🤝 End-of-Life Planning for My Loved Ones
Dear curious minds,
The year 2023 is approaching its final days, and today’s capabilities of generative AI are far beyond any expectations. It has been difficult to keep up, and this newsletter can only highlight a small portion of all the releases and implications. Nevertheless, I aimed to provide valuable insights with every new issue and will strive to continue doing so in 2024. Wishing you all a nice holiday season and a peaceful transition into the new year.
In this week's issue, I bring to you the following topics:
Evolving Art and Legal Frontiers: Midjourney V6's Leap into Photorealistic AI
A Recap of Generative AI in 2023
Learn AI Skills for Free in 100 Bite-Sized Lessons
My Journey in End-of-Life Planning for My Loved Ones
If nothing sparks your interest, feel free to move on, otherwise, let us dive in!
🎨🚀 Evolving Art and Legal Frontiers: Midjourney V6's Leap into Photorealistic AI
On December 21st, Midjourney released v6 of their image generation AI.
This version can create complex images with photorealistic quality and can finally integrate text into images with realistic letter placement. Unlike some AI models that shy away from creating images of real people, Midjourney v6 does not have such limitations.
Images generated with v6 shared in the general image gen channel on the Midjourney Discord
In terms of accessibility, Midjourney v6, like its predecessors, is available through Discord. Subscribers can access the bot and command it to create images via text input. Additionally, Midjourney has begun offering a web version for its most prolific users, those who have generated over 10,000 pictures, which provides more flexible settings adjustments.
Reid Southen, film concept artist and illustrator, showed on various 𝕏 posts that generated images from Midjourney v6 can be nearly identical to actual movie scenes. After sharing these insights on 𝕏, his Midjourney account was deleted and Midjourney added a phrase to their terms of service which states that usage which violates intellectual property of others may lead to legal actions and bans.
Example showing how close Midjourney v6 is to a famous movie. [source] My take: Midjourney v6 marks a significant step in AI's journey towards creating realistic and complex images, offering exciting possibilities for artists, designers, and content creators.
While the generated images are clearly beyond anything we had before, it's crucial to remember that the legal landscape is still catching up with these technological leaps. Lawsuits and debates around the use of data without consent are already surfacing, pointing to the complex relationship between innovation and regulation.
Yet, in this fast-paced domain, we might see Midjourney v7 or even further iterations before any substantial legal judgments are passed. This pace of development suggests a future where technology continually outstrips current legal frameworks, posing ongoing challenges for creators, users, and legislators. As we navigate this terrain, it's essential to stay informed and conscientious about the implications of these powerful tools.
🤖📈 A Recap of Generative AI in 2023
The Everypixel Journal published a blog article that neatly summarizes the major AI events over the past year.
It discusses AI releases, improvements made, important legal issues and debates sparked by AI's advancements.
Major AI releases in 2023. [source] My take: It's a great read if you want the rundown on the key AI developments of the last year.
📚👩💻 Learn AI Skills for Free in 100 Bite-Sized Lessons
The next round of the 100DaysOfAI challenge is about to start. Get a short 30-minute lesson in your inbox every day starting January 1st.
It has 3 rules:
1. Publicly commit.
2. Learn AI for at least 30 mins a day.
3. Share your progress.
You will learn new ways to use and leverage AI and understand what AI means for our future.
My take: After completing my own 100 days of AI challenge in 2023, where I evaluated and shared one AI tool per day on Twitter and LinkedIn, I was inspired to start this newsletter. That challenge marked the genesis of my journey as an AI content creator and educator.
Now, as busy as life can be, I believe carving out 30 minutes per day is a smart investment to deepen one's understanding of AI. With positive feedback from one of my followers about a past iteration of this free course, I signed up and encourage you to do the same.
💌💼 My Journey in End-of-Life Planning for My Loved Ones
Recently, an incident within my extended social circle – the sudden death of a husband and father – prompted me to think deeply about my own preparedness for life's unpredictable turns. This reflection led me to a profound realization: in the event of my unexpected absence, my loved ones would be in trouble not only emotionally, but also practically.
To address this, I channeled my enthusiasm for Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) into creating a comprehensive guide for my family. Using Logseq, my local notes tool, I've begun to compile critical knowledge including financial information, insurance details, ongoing subscriptions, and even deeply personal elements like my will, organ donation intentions, and funeral preferences.
The topics above are by far incomplete, and I have the fear of missing something critical. There is no guarantee that I will cover everything, but chatting with an AI about this topic helped me to discover some aspects I likely would have missed.
This task, while emotionally challenging, feels essential. It's a blend of clarity and compassion, ensuring that my family won't be burdened with guesswork during a time of grief. However, I also recognize the sensitivity of this information. My plan is to grant full access to this file only in the event of my passing, safeguarding some details until then.
I share this journey with you not just as a reflection but as a call to action. Have you ever considered how well-prepared you are for such unforeseen events? It's a difficult, often uncomfortable topic, yet one of immense importance.
If you're interested, I'm more than willing to delve deeper into the specifics of what I've done and how you might undertake a similar project. It's about facing our deepest fears and taking proactive steps to ease the burden on those we love.
❓🤔 Mind Bender
Which key components you would include in your end-of-life plan?
Think about the prompt and identify what your answer to this question is. If you are curious what GPT-4 replies to this prompt, take a look here. If you are willing to share your thoughts, send me a mail to feedback@aidfulai.com. I would love to hear from you!
Disclaimer: This newsletter is written with the aid of AI. I use AI as an assistant to generate and optimize the text. However, the amount of AI used varies depending on the topic and the content. I always curate and edit the text myself to ensure quality and accuracy. The opinions and views expressed in this newsletter are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the sources or the AI models.
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