Here is what we have been into recently,
AI replacing designers/illustrators? Last week we explored how AI is disrupting parts of the sales value chain. This week it’s about illustrators and how recent technology can automate some of their capability. This is mainly driven by continuous advances driven by Open AI, an AI research & development group. In their most recent release, Dall-E 2, Open AI created a natural language based AI system that can generate images based on natural language based input. In a nutshell, you can describe what you want and the AI engine draws it for you. This goes from the description of the image to the style of the image. It also gives you multiple options of the result. It’s like Google Image Search but instead of finding an image close to what you are looking for it creates it for you! In the past we talked about Blush Design. It’s another tool that allows for non-designers to create design based on templates. That one is not AI based but when you start putting these pieces together it’s easy to see a future where a lay person (like the author) can create their own basic designs. This reminded me of a tweet from one of the founders of OpenAI. In that tweet Sam Altman talks about how AI was expected to disrupt the low end of the labour pool (think cleaner robots replacing human cleaners), instead we are seeing distruption at the higher skill based end of the spectrum (AI automating sales, design, medical diagnosis, beating Go champions …). Here is what Dall-E 2 looks like in practice:
Starbucks has become the latest in an increasing number of companies to use NFTs in their marketing in an attempt to create new revenue streams, to reach a wider audience by increasing brand awareness and to gain new consumers. The companies come from a wide range of industries including fashion, cosmetics and food but they all have in common the desire to broaden their marketing approaches by harnessing the potential of NFTs to create a whole new audience for their brands. You can read about some of the most innovative recent strategies here. In each case, companies want to become involved in the NFT business, through different approaches, as they see huge potential to create new revenue and to create awareness of their brands with a new demographic.
One consequence of the ever increasing connectivity in today’s globalized, ultra connected world is the backlash towards this integration, the yearning for a more private and unique world and a nostalgia for simpler times. One of the ways this backlash is manifesting itself is with the recent increase in the sales of older and simpler mobile phones called ‘dumbphones’ or ‘brickphones’. Driven by a desire for less connectivity, more personal space, less consumerism and a healthy dose of nostalgia, old fashioned cell phones such as the Nokia 3310 or more modern takes on these older models are enjoying a revival. These phones are much cheaper, more durable, have more battery life and fulfil the basic functions of a phone but they don’t completely overwhelm the owner with the need to constantly check email, news or media and there isn’t a constant barrage of notifications. What’s also interesting is that the majority of buyers are in a younger demographic who have grown up with the internet and new technologies.
Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York won the right to form the first union in the company’s history. Led by Chris Smalls; a worker who had been made redundant, and who had been described in unflattering terms by Amazon execs, the workers won the right to form the first union in Amazon’s history.
Amazon has appealed against the court decision and there is still a long way to go but this might be the first of many such unions in the US and could be a symptom of a much larger movement. The pandemic has highlighted the precarious situation that many contract workers and freelancers have found themselves in and has added renewed momentum to the union movement to protect workers’ rights in several countries including the US and the UK. The insecurity felt by many workers coupled with the perceived power and insensitivity of their employers has added to the momentum.
Book of the Week - Good Strategy / Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. This is one of the best books we came across in defining what strategy is. More importantly what good strategy is. The book argues there is a lot of confusing goals vs. strategy and how goals are used instead of strategy (aka bad strategy). Strategy is defined as ‘… the battle plan for action that is designed upon a unique set of attributes or conditions (kernels) that sets an organization apart from its competitors (leverages) and results in exceptional and sustainable profits.” There is focus on action. There is focus on building on strengths. There is focus on aligning resources behind those strengths. It’s highly practical. It engages with reality and - again - is anchored in taking action.
Enjoy and feel free to share!