feel like blending those two together is a very fascinating world indeed.
[00:01:39] Daniel: I've spent over 20 years in the technology industry and a lot of folks, well, some folks, I won't say a lot of folks, but some folks are just afraid of technology, afraid of, especially with artificial intelligence and the way it's going now.
So there's a couple of things we want to talk about. One is combining tech and creativity. So the first thing is how can, how can we combine new technology with existing creative processes?
[00:02:13] Nejc: I think that's exactly how you described it by using our existing creative processes. I feel like why people are afraid of technology is because it is often unknown, like people are afraid of the unknown and every new like development and progress we make as humanity starts as unknown.
You know, so that's why people, first thing to take is fear and rejection, you know for me I like to embrace new things. I'm very averse to risk, I guess I like to, you know, go towards the new and curious thing. And I like to communicate that to other people. So that's kind of like where my role is of communicating the unknown to the.
People who are in the comfort zone. So the way I like to explain it is basically do what you already do and like break down your process. Like if you're a video editor, if you're a videographer, whatever your creative field is, you know, just like break it down and make it into steps, be very strategic about it.
Like, how do you do what you do from like beginning of, okay, I will start my project to our, to the end, like, okay, this is the deliverable and then like each step, you know, it can be supported by AI more or less, and then it's more just about how will you. Introduce new tools into your existing creative process.
So I think it's not as much about reinventing everything and being afraid. I think just. Be comfortable, like whatever you're doing already, keep doing it, but introduce new skills, introduce new tools, and that will kind of help you create in new ways because the thing AI enables us to create in a very interesting new ways and yeah, like through history always has been technology always allows us to create a new way.
[00:03:43] Daniel: Let me ask you this. How does AI effectiveness how does it change the creative process? I guess is what I'm trying to say. I'm a photographer. I'm a professional photographer. I spent 20 years in the IT side of things. So I'm not afraid of, of the technology. I hear people, especially photographers talking about, Oh, it's going to take our jobs. This thing is out of control. And I don't know if you followed here in the United States, the, Writers Guild of America just settled their strike with the Hollywood studios. And I think SAG the Screen Actors Guild is still on strike right now. And one of the big talking points with that was They don't want AI, they don't want things like chat GPT, writing their scripts.
They don't want things like mid journey getting in the way of cloning them themselves. Now they have a point, in my opinion, they have a, they have a valid point, but what's your take on that?
[00:04:44] Nejc: 100%. I think it's a great point. For me, it comes down to humanity a lot, because I think. AI is not autonomous.
It does not just do things. It's not like you say, Oh, make a movie for me. No, that's not how it works. It has a user. So literally humans are the people who make stuff. And now we just use new tools, which is AI. So the way I see it is literally it is a tool, like you say you have been a photographer, you use a camera, you know, now there is a new tool, which is AI, you know, before photography, before camera, there was like pen and paper, you know, so we have all of these like available tools to express ourselves, like create things, you know.
I think not one is better than the other. They're just different. And I feel like for me personally, I like to use a lot of them and I like to, you know, combine them together. I feel like that creates like a lot of interesting outcomes as well. So I don't think, you know, AI is better, but I do think it is very powerful.
I think it is very, very, very powerful and it definitely disrupts a lot of fields and it will disrupt all of our lives. So, yeah, I feel that it is on us basically, like as humans, we. Make these technologies, we create these technologies and then we kind of just release them into the world. That is how it has happened with social media.
And that's how it has happened with AI as well. Kind of like the companies like made, you know, Chad, you PT and the journey. It's like, Oh, Hey, here you go. Play with it. You know, let's do your, do your thing yet, you know, which, you know, it can backfire very quickly because you know, not everyone will use it for something good or something positive.
You know, there are, there can be a lot of misuse and abuse of technology and has been in history as well. So the way I see this is. We are the choice makers here. We are the deciders of how we are going to do this. And that's why I think the conversation about the Writer's Guild and all that, it is very good, because we have to establish how do we want to use this.
You know, I think it shouldn't be just like free for all, or like, you know, everyone, yeah, just like do whatever, whatever you want. I think it is good to have laws, I think it is good to have rules, but I do think there is a challenge because technology goes very, very fast. And the laws are sometimes very, you know, it's difficult to keep up because technology goes exponentially and laws, you know, they are more slow and conventional.
So yeah, that's kind of my opinion on it. I think it is on humans. It is still like on humans. We need to decide what we want to do and we need to be human in that as well. We need to like, ask ourselves, You know, how will this affect us? How will this affect another human being? You know, something like that.
That is my perspective and thought on it.
[00:07:09] Daniel: Yeah. And I agree with probably 99 percent of what you're talking about right now. And, and for me, what I say to some other photographers, when I talk to them, is that the cost side of AI. It actually is saving me money. So things like Photoshop with, with the generative AI, there's nothing new about that.
We've been creating composites for years. So what's the difference now? We have a tool that's helping us do that. Yeah. Photo restoration. That took hours to do. Now we have a tool. And plus, it helps other people do that themselves. So that brings me up to another question. We hear this buzzword about democratization.
All the time and in multimedia and a creative on the creative side, you know, we often hear about that, that it may get in the way of creativity. What's your take on that?
[00:08:09] Nejc: I, my thoughts were also on this train. So we are kind of like aligned on what we're thinking about. I, I do think that it's very convenient and with convenience, it, I mean, I, I see it as like two, two like sides of like AI.
One side is like the pretty like parlor trick or like, Oh, take a photo and you'll be a cartoon character. You know, it's fun. You know, like everyone can do it. Everyone can have a little fun. They can express themselves and all of that. And I think on the other side, there is professional work, where we have like intention and direction in our creations, you know.
So, when you want to create something, pressing a button and hoping that, you know, it will give you a result, that doesn't cut it. You need to have your own process, you need to understand how to make it. And I think that's the difference that, yes it does allow a lot of people to create and express in new ways.
And I think that is beautiful. I think every human should express themselves, they should have an ability to, you know, Give their feeling some sort of form, you know? And if they felt like pen and paper is too much of a restriction now typing words into a box, maybe that is easier for them. You know, maybe that is more convenient, which it is, you know,
So I do think that is nice, but it can very quickly go down a slippery slope of just abundance, of the sameness of, I feel like often I hear the words and like the sentence like. If everyone's an artist, no one is, and I feel like, yeah, that is kind of true, you know, like, if everyone can create an image by typing text into a box, you know, what makes you different?
What differentiates you? So, in the end, I don't think it's much different than it was, like, if everyone can take a photo, what differentiates you again, you know? So, one thing I also think about on this topic is that it's very easy to turn your brain off when you work with AI, because it just does a lot of the work for you, you know?
The way I see it is like With AI, I am kind of a creative director and I have AI assistants, so I say, okay, make an image for me, make a video for me, make a script for me, make a character for me, like whatever I want, I just like give the task to AI and then I check in and say, okay, this is good, okay, this is not good, you know, make it like this or change it like this.
And in this process, it can sometimes be very easy to just take whatever the AI gives you and just do that, you know. But AI really is not that good, like it is not perfect, it does a lot of mistakes, like the outputs are often incorrect and also just distorted like images and like, you know, the hands and the eyes and all that, you know, so I do think if you're a professional, keep thinking like, as you have always, you have your, your creative process, just keep thinking and use this as a tool, like just say, okay.
Like you said, we have been doing composites for years. Now we have a new tool to do that, you know? So yeah, that's kind of my thought of it. I feel like there can be a lot of abundance of content and overwhelming information, and I think it is important to be mindful and thoughtful of what you're making in the world, basically.
[00:11:04] Daniel: And I, I agree with that and. I'm going to read something here. It's about open AI open AI recently released doll E3 image generator that allows artists to partially or fully opt out of having their work used to train future AI iterations. What's your thoughts on that? I think that's good. I think, and the reason I'm asking you Nejc is because I know you've used mid journey and some other things on your website that I'm sure you will get into a little bit later on.
[00:11:39] Nejc: Yeah. I think that's good. I think there should be a lot of conversations. Like I said, this is I think a trait of our human nature that we are so into progress and development that we sometimes don't take the time to talk about things of what does this mean? Like what will be the consequences if we do this thing, you know?
So I feel like with AI, it has been similar. We just. Did this we release the technology and now we are catching up on some conversations We need to have you know, and I feel like this is very important conversation as well Like if you're an artist and you don't want to have your art inside an AI model or like train AI with your art I think it's good.
Like I think you should be able to say no, you know But I think that is this leads to like a bigger issue of privacy that we have been having on in on internet and in the digital age Because even with social media, we haven't solved that. Like we haven't really solved that thing. You know, I feel like we, everyone who participates online in the digital world, social media, if you're a public person like you or me I have accepted and kind of resigned that I don't have privacy, like whatever I post online, anyone can see it, anyone can use it, anyone can do whatever they want with it.
And I feel like on one side. Is this the world like we want to live in? You know, just like resigned into no privacy, maybe not. Maybe it would be good to have an option of privacy and then you choose if you want it or not. So I think, yeah, it's good that they are giving an option to choose what you're going to do with your information and data.
And I also think there are more options for this because there could be compensation for this. You know, if you contribute to training AI, you should be compensated at least, you know, not just given your, your art away for free. Right. So I do think like there are things that can happen with this and I think definitely it starts with a conversation and I'm glad that like this has been happening as well like with the legal conversation as well like copyright and US there have been like a few for like comic books and stuff like that with which were AI generated.
Right. I think it's good that like this is moving forward but yeah, it goes fast.
[00:13:42] Daniel: It does. It does. So what advice would you have for creatives to keep up with this technology? Because it's moving real fast and it's not going to slow down. And, and, and one other thought is, especially in the EU they've already started moving, and correct me if I'm wrong, they've already started moving to enact some laws to attempt to slow down.
The development of AI. And I know there's been some talk here in the U S and, and for those on the show, Nejc is actually in Thailand and I'm on the East coast of the United States. So what are your, what are your thoughts on those Nejc?
[00:14:20] Nejc: A few, a few thoughts. To answer, to answer the first question of how to keep up.
Impossible. You cannot keep up with everything. And that's why I always say, choose your field, like choose your specialty, like what, what you are doing. Focus on that. Like, if you are a photographer, what would help you in photography? And that is why I go back to what I said at the beginning of how I like to explain this to people.
Like when I talk with them and like train them and stuff like that, I say, break down your process. Like, what is your creative process? And you will understand what is beneficial for you. So what does it take you to make an ad? What does it take you to make a product design? I don't know whatever you're doing, you know?
And break that down into steps and you will have like a, a print, a blueprint of like which steps are important. And then you will be able to look for tools that are able to compliment those steps and then you will know, okay, these are the tools that I'm following. And these are like the progresses that I'm following.
For example, for me, I, I love storytelling. I love visual storytelling. I've done a lot of video animation. I've been a part of like productions for film productions and like motion graphics and VFX and stuff like that. And that's why my process, I have that broken down. I know that like I need the script, I need a storyboards.
I need visuals. I need like footage. I need audio. I need that sound effects, like animations, motion graphics. You know, I have like my whole thing and then I just look for tools that are able to do what I need to do and I follow that. So for me, like. When I see all of these like marketing tools and, you know, like ad tools and stuff like that, I'm like, Oh, that's interesting.
It looks amazing. But then I'm like, ah, do I just want to spend like my time looking for that and learning that, which I'm not even going to use in the end? No, not really. But then when I see like, Oh, there's a tool that can make a 3d model. I'm like, yes, that is for me. I will follow that. So it's kind of like that.
I feel like just be focused and it's very easy to get overwhelmed because it's so much happening so fast. So I think just take it easy and focus on your thing and don't, don't, don't, you know, get caught up in all of it. Just like you've been doing your thing for a while. Just keep doing that and, you know, start adding like new things to it.
As for the second part of your question of slowing down things I don't think we as humans are going to be able to unanimously come to an agreement and say, Okay, slow down. I think as far as I've been following There is always one thing that people say in the end and it's it's a race that like if we don't do it They will do it and I feel like that is not good motivation to build technology That is life and world changing I feel like if you're building something that is, you know changing our lives like everyday lives and the whole humanity Maybe we should have a conversation of, is this good for us?
Not a conversation of, Oh, who will be there faster or like, Oh, if we don't do it, they will do it, you know? So that's why I think, yeah, like UAE, you, you has been, setting up some loss. And I don't know if they have like enacted them already, but it was definitely set on restrictions that like you can't use AI or like you can't train AI for like higher data token points.
And I think that's good. I think it's good to like take a moment, slow down, maybe think about it. Yeah, I think it'll be good, but I do have my doubts about it.
[00:17:43] Daniel: So if people think this is all just happening just now, no, it's not.
It's been out here, you know, machine learning has been out for about 50 years now, just no one has been talking about it. AI, artificial intelligence, this isn't new. It's just the processes now are, you know, being redefined and honed in and they can do some, in my opinion, some great things with it. For me.
When you train these deep learning you know, in AI and deep learning, it's. It's what we said back in the IT field, garbage in, garbage out. If you're training it with garbage, it's going to give you garbage. So, I, I tried to explain it to some people and I, I, I kind of stumbled when I explained it. Let me hear you explain how it is.
That these models are being trained like ChatGPT and Claude and these, these other and MidJourney and these other AI tools. And, and you used quite a few of them. I looked at your website as I was researching. And that I believe was like a one minute, one and a half minute video that you created using all AI tools, which I thought was kind of great.
So I'll let you jump in here and kind of answer that complex question.
[00:20:31] Nejc: Yeah. So just to start off, like I am a creative, I'm not a technical engineer or anything like that. But I do like to understand what I'm doing and how things work. I like to have an understanding of, you know, whatever is my, is it my life for the machine learning, as you said, I agree like garbage in garbage out.
And I feel like that is in a very similar way, how we can use AI. Like if you're going to put garbage in, it's going to be garbage out. And I see AI as a big amplifier. Like what you put in is just going to amplify, amplify, amplify. So. That's why yeah. Okay. Let's do it. It is a very complex question. Let's try to break it down.
I guess. So the idea behind machine learning is that you give The machine, the algorithm, you give it information, you give it data, and then you say, okay, learn now, learn about this or like make this. So, for example, I can use the example of images because that's like what I've been doing most of they give this AI I don't 100 images of a cat and then the AI scrambles it.
It like puts noise on top of it, so you can't really see what it is. You can't see what it is. And then the second like task the AI gets is, okay, now make a cat, make a cat. And because the AI has seen a hundred images of a cat, it can create a cat even though like the image is scrambled or it's just like noise.
Like we can see a cat, but the AI can't see it because it has seen it like in a hundred different ways. It has seen how a cat looks like, it has seen how the noise of the image of a cat looks like. So now when it like receives a new noise, it can make a cat. So that is basically. Like how these like diffusion models work of for image generation.
So like the more things we give into the AI, the more it's going to understand. Okay. This is a cat or okay. This is an Apple or okay. This is how a sentence works or okay. This is, you know, the medical field or whatever we feed it, you know, basically. So the, the problem with like this whole copyright and ethical thing as well is that these, some of these models were.
Train just on open data, just like on the internet. So there's like a data set called LS O N five, I think, or the song five, something like that, which is kind of like the, the open internet data. Basically it's a spare data from the internet. So like what people post on the internet, not, not exactly what people post, but like information that is on the internet.
So like from websites, from like social media as well, and. I'm not sure what all they feed in there. I mean, that's basically every company has their own method of data and which data they put in. And as you were saying, like Dolly, that they are going to like make a decision of which data to put in. And Adobe has similarly said exactly which data they use to train their image generators.
So they don't use like open internet data, but like majority of us and chat GPT has been trained on like the open internet data. So, yeah depends on the data and that's why I also feel like, I also just saw today that chatGPT got access to internet again, supposedly, so it's had it already and that means it's like, it can read anything now, which.
You know, I mean, that, that's a, that's a pretty double edged sword, you know, like giving it access to everything, you know, I mean, it should be like a moment to think about, you know, what this means, like, if you ask it. If I,
[00:24:07] Daniel: and that, that's the danger, that's the dangerous part, that's the dangerous part, right?
[00:24:12] Nejc: Like, let's say I ask it, Oh, give me Daniel's home address. For example, you know, it could probably give it if it has access to internet and you have posted your address somewhere. You know, that is crazy. That is crazy. You know, I think that, that is something to think about of what to do and how to. Use this technology, you know, so I do think like these companies have been better than, than some people might think.
I think they have been very considerate and ethical in their practices. They have put roadblocks in so you can't like. Get specific answers. You can ask specific questions. So even this example that I gave now probably it would be blocked I have not tried this thing because it's just like I saw it yet like now like a few hours before we we met and I feel like that is good.
And some people have been complaining. Oh, like I can't search for this I can't do that. Like I can't generate images, you know, like for example nudity This is like the biggest one and I'm like good you shouldn't you know, it's good that there are some roadblocks you know, you shouldn't be able to do whatever you want because That is quickly chaos.
And that is quickly, you know, dangerous. So I do think this company, some of these companies are probably not all have been putting efforts into this. And personally, I would love to see more effort into like human and ethical development. And yeah, I'm hopeful. I'm just hopeful because I'm a positive human being and I love humans.
And I feel like we are moving towards that, that we can create these kinds of systems with a more like human mindset in place. So like that. I'm not sure if this answered any of your questions, but here we are.
[00:25:51] Daniel: Well, it has, you know, and just like when I do these podcasts and, and actually this is my first video podcast I've done audio only before.
And I, I write up show formats and I kind of script it out and then I go back and forth. I use some AI tools to help me. It doesn't write it for me because I don't want it to write it for me. I'd rather be spontaneous and I'll jump around. For example, I was, we were going to talk about ethical stuff. At the end, but we've been talking about it the whole, the entire time.
So you get out of it. Like you said, what you put into it, if you want to be a human robot. Then let the chat, GPTs, Claude and all the rest of them, let it do it for you. And just sit there and hold a paper up and read it. You know, I mean, it's crazy. I believe, as you said, to use this as a tool. So in other words, I come to you, I say, Nejc, you're really good at creating a graphical stuff.
I want to hire you to help me create these things. So that's all I'm doing with AI. Except I don't have to pay it. Well, in some cases you do with subscriptions, but I look at it as a tool.
[00:27:18] Nejc: Yeah, 100%. I agree.
[00:27:21] Daniel: So I want to. I want to come down
[00:27:25] Nejc: and just to jump in, I had a thought maybe to go, go through the thought real quick that we have been talking about ethical stuff and that we've been talking about where like big picture stuff and like how these things are made of like, what can happen with them or like what we can do with them.
And I feel like. This also can get very like doomsday and like very overwhelming. So I do think there are like certain levels to look at this, like these companies create these models, they create these AI systems, AI agents, whatever you call them, whatever they make, you know, and. That is theirs, like that's what the company is made.
So as an individual, let's say you're an individual creator or a creative professional, really can't affect that that much, you know, you, you can like write them and say, okay, this is a good, this is good. And like, they listen to the community and the consumers and all of that. But in the end, like you will be using these tools.
And I think as a user of these tools, just think about how you're using them. Be human in your approach, like you said, don't just be an AI robot, don't just like, you know, write it and don't use it to like, you know, exploit and stuff like that, you know, so even like when you talk with these models or like communicate with them, be human, you know, be very human in your approach, like don't don't give bullshit in, like, don't, don't give bad things in, you know, give good things in and you're going to get good things back, so when people say like, oh, like this is going to take over the world, it's going to destroy us.
If we're going to lead it down that way, like if we say, Oh, destroy, destroy, destroy. Yeah, of course. But if you say, Oh, love, love, love, or like encourage, encourage, inspire, inspire, it's going to do that. You know, like I said, it's an amplifier. So what you're going to put in, it's going to amplify that. I think that's how we as individuals should also be thinking about it.
[00:29:05] Daniel: All of those are really good points. Whether it will resoNejc with other humans on the planet, I have no idea. I will say that I will continue to move forward and I'm sure you will as well. And I, and I know it's late there in Thailand, so I don't want to keep you too long. But I, I just want to ask you to, as, look at me as a beginner.
Assume that I'm a beginner with all of this stuff and all of that, what advice would you give to a beginner? To work with these tools, some solid advice and the followup question would be what AI tools do you use and which ones would you recommend?
[00:30:00] Nejc: Okay. So as a beginner, I'm going to assume you are on board for using AI because I think that is the first obstacle to, or hurdle to come over, like mindset change or like, okay, I will use AI now because, you know, some people are very against it and are afraid of it or whatever, like the reason is.
You know, consider it, I think like as a tool and it's also not autonomous, it's not going to take the job for you. A person who uses AI will take a job from you, something like that, you know. I feel like as, as, as like life goes, we always upscale, we always uplevel, we learn new things, and this is just another instance of that.
You upscale, you learn new things, you know. So, what you should do, like I said It's easy to get overwhelmed, so maybe you'll be overwhelmed, it's okay, but let it pass. And then, once that has passed, when you have like all the shiny things, like, out of your vision like I said, break down your process, like, what are you doing?
What, what is your work? Like, how does it look like? How do you get from nothing to your deliverable? How do you come from not having anything to like creating something, you know? Break down every step of the process as much as you can. And once you have that, you start thinking, okay, do I need images, do I need whatever you want, you know, and then you will start looking for tools.
And my favorite way to keep up with tools and information are newsletters. I think it's an overflow of information in general, so I just follow like a few newsletters and like, like read them sometimes. I also write my newsletter, which is specifically for like workflows and stuff like that. So that's how I would just like follow it and I would say, okay, these are the tools that I like, and I was following the developments.
And definitely the easiest way to learn is from others. You know, like now it has been like kind of more than a year since like these creative AI agents have become available and there has been a lot of people, me included, who have been experimenting and researching it. So we, we share now very openly.
I mean, I actually very openly. Of what I learned and what, how you can make stuff and a lot of other people do that as well. So I think that's just in general if you learn from others if you work with others You're gonna learn faster than if you go by yourself so that would be probably my advice is just don't get overwhelmed with the shiny things be very focused on your niche your special specialization what you're already doing bring down the process and then Start implementing tools in and I think and I think like you don't There is a tool for everything now, more or less.
Like there is like a hundred new tools every week that's becoming available and new platforms and stuff like that. I think as a creative, if you know how to use chat GPT, you already have like, I don't know, 60 percent of the things covered, like anything from like ideation, brainstorming, like. You know, script writing characters.
Like I sometimes like I train my own bot or just like, I create on my own bot and say, okay, you are this character now. And then I say, it gives me a dialogue and it gives me a dialogue for that character, you know, and I will read it and I'll say, okay, that's good. Or it's not good. You know, improve it, something like that.
But in the end, like. It's a, you always gotta have to finish by yourself because it's not as good. Like it can do the job for you. If you want to really impact people, you will need to do it yourself because you know, the feelings you want to communicate, you know, how these feelings will reach people. So you will have to like adapt the AI output with your own like expression.
That's how I do it at least. So, yeah, I think like using chat GPT or any like other larger language model, like barb also is okay. Or like cloud is also okay. Like whichever one you feel like. Is most natural to you use that I think like image generators are incredibly good. So like anything like mid journey but I think for me personally, I love stable diffusion And I think stable diffusion is like for really professional work because it can give you control intention and direction in your work So with mid journey, I feel like it's more of like kind of like a slot machine you know you write in a you're writing a prompt and you like hit the button and you're like Okay, you get to the images and maybe one of them is like, oh, yeah This is the one that I wanted, you know but like with stable diffusion, it's like, okay, I want to have this character.
I want to have like this composition and I want the background, you know, you can be very precise in what you're doing. So that's why I like to use that a lot. And I recommend it for like professionals really, who are like, you know, working in productions in ad agencies, like whatever, stuff like that, multimedia, basically.
Yeah there are other generators like volley and like dozens of others. Like I said, there are so many there are a lot of fees Some are paid. These are the ones I prefer There are video generators, which are select runway and Pico labs I like those, I think they are becoming very, very good, very quickly.
So like, I feel like in a couple of months, maybe next month it will be like another update or something like that. And they will be like, again, like amazing. So I do think that's good. There's like some 3d things happening and some animation as well. Happening has been for a while. Yeah, so like, these are kind of the things I use, I would say I have described a lot of things, but again, it's easy to get overwhelmed.
Start simple, start using larger language models, start using an image generator, then move maybe into video, maybe look for specialized use cases of whatever you are doing and just like move step by step, you know, like you dive deeper, yeah, something like that.
[00:35:02] Daniel: Nejc, it's really been a great talking with you.
I wish we had a little more time. I know you, you probably want to get some sleep. So as we wrap up I, I think you have, you do some training, online training. So talk about any services that you offer and, and, you know, close us out here.
[00:35:22] Nejc: Yeah. Yeah. Very good. I, like I said I love to be the bridge between the unknown and like the people in the comfort zone, you know, because not everyone goes out to research.
I do because I like it and I like to communicate that to people. So, yeah I have a website, Nejcoucette. art. I also have social media, of course. I have a lot of like free PDFs where you can like learn the basics, which is also a great place to start if you're looking to, or like mid journey or chadukati.
Basically, it's a lot about storytelling for me because I like storytelling and I've been working in collections and stuff like that. And I also have been doing like corporate trainings, which is like on the other side, but I'm also doing individual classes, which is more More what I really enjoy when I can connect with like a group of people, like five, 10 people, and just have like a hands on experience where we have a project and we make stuff, basically.
That is how I like to teach. I like to make stuff with people and along the way we will learn things. I will present how the tool works and in the end you will have like a project, a piece, you know, that, you know, feels nice. So yeah, I'm doing stable diffusion classes this month, actually in October and probably like in November as well, it will be an ongoing thing.
And I continuously just release like. PDFs, written guides or video courses, stuff like that. So yeah if you're looking to learn probably website is good or LinkedIn is good anywhere with my name, you will probably reach me. And it also has been very lovely to have this conversation. I'm glad we talked as much as much about the ethical side as well as like, you know, some technical side, but I'm glad to always talk about the humanity in AI.
[00:36:50] Daniel: That's all great. We'll have Nejc links and his contact information in the description for. You YouTubers looking at this on YouTube channel and for my audio only listeners, the links will be in the show notes. We talked about some really great stuff. So Nejc I really appreciate you taking the time.
I really enjoyed our conversation and hopefully we can connect again. Have a good evening and thank you for coming on the show.
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