Capitalogix

AI Tools For Your Business

Last week, I talked about the time value of time - and the benefit of quality peer groups. 

On Friday, one of those peer groups spent hours talking about the promise and peril of generative AI. While some people remained skeptical or in fear of what tools like ChatGPT made possible. 

One of the members shared an AI tool directory that I thought was worth sharing as well. It's called Futurepedia.io 

via futurepedia.io

My contribution to the discussion was brief, but it amounts to this ... Nothing you're hearing about AI should scare you. It should scream opportunity.  You don't have to rush.  AI is at the beginning of a long upwards sloping cycle of impact and capability. However, AI isn't duct tape, and for most, it's not a business ... it's a tool to help you create a bigger future that wasn't possible before.  Much like "internet" companies came and went in the late 1990s ... yet almost every company uses the internet in ways that were unimaginable at the beginning of the cycle.

People often get stuck searching for 'something' (often a singular goal or result). But, in their myopia, they miss the possibility of 'or something better.' 

In my business, I'm rarely happy to settle for less than I'm aiming for ... but I am willing to happily take the 'or something better'. Nonetheless, it is hard to see (let alone be open to) other targets or possibilities when you myopically focus on achieving the lesser (but specific) goal or target you initially chose to focus upon.

So, here is a thought to ponder ...

What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all. You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live -- with your self-respect alive and growing. ~ Maxwell Maltz

Imagine what you believe this tipping point indicates is possible personally and professionally.

Hope that helps. 

On The Time Value Of Time

I have always believed that you can predict a lot about your future based on the quality of the people you spend the present with.

That is why I think participation in quality peer groups is critical. 

Over the years, I joined several business-leader peer groups like Strategic Coach,  Abundance 360, and Genius Network.  These groups are a great way to meet people and learn things ... and they also provide you with access to the benefits of feedback from a group of trusted advisors, perspectives you might otherwise get from a counselor, and a flow of ideas and opportunities that wouldn't have crossed your mind or your desk.  They allow participants to see, hear, and discuss things they don't usually think about, talk about, or even notice.

Peer groups are also great at bringing blind spots to your attention and connecting you to trends transforming industries and the world.

In these meetings, you often find a "nugget" in the discussion.  Sometimes it stems from what is happening in the world.  Sometimes it alerts you to potentially valuable relationships, opportunities, or gadgets.  And sometimes, the nugget comes from discussing a common problem or constraint (like the pandemic) with your peers. 

This week, several of these groups prompted me to think about time (e.g., not wanting to sell time for money, wanting to live past 100, the "strangeness" of time during the past year, etc.). 

Time is funny.  Sometimes it seems to fly by ... other times, it seems to stand still.  Dan Sullivan uses the example of 10 minutes with a dying loved one compared to holding your hand on a stove for 10 minutes.  One seems excruciatingly short, and the other seems excruciatingly long. 

zefrank via YouTube

The average life expectancy for men in the U.S. is 76.

How many amazing vacations do you have left?  How many jaw-dropping moments?  How many fantastic meals?  How many Super Bowls?

What about time with your parents or older relatives?  It's easy to forget to call or miss an important event because "life happens" – but if you realize you may have already used 95% of your in-person time with that person ... doesn't it become more special?

For contrast:

• Would you rather spend that time dwelling on a mistake?
• What about being angry at something out of your control?
• What about doing work that drains you mentally and emotionally?

In my TEDx talk, I mentioned "living like you only have a year left" and how much more "life" we got out of the last part of my dad's life. 

That is just an example, but clearly, it is worth taking the concept further. 

To start, think of some of the activities you do, places you go, experiences you have that are special and make you feel like your best self. 

• Hitting Flow-state and creating something new and exciting;
• Taking an amazing vacation and experiencing something completely new;
• Having a moment with someone you love that makes you stop and say - "Wow!"
• Making a difference in someone's day or giving back to your community;
• Experiencing peace and relaxation;
• Feeling pure joy.

It's easy to get lost and take these moments for granted when they happen, but when you think about how much time you have left ... they take a whole new meaning. 

How can you maximize the time you have left?  Fill it with the best experiences, activities, and people you can.

To start, think about different time frames:

• What activities could you commit to doing at least once a year?
• What activities could you commit to doing at least once a month?
• What activities could you commit to doing at least once a week?
• What activities could you commit to doing at least once a day?

 Make those lists ... it is a simple way to get a better return on the time value of your life.

Seriously, try it.  

Let me know how it worked for you – and what you chose! 

 

 

How'd These 2022 Predictions Fair?

As we brought in 2022, I asked the question:

What's going to happen as a result of the continuing pandemic, inflation, interest rates, the ongoing supply chain issues, and the growing anxiety and unrest brewing underneath the surface of the new normal? In January, we'll get to see VC's predictions. Before that, what do you expect to happen in 2022? - How'd These 2021 Predictions Fair?

I proceeded to share visualcapitalist's 2022 predictions: 

via visualcapitalist

Well, there was undoubtedly increased volatility. 

While the whole board isn't correct, there's a surprising amount of prediction accuracy. On some level, predictions benefit from being generally vague. Also, many of the predictions that may not seem as accurate "today" seemed more accurate at some point this year. For example, we heard a lot about NFTs in the first half of the year, and while Big Tech is currently laying off employees, there was massive growth this year. 

What are you surprised they got right? In what areas were the predictions most off-base? Why?

And, of course, what are your mega-trend predictions for 2023?

Interesting stuff! 

What Year Is It?

It is officially 2023 ...  new year – and a new set of opportunities. 

But that's only based on the Gregorian calendar. Those of you that have followed me for a while know I often go to Asia for Chinese New Year (Gong Xi Fa Cai!) ... but that's also only one of many New Years. 

While the following chart is a day late (and thus, a year out-of-date from a Gregorian perspective), it is a handy little guide for knowing what year it is. Check it out. 

Like most things, time is relative. It can seem to go fast, it can seem to go slow ... sometimes it seems like it stands still. It's a matter of perspective. As we just saw, so is the calculation of what year it is. But, so too is the perspective of what you pay attention to, what you make it mean, and what you choose to do. There's no absolute "right" – only a seemingly endless stream of choices and opportunities.

I hope you had a productive and happy 2022 – and an even better 2023. 

Onwards!

The Twelve Days of Christmas ...

Most people know the song about the 12 Days of Christmas, but here's an interesting visualization of what presents were gifted by "their true love." 

via Neil R Kaye

 

I don't know about you ... but that's a ton of birds. Probably too many. Forty gold rings doesn't sound too bad (and less likely to become worthless than the NFTs they thought about substituting here). 

All together pretty noisy. 

Hopefully, you bought presents that your partner would actually enjoy. 

Merry Chrismakkuh

Today is Christmas ... and it is also the last night of Chanukah.  So, Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!  And Happy Festivus to anyone who doesn't celebrate either. 

For those that don't know, Chanukah is the Jewish festival of lights.  This is the holiday that involves lighting the Menorah (Chanukah candles), eating latkes (potato pancakes), exchanging gifts, playing spin the Dreidel (a gambling game), and enjoying a sense of family togetherness for eight days and nights.

That's a long time, right?!  Well, sometimes it seems even longer with my family. 

To help you stay in the right mood, here is a video of "The Chanukah Song," performed by comedian Adam Sandler on Saturday Night Live.  It became an instant classic (and he has since released a second, third, and fourth version.)

Here is the video.  And, if you're feeling left out - here's Adam Sandler's Christmas Song.

The cynic in me believes merchants invented the gift part of the holiday.

Regardless, the Capitalogix team has been festive, and the office has been filled with holiday cheer.  Here is a picture that some of the team took after our ugly sweater contest.

I hope you're having a wonderful celebration surrounded by people you love and food that would make your cardiologist feel safe buying a new Porche.

OpenAI's ChatGPT is Pretty Cool

One of my go to claims about AI is that it can do almost anything ... but it can't do everything. Specific AI systems are becoming incredibly robust. Last year, I wrote an article emphasizing how big of a jump GPT-3 was from past language processors.  I also shared a Seinfeld sketch created by GPT-3 that was so good it was almost unimpressive ... it just felt like a Seinfeld sketch. 

It feels like every week, there's a new breakthrough in pop AI. OpenAI just released ChatGPT (for free) to the public. The promise of ChatGPT is to give a cogent reply to conversational discussions. It can help you code, it can write a poem, can answer your questions, and more. The code it produces is stellar, and it can even create a convincing romantic comedy using characters from various famous shows. It does a lot very well, but it does have some failings. 

ChatGPT via OpenAI

 

GPT-3 is 100x bigger than any previous language AI model and comes pre-trained on 45TB of training text (499 billion words). It cost at least 4.6 million US dollars (some estimated as high as $12 million) to train on GPUs. The resulting model has 175 billion parameters. This was impressive enough, but ChatGPT is actually not based on GPT-3 but GPT3.5 an even more robust model that improved on the ability to answer in a way that feels natural. 

ChatGPT can talk about almost any topic you can think of, and even create prose that feels human; however, it's not perfect yet. 

Unfortunately, this chatbot fails in many of the same ways as its predecessors. To start, it can present false information as true because it's essentially a "stochastic parrot" basing its answers on statistical regularities in its data sources, not on an actual understanding of the world. As well, a lot of its answers can include meaningless fluff that sounds good but doesn't actually answer the question meaningfully ... almost like a high schooler that forgot to read the book before writing an essay. It also can't produce ASCII art despite the advancements in AI art we've recently discussed. 

Regardless of ChatGPTs faults, it's a very impressive piece of software. It can answer trivia like Google, write poetry and dialogue, it can pretend to engage in philosophic discussion, and it can help you correct your code or improve your writing. 

Here's a sonnet I had it write about Artificial Intelligence:

AI, the future's shining light,
A force that shapes our world anew,
A source of endless possibility,
A tool that cuts our burdens in two.

From language translation to deep learning,
AI's capabilities are vast and grand,
It helps us solve problems, find solutions,
And gives us new ways to understand.

But with great power comes great responsibility,
As AI transforms our world and lives,
We must ensure that it's used ethically,
That it helps, rather than subverts or deprives.

So let us embrace this technological marvel,
And use it wisely, for the common good,
For AI has the power to unravel
Our deepest mysteries, as well as hurdles.

 

It does what it is supposed to do very well. It is much more conversational and robust than previous chatbots. Obviously, it doesn't do everything well, and I doubt a chatbot will any time soon. Nonetheless, it is a step forward … and it will create ripples of progress.

What do you think?

Another AI Art Gimmick

There's a new trend of AI-generated profile pictures - using tools like avatar.ai.

Below are some sample results my son, Zach, got after downloading an iPhone app called Lensa.  The company that makes it also offers a product called Prisma that is worth looking at as well.  He paid $4 within Lensa to generate these AI photos (for context, avatar.ai charges more than 5x as much).  He uploaded 17 photos from different angles (and with different expressions), and the app promised 50 pieces from 4 styles.

What do you think of the results?  I thought some of them were surprisingly good. 

 

Some were not so good ... (or at least outside my zone of artistic preferences).

After seeing his, I'll admit I got curious and made my own. 

 

To be honest, these apps are still volatile ... meaning, sometimes they are good enough to seriously impress – but they also can underwhelm from time to time.  Check out DALL-E for more examples of the dynamic range of possibilities and results.

Regardless, I am impressed with AI art's progress and momentum.  Recently, generative AI has gotten a lot of hate (along with the hype), nonetheless, people are talking about it (meanwhile AI art is still not as polarizing as Kanye). 

The reality is, most of these tools still are an elegant use of brute force.  Nonetheless, I am bullish.  Hardware and software are getting better ... and when fed more data, generative art depictions get better as well. 

The uses continue to get more elegant and complex as time passes ... but we're still coding the elegance. 

For more on this topic: 

• Dall-E and AI-Generated Art 
• AI editing underwater photography
• AI evaluates how normal your face is
• On deepfakes and fake news
• Bruce Willis and AI movie characters

The Social Media Universe

We recently dove into what's happening at Twitter. Since that article, Elon wrote an ultimatum e-mail to his employees saying that if they wanted to stay, they would have to work harder and longer than before ... and that they would get three months severance if they chose to leave. In a result that might have surprised Elon, thousands of Twitter employees quit.  In response, Elon locked the doors, cut badge access, and attempted some damage control.

On top of that, you also have Meta having its own issues. 

With that, it's probably a good time to take a look at the social media landscape.  Here is an infographic that shows the relative popularity of various social media properties. 

 

via visualcapitalist

If you rank the top 10 social media by monthly users, Twitter isn't even on the list. Nor is it on the list for driving clicks. 

Meta and YouTube top the list - by a mile. 

As well, there's a growing network of smaller social media vying for a spot in the global paradigm, like Parler, Mastodon, or even Onlyfans.

Meaning there's a lot more chaos in the system. 

As always, chaos creates opportunity – in this case, both for new media and for brands to capitalize on the change in trends. 

The question is, will Facebook and Twitter survive the storm, and if not, what will take their place?

What's Up With Twitter?

Everyone knows that Elon Musk was sued by Twitter and 'forced' to buy Twitter for $44B.  Since then, the now-private company has made a lot of confusing decisions. 

To start, Musk publicly announced that the company was hemorrhaging money.  To try and remedy this, he began by firing approximately half the employees.  Key executives were fired.  Later, many more executives left on their own.  After the massive exodus, Elon supposedly reached out to some former employees asking them to come back.  He also ended remote work for employees. 

In an attempt to increase the company's profitability, he announced Twitter Blue, a paid subscription service that would give you a checkmark, and push your content to the top of users' feeds. 

via twitter

Unfortunately, users were quick to abuse the new verification system by pretending to be public figures and even public companies.  As a result, there was real tangible damage to stock prices. 

 via Twitter

Eli Lilly's drop also brought down its competitors.  Other companies got hit, including Lockheed Martin. 

Do you think those are the most influential 8 dollars ever spent in history?

As a result of the turmoil, advertisers are leaving Twitter in droves, and Twitter has paused Twitter Blue in America – though it remains up in some different geographies. 

On the surface, it looks like Twitter is being run into the ground.  It seems like Musk is throwing a lot of darts at the board and seeing what sticks.  He said as much when he promised that Twitter would do many dumb things as part of his strategy to innovate and find smart things to do.

Are the foibles simply the cost of the innovation needed to revitalize the company ... or signs of trouble for Twitter's future?

Even though I'm prone to bet on Musk, I think it's too early to believe you can predict the outcome.

What do you think?