393 - 2023. Is This the Year VFX Dies?

It is amazing how far Artificial Intelligence has progressed just in the last year! No one could’ve predicted the speed of this innovation. A lot of artists are now worried about being replaced with machine learning. While AI can automate and speed things up, it is still up to us as artists to know how to use it as an extension of their ability.

Before, we couldn’t talk to computers. We could only program computers via 1’s and 0’s. When GPTs came along, we started communicating with a computer and giving AI commands. AI is also able to read the internet and interpret the data it consumes. It knows that it also has to fail in order to succeed. Eventually, it will perform the task correctly. That alone changes the playing field! 

But what does that mean for artists? We used to think AI would be assigned repetitive tasks. But now AI is able to create art using the style of another artist. Things like that disrupt the industry. It’s a threatening time for a lot of artists. With the advent of Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, DALL-E, ChatGPT, it’s a really exciting time to be alive! All of these models that came out in the past year. As a matter of fact, Stable Diffusion is one a couple of months old (www.allanmckay.com/390)!

Innovation has always been threatening. As humans, we’re naturally fearful of change. No one can predict what’s going to happen. But historically, those who are early adapters of innovation – they win! Those who are fearful get left behind. Which is why it’s important for every artist to continue to evolve. So let’s now be afraid of this new technology but instead embrace it and be on the forefront of it. In other words: ADAPT OR DIE.

In this Podcast, Allan McKay discusses the most recent developments in Artificial Intelligence, the rapid speed of this innovation, how it’s been affecting artists’ jobs – and why it’s important for artists to innovate in order to be on the forefront of this new technology.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/393.