Wake Up With AI

Welcome to wake up with AI, the podcast where human powered meets AI assisted. Join your hosts, Chris Carillon, Niko Lofakas, and George b Thomas as we dive deep into the world of artificial intelligence. From the latest AI news to cutting edge tools and skill sets, we are here to help business owners, marketers, and everyday individuals unlock their full potential with the power of AI. Let's get started.

Good morning. Happy Friday. It is time for another edition. The end of our 1st week, 5 episodes in a row, fellas. Wake up with AI.

How are you guys doing today?

Doing good. Doing good. Have chunked a ton of information onto George this morning as per usual. I have no idea why this camera is so fuzzy, but I'll fix that. Hey.

We'll we'll roll with that.

Here's what I'll say is we're on Friday. We're 5 days into a daily podcast, which I have never done a daily podcast before. I've done weekly. I'm actually liking this daily meet with you guys, talk about nerdy stuff, and I love bringing this I'll call it micro value even though it's not micro in the value of it, but, like, micro content under 30 minutes of, like, extreme value of, like, what's important today, right now, with AI to think about. So I'm I'm digging this journey.

Yeah. I think it's the only way we keep up when there's literally new things every day. And if we say that we wanna help people keep up with those new things, you know, we gotta be out there sharing. And it kinda reminds me of talk about this stuff in a lot of other podcasts. It's like, what what happens when you don't set the intention of of meeting every day to talk about something?

Yeah. You unintentionally meet at all these random times and share information at all these random times, random ways, which is very hard to keep up with. So, hopefully, this has given people a place to count on each day to, you know, get some nugget. Sometimes it's just, like, being exposed to it on a daily basis. We're never gonna get to it all, but, hopefully, we can keep taking bites, bites of the elephant, one one bite at a time.

Yeah. All is impossible, but the right bites too is what I'll say. Like, dependent upon if you're marketing or sales or a business owner, like, the right bites of what you need to do or think about is is really important.

Yeah. So as you're if you're out there listening or watching, tell us what the right bites are for you. While we think we know a lot, we are not everybody out there experiencing AI, so we wanna hear from you. Let us know what's resonating, what's not.

And if you don't need a bite, we'll give you a bit, whichever. No judgment.

There you go. There you go. So what do we got today, Niko?

You know, we have a little repository of all the things that we try to at least that I try to keep track of for for the gang. And today, I'm gonna take you know, pluck out of one of those stories and what I thought was one of the more interesting ones. Once again comes back to brings it a little bit back to where things are going, where things have been, and also how we should look at what it is that we do on a daily going forward. So there was a article that I've linked, and it discussed an artist who had entered a digital piece of artwork into an into a contest. Now when they put it into the contest, they they put it in as a digital piece of of work.

They didn't submit it as like, hey, this is my regular artwork. And Jason Allen is the artist, created a mid journey image and he actually won, got an award for it, had spent like he talks about it. I'll get into it in a second. He talks about it. He talks about his process, but you know, again, he created this wonderful image.

It is really, really breathtaking. He got his award and then turned around and said, you know, yeah, this makes sense. It's legitimate. It won an award. It was in contest.

Okay. Let me copyright my work. Nope. Oh. No copyright.

Yeah.

You didn't do it. Midjourney did it. Now if you get into the article and you read into it, and if you know Midjourney artists, the first thing they will tell you, the first thing, like, any anyone that has spent time doing it will tell you, no. It is not just plug it in and then walk away. Trust me when I say using these generative art programs is the same as using the generative text programs.

Garbage in, garbage out. So if you want, like, a really just simple image that mimics the idea in your head, sure. Okay. You might be able to get that. You can describe your way to that.

If you're trying to get that in a particular style with a particular look and a and a mood and and a lot more detail added to it and maybe some additional characters, that's different. It's gonna take you a while. I've I've done it. I I used to be part of a Discord group that was specific to Midjourney and and doing art in Midjourney, and it is difficult. We would have, like, prompt sessions often, and a lot of the prompts that people came up with, you'd never see in an online forum.

You wouldn't see on a website. And so today, basically, the news of the day is how are we dealing with our interpretation of the effort that's applied using AI by comparison to the effort that's applied traditionally?

I'm frustrated right now. I gotta be honest with you. I'm frustrated right now because to me, like, if you think about how we talk about this, right, AI is a tool, it'd be like the paintbrush manufacturing company saying, nope. Sorry. That's not your artwork.

You can't copyright it. You used our brush. Or, like, you used our spray can. Nope. That tag you just did, nope.

Not yours. It's our like so that's kind of frustrating to me just from the element of how like, it's a tool dank on it.

And in theory, this is a digital art contest, which means it probably existed prior to the these generative AI tools being available. So Photoshop, any of the software Oh, yeah. Like, are required to create digital art. There's never been, like, human hand to canvas to create digital art. Why is this, like, it's it's a tool?

And just, like, one more story. Like, when I first started learning about AI and the the reason it is a tool, it became so clear. Like, it was this AI, like, 2 day thing, and he was showing us these prompts. I am not a photographer. I have no photography experience.

And the level of detail that he had created in these prompts about which lens was being used, what kind of camera it was, all of the technical details.

For aperture.

Right?

Yep. Like, I would have never have gotten there ever. So the tool in my hands is much different from the tool in an expert's hands.

I've taken photography. It was actually, something I minored in in college. So that helped when it came to doing, like, realistic images that were photographs, right, as the art medium. I was even working with GPT last night, and I gave it a prompt for the new Flux as a 1.1 version. And it's supposed to be, like, crazy, crazy realistic.

I'll I'll post an image I came up with yesterday. This is what's gonna be funny. I'll post an image that I made with Flux yesterday, and then I'm gonna post an image that I made with Midjourney a year ago. They're of the same subject, and the Midjourney image really just there's no way. Like, even like, the flux image doesn't stack up.

It's interesting. It's very interesting. It's a fairly decent detailed prompt too. But to get back on subject, yes, to your point. If you don't know, it's the same as again, it's the same as GPT.

Sure, you can use GPT to write a grant. But if you're not a grant writer, you don't know how to look for the things that might be a mistake. You can use GPT to draw up a blueprint or to create code for you. But if you're not an engineer or you're not a coder, you might not know what to look for. I I hear it all the time.

And then my rebuttal is pretty simple where it's like, oh, you just take the error, feed it back into GPT, and then it corrects the code for you. But even in the case of, like, midjourney, again, you can leverage the model to help you as an assistant and say, look, I'm trying to create this photo, but it's not really that realistic. What am I missing that I could add to this prompt in order to make it a little bit better, in order to bolster it? And again, GPT and Claude, they know about other models. They know about the existence of other AIs, so they can actually formulate those prompts for you in the way that they should be put.

And, yeah, that's when you start to learn. Right? You see the way those complex prompts are written, and it in in a way, it turns you into an artist because I don't see people going back and forth with GBT once they get a prompt. I see them getting the prompt, and they start to tweak it. They start to change the numbers.

They start to get into it. And from there, they kinda just keep going. Right? Again, because it's an assistant. It's something that's for ideation.

So it's like if you're applying that amount of effort towards it, why wouldn't that be copyright material?

So so here's my question, which, by the way, let me say this. The thing I love doing on prompts when I'm trying to do photo realistic is the last line I say is, please use pro camera lenses and lighting, and the stuff it spits out is crazy. But, Niko, let's go back to the AI art copyrights. Do you think we're stuck, or do you think this changes over time based on what's happening in this conversation? Like, where does your brain go on that?

I think that it changes over time. The way that I see everything, again, everything is gonna be touched by this technology. So given that that is a base, what ends up happening is, to be honest, human applied effort actually starts to take a little bit more not more precedents, but it starts to take a little bit more value, holds a little bit more value. Right? You'll see for sure within 3, 4 years, you'll see robot ballet.

You'll see, you know, robot all types of stuff. People will go see it. You'll see, like, probably robot football within a decade. Right? And people will go watch it because it will be entertaining, but it won't be as entertaining or as whatever as human because here's one thing that doesn't really get taken into consideration, and this is a weird thing for football, but more just a weird comparison altogether.

You know, you're watching football. What's one of the things that you know could could possibly happen? It's the same as NASCAR. Some dude tears his ACL. Some dude blows a quad.

He cuts your protocol. So hard. Right. So that's not really going to have those kind of random errors are not bound to happen in a perfect system. Right?

So there is something to be said. You know, you look at some of the fine artists that are out there that do some of the abstract stuff that they do, and who can make anything of it? But the point of them having done it is that it evokes an emotion. That's what their purpose is. Right?

So is that kind of thing gonna happen from AI? Is that kind of thing going to you know, like this digital, work that this guy came up with, like I said, it's very breathtaking. It's the same to me as if somebody had painted it. It evokes the same emotion. Now would it do that it you know that's the thing is like can someone else's generation do that?

Is it on a high enough scale? Like the value of artwork typically is how great the message can can spread and how much emotion it can invoke within that that spread. Right? That or just the sheer value of it from a industrial standpoint or commercial standpoint. I think if you can do that, if you can replicate that, yeah, it's the same as the human hand.

Craziness. Because it's it's frustrating to me because, like, he was collaborating with a tool to be creative as a human. He was powering his assistant to, like, get to a place. And the fact that and and he won. He won, and still I yeah.

I don't even know. I'm so frustrated right now because yeah. Anyway

Yeah. I mean, the way I see it is that, like, again, I think eventually this gets accepted. I think that people are really sore about it because of the fact that using this tool produces a finished product as opposed to having to piece the product together. Right? So it's almost but at the same time, why aren't those those same people upset about the 3 d printing industry?

3 d printing, you're printing out something that's already a final blueprint. It's already been put together. Yep. There is no, like, oh, I've gotta piece things together. You just print it.

You're done.

So you gotta wonder if it's just haters being haters or if there is something under it. Right? Like

Until Look.

Having been in digital graphic design for, you know, over a decade, I think haters gonna hate.

I'm here's the funny thing too is so that space and then I'll shut up, Chris, so we can move forward. There are these people who are and I love you as I say this, but they are the purists. It's the art form. It's the touch of the paper. It's the of the pencil.

Right? This is why you literally have these freaking iPad wannabe notebooks that are digital notebooks that actually, like, look like right? Like, look like, feel like you're writing on paper because they knew there was a market of the purists. And I almost wonder if it's, like, the purists that are like, uh-uh. Not on my watch, buddy.

Well, that's the thing. Like, we've already broken through that barrier with digital. Like, there's always gonna be a space for the human hand created stuff. And I think in either case, until you let AI enter these competitions, the human is still the one deciding when the product is finished. No matter how finished the product looks like when it comes out AI, it's so the human decided, okay.

I'm ready to submit this. So, yeah, that's super interesting. And, again, I think it it changes when when people wake up, you know, with AI. That's that's why we're here. What is our Yeah.

5th skill to beta skills, I think, is what you've been

Yeah. Yeah. From 2 downstairs. Alright, guys. It's funny.

Like, I I feel like I wanna start this one with in brighter news.

So It's always always the favorite.

Today, we're diving into a skill that's at the core of how we interact with AI, or at least it should be. Today's skill that pays the bills in the future is a soft skill today called collaboration. When you hear the word collaboration, you might think about working with your teammates, you know, those other humans. You might think about things like bouncing ideas off each other or building something great together. But in the age of AI, collaboration takes on a whole new dimension, pushing beyond traditional human interactions and into sophisticated partnerships between humans and intelligent systems.

Let's get one thing straight. AI isn't just a tool even though we've talked about it today as a tool and on the other episodes as a tool. It isn't also a replacement for human ingenuity. Can't replace that. Holy crap.

Like, birds, all the words. Instead, think of AI as a catalyst, a dynamic partner that can augment our creativity, as we've kind of talked about this morning, refine our judgment, and expand our decision making capabilities. This partnership allows us to tackle problems from new perspectives, accelerate the ideation process, and unlock the potential we may not have realized on our own. Imagine this scenario. You're working on a significant project, say, creating a marketing campaign.

I'm talking to the marketers today. Maybe tomorrow, I'll talk to the business owners. You're solving a complex business challenge maybe. Oh, maybe I'm talking to the business owners today or developing a strategic content plan. I'm even bringing content managers and strategists today.

You've got a wealth of experience and a creative spark, but you're hitting a wall. Don't worry. We've all been there. Maybe you're struggling to find the perfect angle or the insights you need are buried beneath a mountain of data. This is where AI can be transformative, not just as a passive assistant.

You know, I got to this part, and I was like, yeah. Sometimes we're talking about them as assistants, and I almost wonder if that's, like, not enough where we're headed. But as an active collaborator, picture feeding your ideas into an AI model and watching as it returns diverse suggestions, alternative approaches, or hidden insights you hadn't considered. This isn't just about getting quick answers. It's about expanding the scope of your creativity by leveraging AI's ability to connect dots at scale, drawing from a vast array of data points and generating combinations you may have never anticipated.

However, let's be clear. You remain the ultimate decision maker. AI might offer you various options, but your human intuition and contextual understanding are irreplaceable. You're the one who decides what resonates, what's meaningful, and how to craft messages that connects emotionally. AI brings its computational strength, and you bring the human touch, a synthesis that elevates the final product beyond what either could have achieved alone.

Now here's the thing. There's 3 things I wanna leave you with before we get out of today's collaboration, the skills that pay the bills. And here's the thing. There has to be a synergy where AI becomes an extension of your cognitive process. I want everybody to think about that for a second, especially with today's conversation.

AI can do the heavy lifting, sifting through the data, exploring alternatives, generating iterations at a speed and scale unattainable by us as humans alone while focusing on strategy, empathy, and creativity. We do those things, and, again, we'll debate at some point. Let's do this as we get out of here for this one. I want you to start to think of when we think about collaboration. AI is a catalyst, not a crutch.

Use AI to accelerate ideation, uncover patterns, and enhance your work, but never lean on it to the point of stifling your creativity. The magic happens when AI and human intelligence intersect, when you take AI generated outputs and use them as stepping stones to deeper, more meaningful insights. The second thing when we're talking about collaboration today, I want you to think about maintain strategic oversight. Again, while AI can assist in processing information and suggest creative elements, you must always retain strategic control. AI lacks context, empathy, and the ability to understand nuanced audience needs.

That's where your expertise is indispensable. AI helps chart the course, but you are the navigator who ensures the journey stays true to your objectives. Last thing I'll say here, foster an iterative loop. Effective collaboration with AI is about embracing an iterative process. Let AI challenge your assumptions, broaden your perspectives, and refine your ideas.

Treat it as a brainstorming partner encouraging you to explore, question, and push boundaries. By all that is holy, if there's anything you take away from this episode, explore, question, and push your boundaries. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the skills that will pay the bills in the future, AI and human collaboration.

How can you not get excited about that? Like so I was trying to come up with, like, what do we call this thing if it's not a tool? It's not always an assistant. Like so I've there was the other collaborative tool, but it's actually a collaborating tool. Like, you don't need somebody on the other side of it.

And, you know, as Niko was describing, you know, the back and forth you might have with it, I think when we look at it as an assistant only, you don't ask it for advice on how to make things better because it's just the assistant. And in those moments, I've only taken one pay like, you know, paint and and drink wine, whatever they're called. You know, I did those one time, and we're doing the painting. And, you know, the the leader comes around and is like, hey. Maybe use, brush number 2 instead of number 1 for that thing you're trying to do there.

Right? That's what we're talking about when we're saying we can ask AI. The fact that it can move so quickly from master to assistant but either way, knowing that you can still be like, no. I'm still gonna use paintbrush number 2.

Yeah.

That's what I feel like doing right now.

By the way so there's a couple of things that I wanna jump in here real quick. 1, when you hire a personal coach, you don't always take your personal coach's advice. Sometimes you do. Sometimes you don't. I've talked about how I wake up as a student, go to sleep as a master.

Understanding that it is multifaceted, it can be a mentor. It can be an assistant. But here's where I get excited, and not to freak anybody out, but when does it become a day where we're talking less about it and understanding more about ourselves? Meaning, the way that I've started to look at this is that as me, the augmented human. I don't wanna freak anybody out, but, like, it's quickly just becoming part of me.

Like, I carry my phone around for the last 10 years. It's become part of me. My assistant, my mentor, my AI intelligence, it's becoming part of me. If I spend time with it every day, like my kids and my wife and my job, it becomes part of me. So when is it just that we have become augmented humans versus we're always talking about it being a tool or a thing?

And that part of me stuff, that's that's science. Like, that's how my brain works. Like, if I identify as this thing, like, I care about it. I need it around. Like, it is a part of, you know, the the happiness structure that I've created, you know, that I identify with.

Like, listen. I was jamming to music and using my augmented superpowers all morning this morning, creating a SEO audit for a client in a rate that I had never been able to do historically. Have I done other SEO audits? Yes. Are they painstakingly like, god, please, let me just have a sledgehammer to the side of yes.

Was this morning different? Yeah. I was happy, and it was going quick. And I was getting shit done because I had this mentor, this assistant, this augmented element, a buddy in the room, if you will. Wake up.

Everything's changing.

It's getting to the point where, like, I I was telling people at inbound and it was funny because I heard someone else say the exact opposite, and I wished I could have gotten 5 minutes with that person because it would have been amazing. I have been telling people and I continue to tell people and whether you want to or not, whether somebody tells you otherwise, that's that's entirely up to you. We've been talking about how people can abstractly do what they want to. But at the end of the day, the best way in which you can interface with any of these models is to treat them like they are another person. We say assistant, but what is an assistant?

If you if you, like I'm I'm one of the the rare people that does this. I remove the mechanical, the electronic aspect of it. I look at GPT as a brain. It's a brain that we're building. Sure.

It doesn't have a body. It can't walk into a room. It can't say it can't wave at you. Fine. But it's still a brain in the making.

Right? So given that that's the case, like, you could still converse with it and it can have a conversation with you. And that being the case, okay, we'll just take it to the next level. What is the context window? The context window is just that.

Every context window is another conversation that you're having with a new assistant, technically. So anytime you start that new conversation, the first thing you need to start with is context. Right? If you're talking to another person and they're your assistant, you just hired an assistant to work for you, don't you need to tell them what their purpose is? Don't you need to tell them the ins and outs of their job?

You you need to what? Do what? Onboard them. How many onboarding things do we have? Like, you have to do the same thing for now.

Right? Very soon, it won't be that same way. But for now, that's the way you wanna approach it. George is 100% right. I've heard people who say don't treat it like a person, don't humanize it because, you know, you're gonna get wrapped up in it or something like that.

I disagree with that entirely. I'm everybody that I've told, you know, talk to it and treat it like a person and interact with it like a person, off and running.

Again, I go back to if you play well with others, if you know how to communicate, if you've historically said please and thank you, you will get more out of AI.

Yep. Yep. Hands down.

And if you communicate successfully, you will get results that you want just like when talking to a human being. So if you are diving into these tools or you're trying them out and you're giving these one sentence prompts with no context that no other human being would would be able to figure out what the hell you want, and you think the output is crap, and you blame the AI, it's time to wake up with AI. Have a great day, everybody.

That's a wrap for this episode of wake up with AI. We hope that you feel a little more inspired, a little more informed, and a whole lot more excited about how AI can augment your life and business. Always remember that this journey is just the beginning and that we are right here with you every step of the way. If you love today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review. You can also connect with us on social media to stay updated with all things AI.

Until next time. Stay curious, stay empowered, and wake up with AI.