So I've spent some time as of late working to understand this whole new world of AI-generated art, diving into platforms like MidJourney, Stable Diffusion, and DreamStudio. I must admit it is both wonderfully fascinating and productivity-killing. Through the weekend, it's pretty obvious that I've also learned the fine art of swapping in my face in the place of what the AI has generated - or rather, I used an AI feature to swap in my face.
I pity my family going forward. After all, they have to put up with stuff like this:
More importantly, though, I have decided that many of the slide decks which will be used for upcoming keynotes will incorporate the AI-generated images that relate to the topic at hand - particularly when I am talking about the AI Megatrends. These are the vast, sweeping transformative trends that go beyond technologies like ChatGPT, and result in dramatic change for mostly every industry.
Next week, I will be spending time with a leadership team talking about the role of AI in the construction and infrastructure industry, and generated a few images to go with the talk: It's not hard to envisage large-scale AI-enabled robotic technologies that are increasingly used within the construction sector. It seems like science fiction, but there are rapid scientific advances with robotics, digital twin technologies, and virtualization that are taking us down this path.
A crazy idea? Not really - we are already seeing the arrival of the construction robot, albeit in somewhat primitive form:
Likewise, I'll have a few talks coming up about the role of AI in the agriculture industry, and so the science fiction idea of 'weed=zapping robots' is something easily imagined with AI art:
But here's the thing - there is already a lot of science happening with the actual idea of weed-zapping robots:
But what about the idea of an actual human cyborg? Might we see this crazy science fiction idea become real in our lifetime? I've been pondering this issue.
My post from my 23 Trends for 2023 series took on the topic of the acceleration of brain science - and so while we might not see crazy science fiction developments like those imagined by an AI art generator, the facto of the matter is that we are headed into a new and fascinating future in this area.
And so these are the issues I will be covering in some of my upcoming talks - particularly with the sessions involving AI for leadership teams - because the nature of leadership itself is changing.
The key thing to think about?
If you follow science fiction, follow the science behind the fiction - and you might be fascinated by what you discover!
Futurist Jim Carroll never had any fine art skills and is mesmerized by the emerging world of AI-based art.