Baby Mistakenly Flies Plane
The Artificial Intelligence Takeover is Upon Us ... Resistance is Futile
If you create anything, you’ve got an opinion on A.I. I’ve met staunch advocates, human purists, and those who think they’re hiding their habits in the shadows. Whether you’ve integrated it into your workflow (openly or secretly) I’d bet money you’ve at least experimented with it. It’s okay. You’re not alone.
That’s why I was baffled yesterday when I saw a headline on Reddit: one video had amassed over 130 million views in less than a week and had become the third most-watched video on YouTube. If you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:
In February of this year, YouTube claimed the top spot as the most-streamed network on televisions for the first time, according to Nielsen. It has held that position for the past three months of reporting, with Disney+ in second and CBS’s Paramount+ in third. So now, you can watch this oddly crafted, poorly synced, possibly funny video in 4K. It’s not exactly peak storytelling, but it’s striking a chord with a certain slice of the population. This creator-driven platform is taking over our screens.
The days of appointment-based television are long gone. When I try to explain that era to my kids, they wrinkle their foreheads in confusion. But maybe those days aren’t entirely gone. Strangely, the binge-everything-on-day-one streaming model has started to shift. First, we got seasons split into two parts. Then came the three-episode premieres followed by weekly drops.
Now it seems the tech companies have rediscovered something we always knew: releasing one story a week keeps your show relevant all season. Netflix even schedules certain types of content by day. It’s starting to feel a little old school again. Fortunately, for now, these A.I.-generated videos seem confined to the world of social media, which is how I view YouTube. Once you’ve gotten out of the creation business, calling yourself a network or even a platform seems a little overconfident.
In the writing world, including right here on Substack, I’ve seen a flood of content that looks like it’s been at least lightly brushed by artificial hands. (Top three lists, I’m talking about you.) I’m not judging. Well, maybe a little.
Even with all the so-called detection tools out there, it’s hard to tell whether writing is fully human or quietly courtesy of SkyNet. The em dash debate alone could wear you out. Honestly, you almost have to inclued a few mistakes just to prove it wasn’t written by a machine.
Personally, I like to use A.I. when I’m stuck. Lately, it’s become a helpful distraction as I work through the third act of my current project, The Devil’s Road. I released the initial part of it over the past year as serialized fiction.
Now I’m experimenting with dropping sections of the story into image generators, mainly Midjourney. I know what you’re thinking. A.I. art gets the most heat among creators because it was at the center of the initial job-loss panic when all this started. Still, I have to admit, it’s a little addictive.
I would never use it in a final production, but it’s become a useful way to communicate an idea. It works as a kind of visual shorthand for character, setting, and mood.
Back when I was working in design, I had a man crush on Ming Cho Lee. He taught students to understand story through character and to express that journey in physical form. One of his go-to exercises was the Character Board. He encouraged students to collect photos of everyday people who embodied the characters in the stories for which they were designing.
He always emphasized the importance of using unrecognizable faces. If the person is famous (say, Will Ferrell as Richard III 🤞) it’s impossible to separate the image from the actor’s history. That defeats the point, which is to have a focused discussion about the script. Through these boards, students learned to talk about theme, tone, and narrative. Their designs grew from there.
In the same way, if these tools help you express ideas more clearly, there’s no reason to feel guilty about including them in your process. They are just tools, and like most tools, they’re here to stay. A hundred years ago, the car replaced the horse. You can bet that wranglers, grooms, and stablehands everywhere cursed the noisy contraptions that bumbled down the street. Now, we all stare in wonderment when you see someone riding a horse on the street where cars are supposed to be.
Thankfully, these new contraptions still require the human touch to be effective. In fact, the further away humanity gets from the root of the work, the more terrible the work becomes. The Uncanny Valley effect can be felt, that deep sense that something isn’t right. Images and videos may become more realistic, but the nature of where they draw their inspiration will have to remain human.
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a little extra …
So, if you’re curious. It’s become common place for all kinds of storytellers to create pitch decks for their work. Thankfully, I’ve had a good deal of art history, design classes, and color theory in my past education which has allowed me to be decent at expressing myself with images. However, these A.I. tools certainly take it to a new level. Love to hear your thoughts.