✨ the SPARK 214 ~ The AI Issue | Finding Joy in Digital Evolution

Where possibility feels like Christmas morning again

As a GenX-er, some of my fondest memories of the holidays have now become memes.

You’ve probably seen them… kids lying on their stomachs on the floor, spending hours looking through the Sears Christmas catalog (those things were about two inches thick!).

With two siblings, we had to make sure we used a different color pen when we circled what we wanted to make our Christmas lists so my parents knew who wanted what (although I’m sure my parents knew it was my brother who wanted “He-Man” and Castle Grayskull, not my sister or me, 😂).

We made our lists from the catalog and hoped for the best.

My parents made Christmas so incredibly magical.

And as trite as it sounds, what I remember most are those magical moments - not the gifts.

Making cookies & candies with my Mom, cutting the Christmas tree down as a family, spending the day decorating the tree and house, and then having hot chocolate and donuts at night, admiring our handy work.
(We also had plenty of Griswald and chaos moments, too - losing the tree on the freeway…twice! Two separate occasions!).

I also remember coming down Christmas morning to the most spectacular scene ever! My parents had a unique way of putting the gifts out; a few were always left ‘open’ (not wrapped, toys put together and displayed) that would have the sleepiest of children in awe.

Once everything was done, we faced the dilemma of “What do I play with first?”

And I know, hardly a dilemma (#firstworldproblems - and everything in me knows how fortunate I was for my upbringing)… but we’ve all had that feeling of excitement at some point in our lives.

That feeling of “OMG! There’s not enough time in the day!”

That’s how I feel about AI right now. 😉
(were you wondering when I would get to the AI part of this issue?)

I jumped into AI in late 2021 (I think that’s when Jarvis Jasper first came out).

At the time, GPT3 was mindblowing… if only we knew what was coming.

I’m not going to get into the tech side of things (LLMs, processors, data, etc) - this is solely about how we can use it and how I see creators/business owners integrating it into their businesses.

One thing I read that I agree with is that we will see more training on narrow subjects. So, beyond tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, you’ll see tools that niche down.

So, tools like:

• Spotter Studio - YouTube brainstorming, research, and writing

• MyStylus - for academic writing

• AnimateAI - for animated videos

I know many of these tools exist already, but think about how much better they’ll get if they’re trained on data sets that are niche-specific only, as opposed to LLMs (large language models).

I’m probably botching some of this tech - but you get my point.

The other piece of this for you is how you use these tools for your business.

We’ve all heard, “AI won’t take jobs, but the people who learn to use it will.”

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I think AI will take jobs—we just don’t know what or when (crystal ball, anyone?).

There will always be crappy AI-generated content, but unless those creators have big budgets for promotion, it’s hardly a sustainable business.

If you’re in this for the long haul, here’s how you win:

• Train the tools you use on your voice (plenty of free videos on YouTube or check out Ben’sBites for training).

  • This is where projects in Claude & now ChatGPT will help you shine

• Be ruthless with editing, cutting, iterating, and practicing with the tools you use

• You don’t need to know how to use every tool - as tempting as it can be to try everything - it’s an infinite rabbit hole

• Take the time to understand how to effectively use the AI built into your existing tools (Canva, Google Docs, Descript, etc. For example, as remarkable as AnimateAI is - do I really need to know how to use it if I have zero ideas on what to use it for?).

• Find a community: some fantastic people are ALL in with AI - subscribe, learn from, and support these creators.

• Work at your own pace. AI isn’t going anywhere; you won’t be left behind, and there’s plenty of time. It’s changing and growing so fast - unless you’re in the “AI space” - I don’t know how you’d keep up.

• AI agents: Learning and using AI agents will be a game-changer. A simple example of an AI agent is Zapier or Make- these are ‘tools’ (um… assistants? 😉) that will perform and automate specific tasks. These will save you time and money. You can keep it simple (connecting tools) or get as complex as you like. Once these are trained on your specific business - watch out. Just wow!

• Take the time to learn the nuances of prompting for your specific use cases. So, if images are your thing - go deep with what types of prompts create quality images, regardless of the tool. Don’t buy prompt packs - learn the fundamentals.

If I were to compare AI to life phases, I’d say we’ve been in the ‘childhood’ phase of AI. We’re now entering the pre-adolescent/adolescent phase.

You don’t need an AI business (i.e., you create AI tools, training, and education about AI) to stay on top of AI. It’s essential to pay attention to how it’s being used and, more importantly, how you can use it to support the business and lifestyle you desire.

This is an exciting time, and we have some incredible opportunities.

Here’s to making the most of these resources for an incredible New Year! 🥂

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SPARK Spotlight 🔥

My friend, Denise Wakeman & her co-founder, Andy O’Bryan, were early adopters of AI. As part of their AI Success Club, you get monthly training, weekly prompts delivered to your inbox, monthly AI demonstrations (with Q&A), a tools & resource center, and interviews with AI Masters!

I’ve known Denise for almost 15 years - you’re in good hands with them!

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A Little Brainpower 🧠

From Google: Introducing Gemini 2.0: our new AI model for the agentic era (this is a pretty tech/dev-heavy article).

Not sure I’m ready to give up Grammarly, but it could be soon. “Apple Intelligence Just Made Grammarly Obsolete.”

From Open AI’s “12 Days of Shipmas” (12 days of updates to ChatGPT): How to use Projects.

More updates from Google & Notebook LM. NotebookLM gets a new look, audio interactivity, and a premium version.

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Tool Time 🛠

I already shared a few above, but there’s no lack of new AI tools, so here we go!

• No Code: Want to build your own AI tool? Drag and drop to turn your ideas into a tool. Try AI Smart Cube for free here.

• AI Worker: Similar to an AI agent, an AI worker can handle all kinds of tasks and processes. This one is 🤯. Try MindStudio.ai free here.

• AI Images: This is still experimental, but you can play with Google’s new AI image generator. Have some fun with Whisk here.

• AI Images: This is Google’s text-to-image generator, Imagen 3. Google also now has Gemini extensions (see my image and description of Gemini extensions below). I asked for a crocheted Harry Potter playing Quidditch on his broomstick! Not too bad! Try Imagen 3 free here.

• Second-brain: If Notion (or a similar tool) isn’t your thing, this looks promising—one platform to organize, search, bookmark, and more. Use Findr free here.

Here’s my crocheted Harry Potter playing quidditch! 👇

Here’s what Gemini extensions are:

Lastly, I had to Google the difference between an AI worker and an AI agent. Here you go (in case you were curious):

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AI Newsletters 📃

I already mentioned the AI Success Club above, but my two other favorite AI newsletters, hands down, are:

• The Neuron

• The Rundown

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Try as I might… 🤣🤶🎄

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This week was pretty long, so I’ll keep this short!

I’d like to do an ‘AI issue’ of the newsletter sporadically, maybe every other month. Just hit reply (or comment below) if this is something you’d like to see.

Next week will be the last issue of 2024!

Wow.

Have a wonderful day, and I’ll ‘see’ you next week!
Kim

p.s. Have you gotten “The Visual Guide to Substack” yet? I’ve got some additions coming (free if you already grabbed it) and the price will go up in January! Get your copy here.