Well, it’s October and I am a bit late on this. There’s a reason, of course.
First, I don’t think anyone will ever read these until much later, if at all. So I am not particularly tied to a schedule. I just need to accumulate tales of the journey until later, when I am at a point where it becomes interesting. That said, I left the story on music I had made with AI and that was a bit irresponsible.
There was a reason. Back in June my AI guesstimated that the work I wanted to feature in September would be ready. It’s not. I had hoped to bring the reader on a journey of discovery, but that journey is not ready…. still.
But let’s talk through the tale I meant to weave since we can’t actually weave it. I wanted you to start with the creative side of AI because it teaches you in a pleasurable way how AI works, how it fails, and how far you can take it. I feel inclined to reiterate I know my musical creations are silly.
But the example I wanted to make is how I went from the playful, naughty fun of Cut it Out to a very serious piece of software like Banshee 6 [https://github.com/swylie2010/Banshee-6]. (In reality I wanted to do this with an app called Tocco, the one I indicated is not completed yet.) The app itself is not the point.
The point is that by playing with Crayolas, tapping out beats, and singing into a microphone words that I wrote and edited, I—like a child—played my way into using sophisticated AI.
Tocco would have been perfect to make this point since it helps you create music. It would have been a fluid transition of ideas. But I can still make the point with the Banshee software I linked to. Maybe it will even make a firmer point for being so alien to the musical endeavors.
At this point, let me interject and say that if you do click the link and use the Banshee software, don’t ignore its warnings. Banshee is beta software. Do not trust it for trading. You must agree to that in order to use it, but people like to ignore warnings. That said, I can use it. I know its weaknesses. I’m working on them. So I can honestly tell you that it does have some capabilities in that area that are quite impressive.
But now walk with me on the journey. I was chatting and philosophizing with AI. I was making songs and videos. Those things are really fun for most people. Imagine making an image and pressing it on a T-shirt, or making a funny cartoon and adding it to a text message. Or making a clever jingle that plays with ideas your special group has shared and uniquely understands.
It all starts with play, because in that play, in that fun, you learn what AI can and cannot do.
If you open my Banshee 6 app you see something completely different. Let me make clear I am not a financial advisor of any sort, I have no background in economics, nor in coding. Sure, I trade stocks and crypto, I could make an HTML webpage or a blog, but many people do that and are not professionals. And I certainly don’t believe that my first endeavor to code with AI was original in any way: getting the smart computer to make you money is the first idea everyone has.
What I want you to see here is the progression from play to something more serious. I’ve taken you from clapping your hands and dancing and drawing to a concerted months-long exercise in coding. And the reason I suggest that path is that it’s fun, which is the point I keep trying to reiterate.
So many people see AI as yet another intimidating machine. They compare themselves to others and say they could never do that (whatever it is they see). I am reassuring you: play, have fun, you will learn the limits. I made this giant piece of financial software because that’s who I am: go big! But I’ve also made lots of little things like an app to chart my weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, and steps. You can make that, too.
It doesn’t matter if what you made exists, it doesn’t matter if it is good or bad. What matters is doing something, taking action, and having fun. You are going to learn not from something I or somebody with an 11 hour class online can tell you. You are going to learn from play. And really, I put this article off for a whole month, and I’ve said it in each past article, but that’s all I have to say: PLAY!
Play took me from silly cartoons to a piece of software comparable to what some real programmers first did with AI. I’m not claiming perfection or skill in any of it, but the evidence is clear to me. Play and art and creative endeavors brought me from a crude understanding of AI to somebody who can use it like a tool to carve out complex structures I would have never imagined I had the patience to achieve on my own.
And the message I give you is that if you’ll follow this path with me, you’ll do the same. It doesn’t matter if you are an aging grandmother on social security and food stamps or a 12 year old in a Penthouse itching to make your first mark on the world...
You have been offered an upgrade to your capabilities, if you choose to accept it.