Optimums Prime, Eleven Labs, and Creating Experiences
E14

Optimums Prime, Eleven Labs, and Creating Experiences

Intro:

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.

Chris Carolan:

Good morning, LinkedIn, YouTube, your favorite podcast channel, wherever you are listening or watching to this. Welcome to wake up with AI featuring George b Thomas and Niko Lafakis. How you fellas doing today?

Nico Lafakis:

I'm doing really, really good. Yeah. I'm just doing really good. That's

George B. Thomas:

because you get to talk about something new. Every day, it's like something new. Nico gets to talk about it. I'm doing good. I was able to get through about 50% of the last video that was put in our Slack channel about some new stuff.

George B. Thomas:

But, yeah, I'm good. Chris, how are you doing? I don't think we ever, like, turn around and be like, Chris, how are you doing today?

Chris Carolan:

I'm good, man. I'm wondering how Niko is not, like it's been a lot, but I feel like this week, it's like, are you overwhelmed yet, man? Like, you're in charge of picking out which news we talk about? Like, how do you even do that?

Nico Lafakis:

It's it it is really, really difficult, and I know that I touch on stuff. So, like, if you guys if you guys wanna know more about what it is that we go over during the week, then definitely catch the show on Friday where we we dive much deeper into it. But that's yeah. It is very difficult. I'm not gonna lie.

Nico Lafakis:

There's so much stuff that comes out in 24 hours now. I think when we first started this show, I was talking about the fact that news kinda scaled from, you know, semiannually to monthly, and it felt like weekly. And now it's daily. Again, exponential curve. This this is something that, like, should have been sort of expected.

Nico Lafakis:

So I don't know.

George B. Thomas:

It's My biggest fear is, like, little things will get lost. Like, for instance, I know you've got an entire topic. Right? But I'm sitting here going, like, it's really dope that GPT, released a new canvas feature that you can actually see what it changed. It's a small thing, but it's an amazing thing.

George B. Thomas:

See Chris's face? Chris didn't know yet. Like, that's that's the thing.

Chris Carolan:

Like Like, track changes?

George B. Thomas:

Yes. It tracks changes, and you literally see, like, the what is that, like, striped out, like, red version of, like, what it changed? Because maybe there was something important that you wanna go back. Oh, no. No.

George B. Thomas:

No. No. Leave that in. But, yes, remove those. Like, that's a huge little feature that slips under the radar if I don't make it a point to say something before Niko talks about, like, the massively big thing that he wants to talk about today.

George B. Thomas:

Like, that's my fear. I don't know. How do you keep up?

Nico Lafakis:

Well, yeah. Well, that's the thing is, like, even with whatever what I'm gonna end up talking about, it's just the biggest. It's not even the biggest. It's just the thing that got my attention the most in the last 24 hours. So there is a ton of stuff.

Nico Lafakis:

If you guys could see what it looks like when I'm scrolling through, you know, stories, and I'm not even, like, scrolling through stories. These these guys know that I'm just, like, barreling through stuff. Like, I wake up at, you know, 5:45 in the morning, and it's just boom right into the gate with podcasts. As soon as I start making breakfast, I'm reading stuff. As soon as I start making my wife's breakfast, I'm listening and watching videos and then doing more before I get here so that I fully understand.

George B. Thomas:

Clock. I know when it's 6 o'clock because my Slack starts making the Slack noise, and I'm like I didn't have to look over. I'm like, Nico, wake up with AI. That's what's happening right now.

Nico Lafakis:

That repository starts filling up real fast. Absolutely. So yeah. And, I mean, like, to your point, there there are, I guess, what I would call small stories because they're not program relevant and they're not necessarily marketing relevant, but they are super relevant to what's happening in the industry. They're super relevant with the with regards to the development of the technology.

Nico Lafakis:

So it's very, very difficult, but thankfully, 11 Labs made it a little bit easier for me yesterday. If you don't know about 11 Labs, it doesn't surprise me. It is a very niche platform for people who are into audio and they're into, like, audio manipulation and things of that nature. What it is at a glance is a text to well, it started out as the premier text to audio software, then it transitioned into being a voice to voice software. And ever since then, it's expanded quite a bit.

Nico Lafakis:

Now you can use it to do voice overs, you can use it for dubbing, you can use it for audiobooks. So it's literally built in the sense that if you Mhmm. Upload a piece it's almost like notebook. If you uploaded like a piece of work, then you could just sit there and sort of tweak it and play with it until it actually, you know, sounded like yourself or whomever you wanted to, and then it just

George B. Thomas:

does the whole

Nico Lafakis:

book narration for you.

George B. Thomas:

Right? I have ideas.

Nico Lafakis:

I've been messing with 11 Labs almost since it came out. I've done tons and tons of different voices for Friends of Mine. I and I I've swapped them out because you can only have so many at one time before you have to have a higher account, and it's it's a little too expensive to be just messing around with it. But you could see, Morgan Freeman, Matthew McConaughey, even Tony Robbins. Oh, you know what?

Nico Lafakis:

Let me make sure that you guys can hear those.

George B. Thomas:

Those are not the ones that I picked out. When I saw the screen, those are those are not the 2 immediate ones where I was, like, I want to hear that. I have to be honest with you. The the initial response for me was, Snoop Dogg, let's go. And then the secondary was like, wait.

George B. Thomas:

Wait. Wait. Maybe not because Darth Vader's there. Like

Nico Lafakis:

Yeah. It is, it becomes tough to choose. Okay. So, Tony, you gotta be careful if you don't know where you're going because you might not get there. Don't smother each other.

Nico Lafakis:

No one can grow in the shade.

George B. Thomas:

Oh, let's go, Snoop. We need to be knocked,

Intro:

which the days never know. A man is not old as long as he is seeking something.

Nico Lafakis:

The good old Don LaFontaine with the eighties action movie. So what I discovered yesterday, I didn't realize was out and it's kinda just messing around and going through all my apps. ElevenLabs now has a conversational AI. And so this is actually like an AI agent that you can build that is not exactly like agent AI, but it is way more like what you were looking at. It's like the custom service customer service agent.

Nico Lafakis:

It's like the sales agent. And so these are audio agents that you can create that take on personas that you can then program them to have. So you can start with, let's say, a math tutor. And so you start out with the type of agent and whether or not you want it to be prompt enabled or server enabled. When this comes, it's gonna be very, very dangerous.

Nico Lafakis:

The agent language, so you can pick what language you want it to speak in. The initial message that it'll tell you when it opens up, and then kind of like custom instructions, a system prompt that you give the agent to help it determine who it is and what the persona is that it's taking on. Now what's very awesome about this is that it also has a knowledge base. What's amazing about the knowledge base is that it is not just file specific. You can have it go to URLs.

Nico Lafakis:

Oh. It can absolutely go to Wikipedia. You can also just put in some text and some context if you need to. So after you load it up, you can then determine which model do you want to use. Well, lookie there.

George B. Thomas:

Oh, 3.5 SONET.

Nico Lafakis:

Then you can determine the temperature. Temperature on a model, if you've never messed with it before, determines not necessarily random, but how strict or loose it stays on topic. I think that's the best way to put it.

George B. Thomas:

So my temperature's, like, super hot where Chris' is maybe not. That's that's a good version of that.

Nico Lafakis:

It's possible. It's possible.

George B. Thomas:

Because I just straight up go off script, like, right now, what I'm doing here. So

Nico Lafakis:

You have a transcriber aspect of it where it can actually process some keywords that that might be used. You can mess with the voice and obviously put your custom voices in there if you want to, but then you can also use default voices that people may have come up with. You can have adjust the text to speech output format so you can basically tell it whether or not you want it to be higher or lower quality. Streaming latency, stability, and similarity relate to the application of the voice to the text or to the incoming voice sample. So it's amount that's basically saying like, okay, can we, you know, make it stream faster or slower?

Nico Lafakis:

Then is it going to allow for inflection is the way I look at stability. So you can allow for inflection by adjusting this lower or adjusting it higher rather or kill it by adjusting it lower, but the higher you go to get greater inflections creates instabilities. Similarity is exactly what it sounds like the closer you get to, to, you know, 1 the more it sounds 1 for 1 like the audio sample, but for that, you really have to make sure that your audio samples are pristine. Otherwise, it will sound extremely monotonous. Some advanced stuff, time out is when, like, hey, if something if you're thinking too long, then just go ahead and time out, go back to the beginning.

Nico Lafakis:

Max conversation direct duration is just the number of seconds, sorry, that the convo can last on its own. Analysis, if you wanted to do any sort of data collection or evaluation. And then this is where I found it the most interesting because you can actually deploy it as a widget that somebody can go interact with, and it would look like this on that page. So I

George B. Thomas:

can can put it on my website, and I can have my website URLs be the knowledge base. And I could literally have snoopdawg on sidekickstrategies.com. Okay. Yep. I just ruined my you just ruined my entire weekend.

George B. Thomas:

My entire weekend is gone.

Nico Lafakis:

At the level I'm at, I think it's $5 a month. Oh my god. Yeah. How can we what?

Chris Carolan:

I can't even, like, because what you're just

George B. Thomas:

asking looking for, Chris, is Wake up. Those are the words you're looking for.

Chris Carolan:

Exactly. And not just, like, users. Right? People building apps that think they have a niche that they can just get super specific like the days of old. And what comes to mind is I had synthflow.ai.

Chris Carolan:

It's a new app. You know, they're focused on the HubSpot ecosystem right now that's doing what what Niko just described, automated AI agents. And I feel like I just wanna tell that group people, like, if you're a point solution, like, you use case AI app builder right now, don't. Like, stop Because I don't know how you can compete with the bigger players in the game like this where if functionally like, so the functionality of just having an, you know, an AI voice conversation in this case is or creating AI voice was just one step away from this bot, this conversational AI. So if you come in if you're coming in and you're just trying to build the bot, how do you compete with $5 a month?

Chris Carolan:

You can't.

Nico Lafakis:

That's the way I see it. I mean, like, I can deploy each one of these individually right now, and it's a much better, cleaner, nicer interface that I have way more control. You have no idea how many clients I've had in the past who say, I would love this, but I need to be able to put the person's image in there

George B. Thomas:

Yeah.

Nico Lafakis:

Who's gonna be taking the call, or it needs to be more personalized in some way.

George B. Thomas:

I guess my question is, like, the my immediate thing is, how good is it? Right? Like, it says, hi. Let's get started. Like, let's take a call.

George B. Thomas:

But, like, can I just have a call and just have a random conversation, and it's gonna be able to actually carry on that conversation with me?

Nico Lafakis:

Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Wow. I I hope this works.

Nico Lafakis:

I'm not sure how, like, interrupted it might get, or hopefully it picks up the mic because I don't know if Riverside has total control, but let's see.

George B. Thomas:

We're testing it, people.

Intro:

Greetings, human. I am Optimus Prime. How can I be of assistance to you?

Nico Lafakis:

Hey, Optimus. I was wondering if you could tell me, what is your mission here on Earth?

Intro:

Of utmost importance, and I am grateful for your interest. We Autobots came to your planet to protect it and its inhabitants from the threat of the Decepticons. Our primary objectives are, 1, to safeguard humanity and all Okay.

Nico Lafakis:

Okay, Optimus. Totally. That's cool. Can you tell me who are the top Autobots that you work with?

George B. Thomas:

Oh, you interrupted it. Oh.

Intro:

Certainly. I am proud to serve alongside a dedicated team of Autobots, each bringing unique skills and unwavering courage to our cause. Some of my most trusted comrades include 1, Bumblebee, our triple scout and one of our most versatile warriors. 2, Ratchet, our skilled medical officer and a brilliant scientist. 3, Ironhide, our weapons specialist known for his toughness and firepower.

Nico Lafakis:

Okay, Prime. Okay. Thanks so much. I'll talk to you later.

Intro:

I understand, and I appreciate your time. Remember, freedom is the right of all sentient beings. Until we meet again, stay vigilant and keep the strength of the human spirit. Autobots, roll out.

George B. Thomas:

Let's go. Stop it. I mean, just just so there, like, there is a little delay, but my brain immediately goes to, but this is the worst it'll ever be.

Nico Lafakis:

No. I I I wanna defend Prime, and I just wanna say he is connected to all, like, the most massive wikis for transformers. Oh. So when you ask him a question, he is really having to dig. What I'd like to do though Oh, my gosh.

Nico Lafakis:

As a little test. That was 35 slanted. So I'd like to see what Gemini, like, the fast versions of the models are and see if they actually Interesting. Quicker.

Chris Carolan:

So in that time, he's accessing that knowledge to formulate his response. The answer.

George B. Thomas:

Yep. Wow. So it seems like it's long, but it's actually not long if you think about what's happening behind the scenes.

Intro:

How can I be of assistance to you?

Nico Lafakis:

Hey, Prime. How fast is your response time now?

Intro:

My response time is constantly improving, but it varies depending on the complexity of your request and the current load on the system. I strive to provide you with swift and accurate answers till all are one. Autobots roll out.

George B. Thomas:

Yeah. That's pretty dang dope, bro. And it was faster when you switched the model.

Nico Lafakis:

Yeah. So that's I I'd love everybody to take notice of that that we went from Claude, which is Claude 35 Sonnet, which is pretty fast. Like, we could use 3 Haiku, and it's probably gonna be super fast. Actually, the they've got a 3.5 Haiku now. Sick.

Nico Lafakis:

So it's really nice. Actually, I think 35 Turbo, right, would be, like, the fastest out of all of them because it's the smallest model. Too large for the agent selected model. Definitely want people to notice that, like, there's a huge difference between a model that takes a little bit of time to reason through an answer versus a model that is just, you know, trying to hunt down the answer as quickly as it can. You know, the the Trump model doesn't have anything behind it knowledge base wise, so it only has its system prompt and it uses 4 0 Mini, so the responses are actually extremely fast.

Nico Lafakis:

But the only reason, everybody that's watching, that this model exists is because I wanted to show how very dangerous this can get at the same time. So it's very easy.

AI Donald:

Hey there. I'm Donald. What do you want? I'm busy. Very busy.

AI Donald:

Super busy guy.

Nico Lafakis:

Hey, Donald. Was wondering, what's your latest outlook on the race with you and Kamala? I mean, you're at, like, 45%, and she's at, like, 52, so I'm not sure that you're gonna win.

AI Donald:

Well, folks, let me tell you. Polls can be tricky, very tricky. Everybody knows they change all the time. Believe me, I have tremendous support out there. People love

Nico Lafakis:

I'm not gonna keep going with that stuff, but you guys get the point. Yeah. While I think that it's really, really super cool, and I think that it's amazingly disruptive to things like, oh, I don't know, Salesforce, HubSpot, CRM services trying to use calling bots. I think that it also has seriously great potential for harm just in its existence.

George B. Thomas:

Which, by the way, is a great tie in to the day's skill of the day. Because, listen, today's skill that pays the bill, it's a biggie. It's AI enhanced cybersecurity. Listen. Cyber threats are evolving at lightning speed, and the truth is that traditional defenses can't keep up anymore.

George B. Thomas:

As you've been listening or seeing on this podcast, everything's changing and it's time to wake up. Well, that's where AI steps in offering real time protection that's smarter, faster, and always on even when we humans have to sleep. Imagine your network as a busy highway with data zipping around in every direction. AI tools like traffic cops, though, watching the flow 247, instantly flagging anything that looks off from unusual logins to sudden spikes in activity. But they don't just raise red flags.

George B. Thomas:

AI takes action immediately, locking down access or isolating threats before they become full blown crisis. That kind of speed and precision is a game changer for stopping attacks before they can do any real damage, but AI doesn't stop at reacting. It's also preventing issues before they happen. It constantly scans for vulnerabilities, outdated software, insecure access points. You name it.

George B. Thomas:

Think of it as an automated security expert working around the clock to keep your business safe by patching up weak spots before they become problems. The best part, tools like Darktrace or CrowdStrike do the heavy lifting for you. They're not sponsored, but give us a call. You don't need to be a tech wizard once they're set up. They learn and adapt, getting better at spotting threats over time.

George B. Thomas:

So let's hit the highlights. AI monitors and reacts in real time. It spots and neutralizes threats faster than any human could, keeping your data secure 247. It's proactive, not just reactive. AI finds vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them, helping you stay ahead of the risks, And no deep tech knowledge needed.

George B. Thomas:

Thank god. I might actually be able to use these tools. These tools are user friendly so anyone can automate and enhance their cybersecurity with ease. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the skill that pays the bills for today's episode. See how it tied that in?

Chris Carolan:

Thank you, George. Thank you. On the other side of that, awareness is one of the only ways you'll be able to keep yourself secure. And as I think, like, further for me as I try to always qualify or validate my thoughts against what I'm seeing, like, this future of if it's not show and tell and you don't have a previous relationship with the entity on the other side of the phone video, whatever. It's gonna be very hot.

Chris Carolan:

Like, trust is everything. And if there's any sense, I don't I don't want to take any unknown calls, like, anymore. So if I'm not expecting it, even if it even if I do pick it up and it just maybe says everything I could ever want it to say. I guess the question is, like, do I care if it's not a human being on the other side? But also, like, what happened to lead to this just picture perfect call coming my way that like there's just so many questions.

Nico Lafakis:

I'm like my initial one is will you know? Will you even know when you pick up the phone that it's not a person?

Chris Carolan:

Well, that's what I'm saying like I won't. So if I know that it's prevalent, I will automatically assume it's either not or I don't know and then that's where the decision process starts. Like maybe I build trust that I don't really care and it's okay to receive these calls, but just there's gonna be like, I I'm much more open than most people I know when it comes to AI, similar to to how the email channel has just been just getting crushed. I think the curve of ruining credibility of the channel happens faster than AI getting good enough to trust in the channel. Yeah.

Chris Carolan:

Right?

George B. Thomas:

But but that's because of humans and what we call good actors and bad actors. It's because people will try to hit the easy button instead of taking the time to make it amazing. And, you know, it's funny, Chris, when I hear you talking, the Edgar Allen Poe quote comes to mind of believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see. I I think we're actually moving in a world of believe nothing that you hear and believe nothing that you see, like, because it all could be the great and powerful Oz. Like Yeah.

George B. Thomas:

And that's where I'd be Debbie Downer.

Chris Carolan:

I'd rather rather hear, like, just right off the bat, hey. This is an AI giving you a call.

George B. Thomas:

Well, listen. When when chatbots became a thing, one of the things that HubSpot, HubSpot Academy, and other, like, Drift, they were like, don't try to make it look like a human. Like, make them know that it is a, you know, a bot that they're interacting with. Same applies here. Don't try to be slick willy about it.

George B. Thomas:

Just be honest. Like, hey. We're scaling by using technology because, by the way, then I, as a human, have grace when it f's up. But if you tried to put a, you know, sneaky sneaky on me, then I'm a be like, no. It serves you right.

George B. Thomas:

Ding dong. Why'd you do that? In the nicest way possible.

Chris Carolan:

Because I I'll have no problem taking a call from Matthew McConaughey and, you know, getting able to chat.

George B. Thomas:

Alright. Alright. Alright. Yeah.

Chris Carolan:

But that's where it's like if you're trying to do silly things, like, try to, like, pick up on it being from him and, like, the caller ID shows up as him and, like, those are the things where clearly you're pretending at that point, and that's the kind of stuff that can cause, you know, a lot of damage because there's a lot of trusting people out there that, like, soon as you hit that level of fame, like, oh, I don't even care. Like, I'm not asking any questions about this. For some reason, I got lucky today, and I'm talking to this actual person. It's like, yeah.

George B. Thomas:

My brain is going on the other side because I like, as a creative, I go, how dope would it be though to have, like, psychicstrategy.comforward/, you know, snoop? And people just know that they can go ask about agency services or whatever it is and interact with Snoop Dogg and fully know that it's just fake as the information's real information, but it's like, in a creative way, you're like, here, pick the way that you wanna learn about x y z company. And then all of a sudden, you're like, oh, well, I really like James Earl Jones. Let me, you know, learn that way. I I just think that gets really interesting.

George B. Thomas:

Like, especially if you think about reading the like, that's the thing. Like, I can't wait till HubSpot's, like, narration piece. You can tie any voice into that. And all of a sudden, who do you want to read your bedtime blog to you?

Intro:

James, you're

George B. Thomas:

in a land for you know, like, it's like

Chris Carolan:

Yeah. I mean, that's like, a copy infringement, a copyright infringement, and trademarking. Like, that structure, I feel like just has to go out the window.

Nico Lafakis:

Well, no. Right? Like, that becomes where Hollywood was super concerned about where things were going. Right? And people copying their likenesses and all that kind of stuff.

Nico Lafakis:

This is how that evolves. Right? So this is how it evolves beyond the screen to the point where and this this sounds weird. I know a lot of you out there probably haven't been thinking about it this way. Maybe you have.

Nico Lafakis:

I don't know. And I don't know how this works going into the future either. But, like, 0 cost production affects everything. So there's nothing it's not gonna touch. As part of that, 0 cost production Hollywood looks like RDJ never sets foot on set because he's just completely replicated anyway, digitally.

Nico Lafakis:

His voice is 100% replicated anyway, digitally, and he's just sitting at home.

George B. Thomas:

Have you seen the interview with Keanu Reeves that is very much about this conversation where, like, creating a version of himself that the studio had.

Nico Lafakis:

Oh, was this for, cyberpunk?

George B. Thomas:

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It's Yeah. Enlightening.

Nico Lafakis:

I think Scarlett Johansson did the same thing for Black Widow because there were a lot of, like they're just so that's I I don't know. You know, what happens to stunt people. Right? Live action scenes, maybe. Like right?

Nico Lafakis:

I don't know. Like, you have to have people that are more into traditional methods. I mean, like, you look at, like, Mad Max. Right? Even both versions of it, a lot of it was practical effects for re for a particular reason, for a good reason.

Nico Lafakis:

So that you could actually be there with the camera to be able to get those shots and be able to do that kind of stuff. As opposed to, you know, huge Marvel action movie where you're not close to anything really. And as long as the character's moving on screen and doing the thing that you expect them to do, it's all good. So long and short of it is, you know, as per usual, if you guys are still not, like, not getting into it, if you're still, like, this stuff is blowing your mind and you're not really, you know, wondering, you're just a hard time wrapping your head around all of this stuff. Right?

Nico Lafakis:

And it's it's probably because, you know, you you go to sleep ignoring it, then you need to start waking up with AI.

Intro:

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.

Intro:

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

Creators and Guests

Chris Carolan
Host
Chris Carolan
Chris Carolan is a seasoned expert in digital transformation and emerging technologies, with a passion for AI and its role in reshaping the future of business. His deep knowledge of AI tools and strategies helps businesses optimize their operations and embrace cutting-edge innovations. As a host of Wake Up With AI, Chris brings a practical, no-nonsense approach to understanding how AI can drive success in sales, marketing, and beyond, helping listeners navigate the AI revolution with confidence.
Nick Lafakis
Host
Nick Lafakis
Niko Lafakis is a forward-thinking AI enthusiast with a strong foundation in business transformation and strategy. With experience driving innovation at the intersection of technology and business, Niko brings a wealth of knowledge about leveraging AI to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency. His passion for AI as a force multiplier makes him an essential voice on Wake Up With AI, where he shares insights on how AI is reshaping industries and empowering individuals to work smarter, not harder.