Early Days of Autumn

It has been six weeks since my last blog post. The season has changed and the temperature is starting to cool as we head towards the end of 2024. A few years ago, I was only posting a couple blogs a year because life was just ticking by. I was releasing a new book every few years and working on screenplays and such but it had all become pretty routine. Over the past year and a half things have become far more interesting, and so I found myself wanting to communicate more about it all.  

Six weeks ago, I was wrapping up my review of AI video models. Since then AI Video has taken further steps forward. Runway, Luma, and Kling have improved. Models like Minimax have also been released. I am finally seeing some emotion in the generations. I wouldn't call it acting as the emotions seem more like commands than actual human emotions in response to anything. But it is the first real step towards AI acting out a role. 

I haven't done much with the trailer for the TV series over the past six weeks, mainly test shots with the new features rather than trying to piece things together into something resembling the script I wrote for the trailer. And of course, keeping up with all the updates. My focus has largely been on the APP I have been thinking about for a year and a half. 

To my delight tools like Replit and Cursor have made vast improvements over the past six weeks, which has done nothing but validate my decision to focus on creating my first APP. When I made that decision to focus on the APP as opposed to using GenAI tools to help me create a trailer, or illustrate another book, I had no idea that it would get so much easier for people like myself (someone who has only taken one basic coding class) to actually create an APP. But then that is why I decided to pursue AI with such vigor because it was evident that AI would help in ways that I had thought of and ways I had not, and that the change would continue for the foreseeable future. 

My process remains the same despite these great advancements in APP creation. It will just make it easier for me and may limit how much outside help I will need along the way. I won't be talking about the actual APP until it is fully ready to go but I am more than happy to talk about my process. 

One week after my last blog I saw a video with a young child using Cursor to create an APP. That's when I knew for sure the APP was the best thing to focus on. That was also the same time I had some real-life stuff take precedence for two weeks limiting what I could do regarding R&D with the APP. While I got some planning work done during those two weeks the hard yards were delayed as I dealt with some things. 

I had decided in mid-August that I would use ChatGPT to create a GPT as the first test phase for the APP. During that final week in August, I took another class on Coursera: OpenAI GPTs: Creating Your Own Custom AI Assistants. Once I had completed the course and September rolled around, I was ready to focus on the APP in earnest. 

While I have created several GPTs over the past ten months and thought I had a good grasp on them, I wanted to make sure I was getting the most out of them. The plan was to create the GPT, test it, and then transition to taking what I had learned and separately creating the APP. 

Once I realized that I liked the results I was getting from the GPT, I began testing it and getting some feedback from others. It was behaving how I had hoped, for the most part, and others were seeing the value it provided and appreciated my plans for the APP. 

Because I liked what I was seeing from the GPT I began to wonder if I could use the GPT in the APP or if I had to start from scratch and independently build the functionality I was getting from the GPT. Turns out I can use the GPT in the APP and that my APP will be what is called an AI Wrapper, something I didn't really understand until recently

I asked o1: What is an AI Wrapper? 

o1: "An AI Wrapper is a simple software layer that makes it easier to use an AI model by providing a straightforward way to interact with it. It acts like a protective cover that simplifies complex AI functions so developers can use them without dealing with the intricate details."

Until earlier this month, I had thought of AI Wrappers in negative terms because I believed they were just chatbots masquerading as APPs. Then I began to do some research. I have come to realize that there are a number of really good AI wrappers out there. Some of which I use with regularity but hadn't realized that they were AI Wrappers. The more you know. 

While the APP will likely contain some version of the GPT I have been building and will continue to update, there will be other AI features built into the APP. It is geared to help people and will have Free and Paid features. Hopefully, the new Advanced Voice Mode will be a part of the GPT. As of today it is not. It's only been a day since its release and I can't see releasing the APP for a while so there is a chance.

I don't know what I will charge for the paid services, but my goal is to be able to help people and hopefully make a little money in the process without overcharging people. I have no idea if people will even use the APP, let alone pay for the paid features. 

This whole thing may fall flat and no one ends up using the APP. I would take some positives from the experience either way. I will have learned how to create and release an APP and I fully expect to make others after I finish this one. Another big plus is that I am already using the GPT myself and benefiting from the results. Having done some early tests it has already helped me do something that I have wanted to do for over a year. So, even if I were to abandon the whole thing right now I have already gained something from the experience. But I don't plan on abandoning the APP any time soon. I can see how it can help people and it is now up to me to finish it.  

My goal is to have this APP ready for the public after the election. There is too much chaos to try and wade through right now and it's not anywhere near ready for deployment. I'd like to have it ready for the holidays when people are gathering with their families. I think that might be a good time for release. We'll see if I can actually deliver it by then or if it gets postponed until after the new year. 

Beyond the creation and release of the APP, I am still scouring the internet to keep up with AI advancements. While the APP means a lot to me other aspects of the multimedia company I am trying to create mean just as much if not more. I am a storyteller after all and I want to share the stories I have already written and those I have yet to put on a page. 

Having finally seen some emotion in AI video generation over the past few weeks confirms that progress is still being made and that it will continue. Last week AI Video company Runway signed an agreement with Lionsgate to train a model on their IP. That's huge and won't be the last production company to do such a thing. Mixing live action with AI generations is happening now. Some might say it has been happening for years. It is the way of the future despite all the protests. 

One of the greatest film auteurs of our time Guillermo del Toro is not a fan of AI at all. And who can blame him, he's still at the top of his game and has not needed it up until now. While I respect the hell out of Guillermo I cannot make a pledge to continue on as I have for 20 years with little traction and expect things to change for the better. I would just have more scripts sitting on a shelf that would never get read let alone made into movies, especially with fewer and fewer production companies refusing to use AI. That's why when I saw James Cameron was joining the board of Stability AI, I felt there was a balance to be had with GenAI when it comes to filmmaking. One that will likely continue to shift over the next year or so. There will no doubt be companies that will refrain from using AI, but that number will continue to dwindle. 

The window to the past is narrowing but the one to the future is expanding by the day. Nothing would have brought me more pleasure than to have had the chance to work with someone like Guillermo on one of my stories, but that just hasn't happened. Yet I still have a desire to tell my stories and if you think I'm going to play the Hollywood waiting game anymore when I don't have to then you are fuckin' crazy. I need to see my stories come to life and I won't let the current opinion of one of my idols keep me from pursuing my own dreams. 

Yes, I will keep working on the APP, but creating Movies and TV shows with the help of AI tools is getting closer and closer every day. As of six weeks ago, I thought that you could only make a believable AI movie in animated format by the end of the year. Now, with these recent advancements, we are getting closer and closer to AI live action movies. We're not there yet but things may still advance enough in the last three months of the year that we may cross that line of believability that the general public will accept as real. There likely won't be enough time to make that movie by the end of the year but the tech may be advanced enough by then for the production of that first believable AI movie to begin production. Maybe. 

If last year was anything to go by, the release of GenAI improvements will slow the closer we get to the end of the year and may not pick back up until February or March. So, if we don't see some cool new upgrades by early December we likely won't see them until a couple months into the new year. But what do I know? I'm just trying to keep up with it all so I can continue to course correct when it is appropriate. 

And with the help of Cursor and Replit creating and deploying an APP has never been easier, which is why that has become my main focus for the time being. I owe it to myself to stay the course with the APP until its release, despite any AI video upgrades between now and then. Thanks for reading.