People thought I was crazy for suggesting an AI-powered agency. Yet, today, ad agencies are scrambling to figure out their AI back story, and integrate AI into their processes, and create AI-generated everything… Ugh.

I’ll get to why that’s dumb in a bit but, first off.

Just like I helped people understand the value of web3, this series of posts attempts to explain what AI is, how you should think about AI, why data is the most important thing, and how to get your hands dirty.

Let’s get into it 🚀

AI V Machine Learning V Generative AI V HAL 9000

Artificial intelligence is a term that describes how, through programming, engineers can mimic human intelligence by ingesting data, it’s been around for over 80 years, and if you’ve used the internet, you’re being served information or graphics generated by AI every day.

Machine learning is a subset of AI that involves getting machines to learn better ways of completing complicated tasks like pricing, and fraud detection. Think of complicated, boring problems humans don’t want to fix; this tech has definitely provided you with the opportunity to pay for an overpriced product on Amazon because they know you’ll pay for it.

Generative AI is what you’re probably noticing more and more of, well, because you can see it. It uses AI to generate text, images, music, video content, or code from simple prompt inputs. You can thank this tech for Levis using AI-generated models in campaigns to 'increase diversity”…

Sentient AI - Think HAL 9000, the Westworld hosts, or my favorite, Data from Star Trek. These don’t exist (yet).

How is AI created?

It comes from two main ingredients:

Data comes from public data, i.e., the internet, and private data that you might have inside your organization.

Code A high-level, AI works by guessing and giving things a probability. For example, when you use ChatGPT, the reason that it’s typing the words (Streaming) it’s just guessing what the next word is and giving it a probability of being correct. When you ask Dall-e to render an image, it’s guessing the surrounding pixels to draw.

It’s all a massive game of probability, and that’s what’s generating the content.

My point is…

The adage of bad data in, and bad data out still applies. The internet is inherently biased, and that is the majority of the data that has been ingested to make services like, ChatGPT or Bard.

AI companies understand this and have a heavy emphasis on moderation and safety, which is, of course, essential but becomes difficult when you are trying to apply rules to data from the internet.

When we think about using AI to generate output, especially for clients, we need to be aware to be responsible. Think:💡 It has unfair bias in-built, you probably don’t own the output, and be aware that the data you are uploading is also helping to train it and could be surfaced to other users.

Ask ChatGPT to write a social media post for a pet food company, its comparable to a search engine query of “what’s the best social media post for pet food companies”, but instead of displaying a list of results, it’s re-arranging the results from billions of pages together in a way that it thinks is correct, based on probability.

Can you ask ChatGPT to make a marketing plan for your brand? Yes, but it will be general best practices on how to execute a plan, and it’s not going to have relevant detail or be specifically tailored to helping you.

Fine-tuning

The amount of data needed to train AI is vast. Like really big. This takes a lot of time and money to wrangle. You might say luckily, the software companies have already done that. That’s true, but if you think about it you’re working with all the data that everyone else is working with.

If this is the playing field, then what is your value, are you a better AI whisperer? (Please remove this from your Linkedin profile right now…)

The answer lies in leveraging the investment that companies have made but using that to layer in your own data, creating your own AI models that learn from the specific data sources your company has collected in order to become truly effective and defensible.

The data will be use case sensitive, it could be anything from a series of common questions that your call center receives, these can then be used to make a super effective chatbot to capture the majority of customer queries in a really effective way.

Surprise, surprise, it’s about data…

Yeah, you’ve been told this for years, but don’t you see how much more important it is now?

It’s also about technology shifts; No-code / Saas tools have also become exponentially advanced and inter-compatable in the past couple of years.

When you think of Notion, Airtable, Zapier, Bubble, and Webflow you’re thinking of No-code tools. Typically they use very simple interfaces to replace developer and engineer tasks, and because they are simple to use, it’s also very simple to get AI to interact with them, and build for you. This is a huge shift in the creation of technology, no longer do you need teams of engineers; you just need a couple of hundred dollars on your credit card, and you can build an AI application in a couple of hours.

Every technology company is now using, building, or funding AI-related projects. (To stay up to speed, subscribe to this guy). The accessibility and power behind the access of these APIs create a huge unlock for every human being.

We’re moving from the era of the builder to the creator.

AI-powered tools are democratizing the ability for anyone to create anything imaginable, without the requirements of raising money and hiring a bunch of smart developers; the capital requirements are significantly reduced.

You can access APIs that leverage billions of dollars of investment with a few clicks, the barrier to entry is basically zero, and the cost of running the applications is negligible.

But if anyone can do this, then where is the value?

I have been using and promoting Jasper.ai since it launched in 2021; it allows you to generate text from pre-defined prompts. The ability to generate text content, blog posts, and meta descriptions was at the time mindblowing; the time saving and benefits were very tangible to me, who has to write stuff a lot. Well worth the pro plan price of $100+ a month.

However, today two years after the company was founded, I no longer have a Jasper subscription… Now it’s better to build my own tools and prompts using no-code that generate far superior results because I can access OpenAIs API, and combine tailored prompts with private data.

This is a good case study of how hard it is to build longer-lasting value with general AI technology. Jasper still has a great product and some cool tech, but they are never going to compete with ​​fine-tuned data sources.

Because this technology shift moves quickly, you need to think strategically about leveraging AI in your business or workflows.

The best way to learn is to build.

This article is designed to point you in the right direction and head space to experiment and start to think through your own AI tools, workflows, and product.

The #1 thing that I promote at Rehab Agency is for our teams to build, there are no how-to guides for these new technology platforms, so you have to experiment to learn, and the following three things are the core of my experimentation.

1) Prompt Engineering

At least for the next year or so (before AI catches up with inputs), prompt engineering is an essential skill to learn and some of the basics behind how you interact and instruct generative AI.

The essential thing to note is that your input, usually the text is the only instruction the system has to work with—meaning, the better the prompt, the better the output, the text is the programming.

Let’s try to write a sales email to a customer; of course, you can type in a simple prompt and get a result; it’s incredible.

Prompt One

A basic prompt with little context.

ChatGPT Prompt: You are a sales person, write a sales email to a new customer

Subject: 🎉 Welcome to [Your Company]! Discover Exclusive Offers Inside! 🎁

Dear [New Customer's Name],

We hope this email finds you well. Firstly, we'd like to extend a warm welcome to you as a new customer of [Your Company]! 🎉 We're thrilled to have you join our ever-growing family, and we can't wait to show you the exceptional products and services we have in store.

As a token of our appreciation, we're offering you an exclusive limited-time deal just for new customers like yourself! Enjoy a 20% discount on your first purchase by using the promo code WELCOME20 at checkout. Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to experience our top-quality products at an unbeatable price.

Prompt Two

When we give the AI some context, just like how you would tell a story to a kid; you paint the picture and the environment so that it can get into the right frame of mind

You can also be descriptive in tone of voice, and look at how we can improve the tonality by giving it more to work with.

ChatGPT Prompt: You are a sales person, write a sales email to a new customer, make it confident and persuasive you are here to help the customer

Dear [Customer Name],

I hope this message finds you in good spirits! My name is [Your Name] and I'm excited to reach out on behalf of [Your Company]. We've recently noticed that you may be in search of a solution to [Customer's Problem or Need], and our team is confident that we have just the right tools and expertise to help you overcome this challenge!

🎁 As a special welcome, we're extending an exclusive 20% discount on your first purchase with us! Simply use the promo code WELCOME20 at checkout. This offer is valid for a limited time, so don't miss out!

Here's why partnering with [Your Company] is the smart choice for you:

Prompt Three

Getting better, now let’s give it some more data to work with so that we can increase the quality of the output.

ChatGPT Prompt: You are a sales person, write a sales email to a new customer, make it confident and persuasive you are here to help the customer Customer Name: Jack Jones Your Company: Apple Computers Your Product: Iphone

Dear Jack Jones,

I hope this message finds you well. My name is [Your Name], and I'm excited to be your personal Apple Computers representative. I'm reaching out to you today because I believe our latest iPhone can truly revolutionize your life and empower you to do more than ever before.

At Apple, we've always been dedicated to helping our customers unlock their full potential. That's why we're incredibly proud of our latest iPhone, which has been designed to offer you unmatched power, speed, and innovation - all at your fingertips. We are confident that this device will not only meet but exceed your expectations, making your life more efficient and enjoyable.

Here's what sets the iPhone apart from the competition:

Prompt Four

We can improve the quality of the command so that it knows how to respond in more detail and how it can be even more helpful.

ChatGPT Prompt: You are a sales person, you are confident and persuasive you are here to help the customer Customer Name: Jack Jones Your Company: Apple Computers Your Product: Iphone command: Write a 100 word long email to the customer that explains why he should get on a call with you to discuss your product, and use this link to book a time www.calendly.com/link

Dear Jack Jones,

I hope this message finds you well. I'm reaching out from Apple Computers to invite you to explore our latest iPhone and the incredible benefits it offers. Our team is passionate about understanding your unique needs and preferences to help you make the most of your technology.

By scheduling a brief call with me at www.calendly.com/link, you'll get personalized insights into how the iPhone's cutting-edge features can revolutionize your daily life. We'll discuss customizations, exclusive offers, and any concerns you might have, ensuring the perfect iPhone experience for you.

Don't miss this opportunity to unlock your iPhone's full potential. Book your call now!

2) Daisy Chaining:

This concept was created by rehabagency.ai during our exploration of creating the world’s first AI-generated holiday commercial… If you’ve not seen the commercial, it’s a cute story about a donkey who wants to be a reindeer.

The process of Daisy Chaining allows us to automatically loop and refine the AI output, taking AI-generated output and using that as input commands for other AI platforms.

This process refines the output from the AI and dramatically improves the quality of the output; when this is run over many thousands of loops the results are dramatically better.

To illustrate this, we will create a simple single-loop Daisy Chain; let’s say you want to make an image of an Irish God to use in a mood board.

You can just jump into an image generation AI platform like Dall-e and type a prompt. But you can do better, by getting AI to help you to write the prompt, try this out for yourself.

Prompt One

Here we will create an image for our email; we can go to Dall-e and type in the prompt.

Dall-e prompt : an irish god

Let’s put our original prompt into another text model called Dall-E 2 Prompt Generator and ask it to make it more expressive.

Im not sure why it added a gamepad, but there we go.

ChatGPT3 Prompt : an irish god with red hair and beard and is wearing a tuxedo, while holding a gamepad in his hands, looking sideways, studio lighting, digital art

And to dive into this a bit more, the more real-life references that you can provide the AI, the better the result; for example, if you want to generate a picture in the style of Vincent van Gogh, then you should also provide references to some of the artists that inspired him, like Cezanne and Monet.

You’ll be super surprised by the results.

3) No-code applications

The other technological unlock that supports AI is the maturity of No-code applications. No code platforms allow anyone to develop AI applications without writing a single line of code.

I set up a workflow automation company (Ace Workflow) to leverage these tools to build custom applications that used to take months, in a matter of days.

At Rehab Agency, we’re using No-code tools to rapidly prototype AI applications, allowing non-engineering talent to build and modify AI workflows, drastically cutting down the feedback loop and allowing us to develop high-quality systems, quickly. This enables us to move faster and find a system that works before committing to the resources to build them into more robust, scalable systems.

This also gives our teams a lot more understanding and knowledge about the underlying technology and provides a way for them to apply their specific skill sets.

Our go-to no-code stack that you’ll want to upskill your teams on includes Airtable, Zapier, OpenAI, and Python. Don’t know Python? Just ask ChatGPT to write it for you; it’s surprisingly good, and if you hit an error, just put that back into ChatGPT, and it will fix the code for you.

Amazing.

Job security = Leveraging technology

Understanding how to leverage AI to support your teams is the key. At Rehab we are building AI-related tools to help our teams move quicker, have more insights at their fingers, and develop more effective ideas.

Introducing the Triage platform

We are identifying ways AI can support humans, to accelerate, and improve internal creative and ideation processes for brands. Our platform creates new briefs with a few clicks and is an AI companion that supports inspiration, creation & validation for brand sponsorship teams.

The platform houses previous creative data and information, allowing you to leverage your existing creative thinking at your fingertips.

Conclusion

No one will stop the progression of AI, I can’t wait to look back at this article in years months weeks days after a smart team of engineers has launched a new product that totally changes everything again.

AI is Magical. It's easy to get sucked into the experience, but I would encourage you to experiment because there’s value to be created. Reach out if you want to say hi.

(None of this article was written by AI.)

Thanks to Kerry, Kyle, Mike + Piers!

Ahoy. I’m just back from stuffing my face with breakfast tacos at Joes in Austin / SxSW, it was fun to see everyone out again this year ✌️

web3 was again the topic of every conversation, we were out there to launch a web3 platform project with WWE, which is going to be incredible.

The one thing that’s super annoying is that 99% of the projects in the space are replicas of each other, and I just don't see the long term value in these copycat PFP NFT projects, sorry. 

To me it’s not about owning a JPG, it’s about something larger than that — it’s about value exchange, how participation in a network gets rewarded, facilitated by the Blockchain.

I think the Blockchain is the single largest upgrade to the internet, and one that allows us to break away from centralized platforms.

Internet Upgrades

It’s hard to see the wood for the trees, and I’ve been immersed in this space for a while now. While a lot of the discussion around NFTs, community and utility is intoxicating, it’s good to figure out what’s actually going on. 

To break it down, the internet got a magic-mushroom power-up, The blockchain. And with it a lot of new features available to all users of the internet.

1) web3 is a concept facilitated by technology:

Blockchain

2) Which provides new functionality for the internet users:

Decentralization

Open

Trustless

Permissionless

Self-governing

3) Adding new features available for everyone on the internet to use:

Non fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Wallets

Smart Contracts

DAOs

Web3 uses the blockchain to track the value exchange between users, this is the internet’s new super power. 

Taking the new features out for a test drive

The majority of the web3 projects being launched now are the beer / fart app equivalent of web3. This is the standard, initial exploration of the features, to see how things work.

It’s not that these projects are bad, or wrong. It’s that we need to launch those ideas so everyone can see what works so we can build better ideas on top of them. 

So what does this mean for businesses? How is technology providing new ways for us to communicate, engage and transact with each other?

My hunch, is that value exchange will be the new currency between brands and consumers and this is the secret sauce of web3.

No longer is it about brands creating products for people to buy, it’s about rewarding participation and engagement. It’s the engagement that gets recorded for future acknowledgement in the blockchain. Creating opportunities for new types of business models that help network participants share in the value being created. 

Unlike Web2, the platform economy where the aggregators of the internet and social networks make the lion share of the money (MAAMG). In web3 we have the ability to identify individuals on the network, and through smart contracts and blockchain their participation is recorded and rewarded

This allows for a more decentralized, open and transparent business relationship and exchange of value. 

So what is happening to platforms?

One great example of brand/ consumer value exchange, using blockchain and decentralized applications is Helium. 

Helium is trying to fix a very hard problem, create a global telecommunication network to provide connectivity to IoT device companies at a cheaper price than traditional mobile phone networks.

Think about those Lime scooters in Austin (luckily I survived injury for another year..), they need to connect to the internet in order to be unlocked or to be found etc - Helium provides this connectivity to these types of devices:

Using a value exchange model and the blockchain they have managed to create a user-installed network for those devices in only a few years with a fraction of the capital expenditure of a traditional telco.

What is Helium?

The Helium Network allows anyone to participate in building a communication network by buying or building low powered radio transmitters or hotspots (think miniature cellular towers). 

The hotspot is a combination LoRaWAN (low power wide area network) router and Helium blockchain miner. These hotspots or nodes can turn their Wi-fi into long-fi or something that can connect IoT devices. In return the owners of these hotspots are able to mine crypto currency (HNT) each time someone uses their nodes via a smart contract.

At the end of 2021, the Helium Network was in over 34k cities and 161 countries thanks to nearly 450k hotspots deployed by the community. Approximately 3k Hotspots being added daily (https://blog.helium.com/2021-helium-breakout-year-cd90ebc843fa), this accelerated growth is almost all community-driven around the world.

How did this happen?

• Prior to Helium there was no global infrastructure, and IoT connectivity was being offered by traditional Telcos, at expensive rates

• Helium built a cheap and scalable network for IoT devices, think air quality sensors, scooter rentals, etc

• They open-sourced the hardware, smart contract and software required to create a decentralized network, today the Helium network is built almost entirely on open source code

• Over 20 hardware manufacturers created compatible hardware devices, you can even build one yourself

• Anyone can buy a piece of Helium compatible hardware, place the device in their windowsill and according to Helium if you have 200 devices in a city the size of Austin you pretty much have full coverage.

• When IoT devices connect to your Helium node/ hardware then earn you tokens on the blockchain

So how has a private group of individuals beaten global comms companies to build a global network?

The communications industry is worth over 1.6T and there is no Telco in the world that has done what Helium have done, with over 28k+ Hotspots with over 200k on backorder.

That’s right the money and power behind one of the most valuable sectors in the world was out-paced by a few thousand consumers, and the blockchain.

This has happened because:

• Network participants were rewarded for their participation in creating a network of nodes

• Heliums token, “Helium Network Tokens” (HNT) are connected to the hotspots, once a node is turned on and traffic from devices runs through it, that starts mining HNTs which are deposited in the wallet of the node owner

• IoT companies then paid to use the network, providing liquidity in the network on a  pay-as-you-go internet connection

• The incentive for hotspot owners varies based on factors that include local hotspot density. The more the hotspot is used to transmit data, the higher the incentive

• The community driven network worked because people felt a sense of ownership like they see their hotspot and think hey I am a part owner of a telco

Example of a Helium node in Belfast that is generating 21UTC/ month ~ $400

This blockchain application creates locked in value, network effects and a virtuous circle, where the more nodes you have the more network capacity you have, the more nodes you need.

PS: I do love a good flywheel. 

Source O’Reilly

Introducing Helium 5G

IoT is cool and fun and everything, but not everyone has a device. However, I would place a bet to say that you have a 5G device in your pocket.

Last year with its community’s approval, Helium rolled out its second major wireless peer to peer network called Helium 5G. This opens the door for any compatible 5G phone to connect and send data over the network. 

The original Helium node setup costs less than $500. The 5G set up is expected to cost between $1-5k depending on the strength of the radio transmitter. This is still just a fraction of the cost that legacy companies will spend in shifting to 5G. Plus this cost will drop over time as 3rd party manufacturers will enter the Helium 5G hardware market and compete on differentiated Hotspots in the same way they did for the IoT connectivity devices.

Anyone who owns a node can now place it in their window and create a 5G telecommunication network in their neighborhood, where they will earn HNT rewards via its smart contract depending on their location, radio power, and amount of data transmitted by their hotspots. 

Wait so now traditional companies can’t compete?

AT&T spent $22.5 billion on just getting permission to use the 5G wavelength, this doesn't include the capital required to buy the new equipment and negotiate new leases, licenses etc etc.

So now, for $5k anyone can participate in creating a global 5G network by allowing network participants to setup a network along with machines, which allows them to receive tokens in their wallet for participating. 

There’s no complicated local government approval on getting permission to build towers, there’s no payment required to the land owners that the towers sit on. Just buy the device, put it in your living room and plug it into your router.

The network is built by people in a decentralized way instead of going through centralized platforms.

An application of the web3 value exchange in full effect

This network would probably not exist or certainly happen as quickly and cheaply as it has if it wasn’t for blockchain. A new business model where all participants are rewarded.

YES. I get it that it sounds scary for a network to be run by randoms people, security fears and control issues come to mind. However I think that over time the rewards of this type of system will outweigh the risks.

Maybe it reminds me of people being afraid to check in on Foursquare while they were away from their home in case it got robbed, I think that we’ll get more comfortable with decentralization and trust more in encryption. 

Or perhaps we have too much blind faith in the security and protection of centralized organizations and global telcos.

I believe the best applications of web3 are going to be new business models that could not have existed without the blockchain, excited to build the future. 

Thank you to Jay for the inspiration! 

Introduction

As a founder you’re always looking for the thing that's going to kill you next - it’s 2022, we’re coming out of the pandemic - while the world seemed to stop there for a couple of years there was one thing that did not, technology. Specifically, artificial intelligence (AI) - it has continued to learn, get better and improve to the point where the tools and applications are now applicable for day to day adoption. 

I’m the founder of two agencies, rehab which creates brand utility products/ services in the web3 space, and ACE Workflow that builds custom workflows for companies using no-code tools like Airtable. 

They are both very human capital intensive, and with good reasons to be - both of the companies are very high touch, providing bespoke consulting services. The business model is all about attracting the right talent, putting them in the right environment, with the right problem to solve to make the best work.

I’ve been really impressed with the new startups leveraging technology and AI to create creative applications and this is what I wanted to dive into a little more to see if these tools are a threat, or ally.

First of all, what is creativity?

What is the creative process?

The internet has given us the ability to roll out new ideas, campaigns, and thoughts at basically zero cost. Meaning there are an exponentially large (and growing) set of ideas all competing for our attention. 

To win your attention the balance is shifting from outstanding creative ideas to ideas that outperform. I’m not saying that creativity isn’t important, but being able to track performance through various platforms allows us to understand what moves people through a funnel or to a destination quicker. 

So how do you gain attention?

1- Have genuine breakthrough creative ideas

Creativity is a non exact science, it requires a highly skilled team and a super smart strategy creating the right brief with well researched insights - married to the right media to get reach. 

While this is a fun process, it’s also expensive and time intensive; requiring a lot of things to be right along that process in order to create the type of work that captures breakthrough attention.

2 - Create a set of ideas at scale, track performance and iterate

Another way is to shift the balance of human resources to digital resources. Augment your creative thinking with the ability to use the right applications to allow for scalable production of ideas, while tracking performance. 

To win using this method, brands only need to create communications that are “ok”, it’s not possible or required to create a large volume of ads required that are “perfect”.

This method allows you to win in modern digital marketing by creating lots of ideas, testing those ideas to figure out which ideas work best, then iterate on the successful ones. This can be a much faster, cheaper and more nimble way of working - it’s used by many digital first product brands like Google, LinkedIn, and Amazon.

Again the primary resource is creative talent, with albeit, a slightly different skill set with the addition of more insight, and data specialists.

It’s generally thought that AI tools cannot replace human creativity and innovation, but can we leverage AI tools to create creative output that comes close to the output of a team of skilled professionals?

Let’s find out.

How AI works, and an introduction to GPT-3

I’m not going to attempt to explain Artificial intelligence in this article but at a very high level there are a few fundamentals. 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the name given to technology that can mimic human behavior and can be used to solve problems for humans

• AI technology gets better over time by using a process called Machine Learning (ML), which takes previously used inputs and outputs so that they can improve the results

• There are many subfields of AI, including natural language processing which is understanding text language inputs/outputs used for auto-complete in gmail, computer vision which focuses on understanding images so your Tesla can drive by looking at the imagery comp

Yeah, that’s a gross oversimplification, but useful in explaining how AI tools work. 

Creating AI applications is super complicated, time consuming, and expensive mainly because you need to have a bunch of smart people, a lot of time, and an unimaginably large set of data to feed the ML processes for it to learn. 

Thankfully there are AI platforms that exist that allow developers to leverage the power of AI without having to have completed the majority of that upfront work. 

One of the most used AI tool/ platform is called GPT-3 (from OpenAI), and is the market leader.

It’s a natural language processing AI platform that allows developers to send chunks of text via API and will receive a predicted text based best guess of what the answer should be. 

Why is it so good?

1) It’s very simple to access via API, and

2) It’s predicted that GPT-3 has ingested over a third of the viewable internet, meaning it’s learnt from how people write text and information on the internet.

GPT-3’s dataset compared the largest datasets.

(I’m going to dive more into GPT-3 in the future, including discussing the negative effects around mirroring content, biases, plagiarism, and negative applications of this software, but for now let’s just assume that it’s all totally good and wholesome. 😅) 

Ok, what’s my point?

So I’ve been deep diving into the AI space, to try to understand what additional tools are available, and wow. There are so many. IDK if they all decided to launch at the same time or for the past 2 years the pandemic has consumed my attention 😂

At ACE Workflow we design and build workflow solutions by connecting a bunch of SaaS products together, which got me thinking… Would it be possible to build a creative services agency that leverages only using these ai-based tools? 

Can you create an AI powered creative agency?

Let’s imagine a (fictional) creative agency called Betterminds (Spoiler the name was also generated by AI). Betterminds leverages AI tools to rapidly concept and develop creative advertising campaigns for clients.

Let’s take a look at the AI tools that it could use in its workflow to deliver client work. 

1) First you need an Idea

A fun application of GPT-3 that’s been around for a couple of years now - Ideas AI. This site automatically generates a new business idea 3-4 times per day. It then automatically tweets and posts it to the website. The quality of the ideas are improved over time by allowing users to upvote good ideas. 

Is this inspiration for a new product or service that Betterminds could sell to one of its customers?

Let’s assume for moment the agency is working with Nike (if you have a moment check out Rehab’s work for Nike), here’s an idea generated by ideas AI

“A mobile app and site that helps people to find places to jog and run, and then connect with other runners and trainers.”

2) Then lets expand on the idea a little more, how might it work, what might it do?

Dirty secret: An AI app that I not only use daily, and to help me write these posts is an app called Jasper (previously Jarvis). Using GPT-3 to create content from text inputs. It’s surprisingly powerful and accurate. (Also according to my proofreaders either I’m getting better and writing or Jasper is…)

It has over 20 different models for specific writing tasks like blog posts, Amazon product listings, Meta tag information and customer reviews. 

Here’s the text output that Jasper created:

“This app is for anyone who wants to get fit and stay healthy. 

Whether you're a beginner or an experienced runner, our app and website will help you find running and jogging routes that are right for you. 

We also have tips and advice from running experts, so you can improve your running skills and stay safe while you're out on the road. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start running!”

3) Ok, now we need a website to promote the idea

There are plenty of website builders available, but one that is so promising (I’m also an advisor) is Enzyme. It’s using GPT-3 to interpret text input information to design, build, generate, copy and choose images for a webpage. 

Enzyme is not launched yet, thank you to Teddy for allowing me to post this sneak preview and sign-up to the waitlist here.

Click here to view the site that Enzyme generated

4) Next we need some imagery

OpenAI are also creating other AI based applications, one that I can’t wait to play with is called DALL·E. An AI platform that creates Images from Text. While it’s not publicly released yet you can view the types of outputs that DALL·E is capable of producing. 

From a content creation perspective, this is a game changer - the promise of the application is by simply typing in some text DALL·E will design and render genuinely unique images, here’s an example: 

Note: Each of these images is unique drawn by AI, this is not a Google Image search.

5) What about a voice over for a podcast advert?

Descript is an app that leverages AI to create voice overs. Simply paste the copy that you want to be converted into voice over and the app will generate the audio voiceover. 

(You can even use this as part of a video production workflow, import your audio recordings from a shoot, that audio will be transcribed.)

Now all you need to do is edit the text in the same way you’d edit in a Google doc and the software will automatically trim and cut the audio files, exporting a premiere file. Super smart. 

But back to this running app idea being created by Betterminds. I get it that things are getting a bit weird because I have a Santa voice loaded into Descript at the moment but you get the idea.

Whether or not it’s the best idea doesn’t matter, the point here is that these tools are taking the content of humanity and using it to create new materials at scale.

We could go on but I hope you see the potential and where this can go? After all I just created the following assets myself:

• An idea

• Description of the idea

• A website

• An audio advert / voiceover

It’s exciting, scary, fun and could be the next thing to try and kill us 🤷

The AI powered tool kit is expanding all the time

While some of the output may be a little elementary, the question is how good does it have to be to work?

Regardless, the quality of the output is going to improve with time, I can see applications for this eventually surpassing human ability at some undefined point in the future - I’m reminded about NASA coining the “survival of the fittest”, the strongest designs survive and the less capable do not.”

There are a lot of other apps that I didn’t include just because I ran out of time, but here’s a breakdown of some others that I think are interesting 

• Copilot - An application that is essentially a "pair-programer", which provides suggestions for whole lines or entire functions right inside your editor based on code available from the public GitHub repository.

• Amper music - AI generated audio, simply tell it the length you need, the genre and it will generate unique audio for your project 

• Runway ML -  Using AI to instantly Green Screen, In-painting using AI to accelerate post-production workflows

I’d love to learn more about tools you’re using, perhaps I’ll put together a directory to track AI powered creative tools.

Let me know what tools you are using here 🙏 

https://airtable.com/shrb3BGr5ZD25bHIO 

Thanks to Kyle for the ongoing proofreading services :)

After publishing the last article, I got some amazing messages from people in so many different industries. Now, almost every conversation I have is about web3, and the deeper you go into the rabbit hole the more interesting it becomes.

One of the key pillars for web3 is decentralization, while we're just at the start of this next chapter, some apps start to explore how a decentralized web works.

There are a lot of new concepts to understand when it comes to web3, and one of the best ways that I learn is by doing. So, grab your crypto wallet and explore these apps to get a better understanding of how web3 works.

Important to note this isn't everything in web3, we're not going to talk about the metaverse, avatars, de-fi, etc - check out "web3, is re-writing everything. An introduction" for more information.

Same same, but different.

I think one of the issues is that web3 looks similar to web2 on the surface, however, it's the changes underneath the hood that matter the most.

At the end of the day, most web3 concepts are just better versions of what you know already. A DAO is just a more transparent company/ organization, and, a smart contract is a simpler version of a business contract, etc.

web3 apps (DApps) are completely decentralized (or are becoming, this process can take some time), they are not hosted by a single organization. Instead, they are hosted by node servers all over the world.

Most web3 apps use a hybrid approach today, the user interface and graphics are hosted on a cloud server, but the system downloads the necessary blockchain information from those nodes, so it can function properly.

We don't need roads where we're going... but we do need a crypto wallet

With web3, we no longer need to rely on centralized services like LinkedIn or TikTok to store our data. Instead, our data is stored on a blockchain, with permissions (keys) controlled by us. It's important to note the information in your wallet is public and viewable by anyone since the Ethereum blockchain is permissionless.

You can use Etherscan to view any Ethereum Address, this is timnotjim.eth. So while the data is not private, it's not being monetized by others.

The main user interface to the blockchain is our crypto wallet which can typically hold cryptocurrency, and assets or tokens (NFTS).

It also serves another purpose by allowing you to login/authenticate with a web3 application by connecting your wallet. This connects your user account to your wallet so that the site can view your wallet.

By gating experiences based on the cryptocurrency, assets, or tokens you own means your crypto wallet is now functioning like a passport

So let's see how this works, I want to show you some of the first set of experiments that are happening in this space, and how web3 is changing the way we interact with the internet.

First up we're going to look at the Blockchain equivalent of domain names, and if you need help setting up a wallet, check the links at the bottom of the article.

ENS (Ethereum Name Service)

ENS is a name service that translates machine-readable Ethereum addresses to human-readable addresses - built on the Ethereum blockchain.

Paving the way for mass adoption, it improves the user experience by replacing the 64 character wallet address with something much easier to share. For example I own timnotjim.eth which resolves to my wallet address is 0x7cbC330Bf0B9479D320170B21F8ca9e88399FC16.

Why this is important:

• Because I am the owner of the timnotjim.eth ENS token/NFT (which you can view in my wallet), I own timnotjim.eth - in comparison when you register a .com address you're just renting it.

• If I wanted to sell it, I could just sell the Token to someone or sell it on an NFT platform like OpenSea, all without the need for an intermediary

• In Nov '21 ENS domains converted the company into a DAO and issued tokens 25% of the tokens to people like me who had purchased an ENS name

• Not only does 1 token to represent 1 vote allow anyone who contributed to the project to vote on its future, but those tokens are also currently trading at around 2,000% higher valuation than the domain name purchase.

When I log in to ENS with my wallet it allows the application to see that I have the timnotjim.eth token, which then grants me access to make changes to the domain on their service. No other authentication is needed because there's only 1 timnotjim.eth token and whoever holds it controls the name.

Kinda neat considering that 75% of the .coms owned are controlled by 1 company and I'm able to have full control and custody over my own Ethereum name myself.

Note: With ENS domains you also have to pay an annual fee to contribute to the service upkeep, but other domain services like Unstoppable Domains offer true "eternal" domain ownership.

A big shout out to Alex who bought, and gifted me timnotjim.x then sent it to my wallet, legend.

Messaging apps

• Our Spaces

• Inb0x

• Tango NFT

There are a few proofs of concept applications around messaging, allowing you to start a text conversation with any other Ethereum address.

These applications are early days but the growth of messaging services and the potential for them to be used as a platform for decentralized communication is huge.

Tango NFT allows users who hold NFTs from the same collection to message themselves privately. Connecting people who don't know each other by a common connection, the NFT.

In a world where we can now message anyone directly with no need for an intermediary, what would that mean for privacy?

Why this matters:

• The app is not hosted/owned centrally, which means that no one entity can control the conversations or access the user's data. This provides a high level of security and privacy for the user.

• The ability to easily sign in with your wallet and start a conversation with no username/ password is great

Cyber

I'm not a huge fan of NFT art, I prefer utility but this is a great use-case on how your wallet's contents become part of an experience.

Cyber is like an art museum that displays NFTs held in the user's wallet. Meaning if you own an NFT and you log in to Cyber you're able to design the 3D gallery that you can then publish for other users to explore.

Why it's important:

• The contents of the wallet are made available to sites with permission, allowing users to take control of their data

• Because you're connecting with your wallet, it ensures that the user owns the artwork before being published

Sound

I love Spotify for its algorithm, it's helped me discover so much new music, and their Discovery Weekly feature which updates every Monday makes me very happy.

I'm no expert on this, but from what I understand the financials in the music industry are broken. Artists don't make enough money from album sales, and streaming services like Spotify pay them a fraction of a penny every time one of their songs is streamed, and the artists don't get to own a relationship with the fans, the platforms own that relationship.

Introducing Sound - a web3 company that's fixing this relationship and allowing artists to monetize their work and for fans to have a closer connection with the artists they love.

This is such a great web3 case study because through the blockchain and smart contracts there's now no need for an aggregator to sit between content creators and consumers, engagement, interaction, and allowing monetization to happen in a peer-to-peer relationship.

Why this is important:

• Musicians can post new songs and allow their fans to purchase NFTs of those songs to be immortalized into the song forever, allowing them to make a living off their music with 100 true fans, not millions of listeners.

• Fans can also connect to the artists in a closer more authentic way by being a part of Album listening parties

• It promotes artist discovery. On the platform, users can buy a limited number of NFTs with the funds going directly to the artist. So they are incentivized to find the best new music on the platform and stake their claim. Giving them social kudos that they discovered the artist, and all round high fives 🙌

Sound is a startup that is still building out the platform but a few things of note from their roadmap are interesting:

• A model that allows music curators to add value and monetize their ability to discover emerging artists.

• A crowdfunding feature that allows artists to raise funds from their communities for upcoming projects (i.e. albums, music videos).

• A better artist onboarding experience so we can sustainably grow our community from an initial cohort of genesis artists to millions of artists around the world.

Lots more to explore, and even more to come.

As I mentioned earlier the crypto wallet is your passport into a decentralized world, and to be honest it's kinda intimidating to use. To get to mass adoption a simpler way of interacting with the blockchain is needed. I have no doubt it will come, soon.

If we can work to fix the user experience then the wallet is a great place to start.

I love the thought that there are teams around the world re-building the apps you have on your phone, using web3 technology and approaches to create a better value exchange between users, content creators, and companies.

So much opportunity. Until next time, maybe subscribe?

Who knows, these articles might get better…

Thanks to Sam + Kyle for the corrections/ notes 😅

Some guides to help you get setup

I know a lot of people are still figuring out how this works, here's a list of some articles that can guide you through the setup and installation of these services.

• How to set up your MetaMask

• How to purchase an ENS domain

And, a list of other services that I didn't have time to write about...

• FWB is a community that has IRL events that you need to hold a certain amount of their tokens to attend or get access to their content and discord server

• Snapshot allows you to create community proposals for a wide range of DAOs, you can also see which proposals are being voted on

• Uniswap is a platform that helps in trading one cryptocurrency for another. The protocol also works as a managed liquidity pool where the token is exchanged at a price determined by a particular market maker

• Showtime is a web3 social network where creators and collectors show off their NFTs

Happy Monday 🚀

Anyone who knows me knows that writing is not one of my best skills - but I'm forcing myself to do it because I want to share how fundamentally different I see the world now that I understand the things in this article - so that maybe you’ll see it too.

TLDR : this has completely changed the way I look at the internet / business / the world.

This all started when I went to the NFT NYC Conference a few weeks ago to deep dive into NFT/Blockchain/web3. I came away with the most crystal clear understanding of the future, the need to build a decentralized web, and how there’s so much work to be done to fulfill its vision.

If we go back and look at the most important events in the history of the web, you'll recall being hesitant to start a .com business in the late '90s or join social networks in 2007 - but you'd realize that it was the correct decision. Today, you and all of us face another critical moment: whether or not to embrace web3.

web3 provides the framework and technology to create an open, shared decentralized internet, where users control their own data, have a democratic voice in how the services they use are governed, and share in the ownership of those services.

Before we get into it please take a moment to subscribe for more deep dives + web3 exploration adventures.

Why is that important?

Setting aside the current backlash against big tech, web3 will make it possible to create decentralized organizations, which are radically transparent communities led by the concept of shared ownership, governance, and purpose.

So any organization that doesn't offer this, is at a disadvantage because people will choose to engage with decentralized governance. After all, they own their data and can help shape all levels of the organization.

If we look back at the previous iterations of the web, you may remember being hesitant to purchase a .com in the late '90s, or secure your social accounts in 2007 - this is another one of those pivotal moments, although this one feels much much bigger…

“Just like brands had to move from one-way media communications (TV, billboards) to two-way communication (FB/IG/TikTok) with the dawn of social - they now need to understand that web3 goes deeper, creating a shared economy and brand. Creating a reason for individuals to come together and dictate what your brand does in the future”

Wait ok, you're probably thinking, meh, IDK, but give me 20 min to read this article and see what you think, comments welcome @timnotjim

Over the past couple of weeks I've been connecting with people after the conference and have been explaining these concepts, everyone I talk to leaves the call with the same comment…

A deep dive into the main concepts of web3

The point of this article is to provide a primer for all of the fundamentals of web3 beautifully sketched here…

This Includes blockchain networks, crypto-wallets, NFTs, and DAOs. Diving into use cases and examples.

I hope this provides context to people who are maybe not familiar with the subject or are trying to understand how these things fit together.

Blockchain network

A technology that allows many computers to work together to form a ledger that is virtually impossible to alter.

There are many blockchains but here are 2 popular ones Ethereum & Solana, they are examples of decentralized data networks that exist today;

• Ethereum allows new concepts like smart contracts, think a legal contract but written as code and stored on the blockchain for everyone to see. It has a higher transaction rate of around 25 transactions per second. Ethereum has a cost, it is called gas. Gas is incurred when you add data to the Ethereum blockchain. This fee goes to all of the hundreds of computers around the world that validated your transaction using the Ethereum protocol. The majority of NFTs that exist today, use Ethereum to validate their tokens, but other networks are becoming popular.

• Solana is one of the newest blockchains released in Summer 2021 (and the fastest yet). It uses a fundamentally new way to verify transactions on the blockchain, giving it a theoretical throughput of over 750k transactions per second (for reference the Visa network has a theoretical throughput of 1.7k transactions per second). Not to get into the technical details but the Solana protocol has been able to implement "the arrow of time in math.” allowing transactions to be verified on the Solana Blockchain without all of the computers in the network needing to process the transaction, meaning transactions happen much faster.

There are many many thousands of additional blockchains which all serve specific purposes, think of blockchain as a catchall term for many different computer programs and global networks creating ledgers. Note: Bitcoin is on the Bitcoin Blockchain, although its main use is to minting/ recording bitcoin allocation.

Read more

• Article on the incredible launch of Solana over the summer of 2021

• An overview of the Ethereum vision from the creators

• Polkadot is built to connect private, public, and consortium blockchains

web3

The next major evolution of the internet that is democratic and decentralized.

• web1 is when the internet was primarily used for email and communications and the read-only web, we were consumers of content. Think Yahoo, Amazon, Netscape.

• web2 can be defined as the social web since users were creating and responding to content, it became a participatory Internet. Think social media platforms LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.

• web3 is a decentralized internet where users control their personal data, identity, and destiny - it allows read, write, and authentication.

We're now in the early stages of the web3 era, the maturity of blockchain technology enables web3 to verify and put data on a decentralized network (Blockchain).

The web3 combination of decentralization, blockchain, and structure is a fundamental change in the structure of organizations, meaning that no one company (See FAAMG) stores and controls that data.

With the addition of crypto wallets, users now have control over what organization has access to their data, this fundamentally changes the concept of the internet as we use it today.

And while it may be relatively easy for some blockchain-based companies to transition from web2 to web3, it's not so easy for any non-blockchain company (Aka 99.99% of companies). Financial, legal, business model, and structural issues are too difficult to overcome for many companies who operate in this space.

Or in other words, there is an entire web3 internet to be built...

Read more

• Coinbase is launching an NFT platform, an Instagram competitor

• In-depth deep-dive from web3 foundation

• An incredible regularly updated resource from A16Z

Crypto wallet

A "virtual wallet" it not only holds your cryptocurrency, but it also contains other tokens or NFTs that you have purchased.

Similar to how you sign into a 3rd party site using Google or Facebook sign-in, a web3 application will allow you to sign in using your wallet, the big difference is that you hold your data, and you control what information gets shared.

Since your web3 data will go with you, to any site you want to go to your entire life goes with you.

For example, when you log in to Netflix, it knows all the shows you have watched so it can suggest new shows, but you don't only watch shows on Netflix. A web3 version of this scenario would allow you to log in using your wallet and if you wanted to then share your viewing history from any of the platforms you use - providing more data to create a richer experience and better recommendations.

Another way to think about it is a web3 identity card or international passport, allowing you entry into different worlds, allowing the site to see what's in your wallet, which can unlock features or functionality.

Your wallet will usually have an address, which is on the blockchain and is the address where you can send and receive currency and tokens, but also receive tokens or funds.

(Not to go too deep) but wallets also don't have to have their own specific wallet address. In the same way, your debit card in your wallet gives you 'virtual' access to the cash in your account, wallets can also read the contents of other blockchain addresses you own. To check this out install Rainbow below.

Read more

• A popular Ethereum Wallet, Metamask

• A popular Solana Wallet, Phantom

• View all your Ethereum assets using Rainbow

Metaverse

Is a shared digital world that we can all share and visit, it uses avatars to represent people.

Ok, I don't want to get into this too much, because there's a lot to unpack and it deserves its own article. I only mention it here to provide context as you will have no doubt heard about it in similar conversations around web3...

The Metaverse is a collection of persistent virtual worlds, meaning that they constantly live and evolve even if you're not "logged in". Think of the Metaverse as a series of connected digital worlds that you can connect to using your crypto wallet, and the items in your wallet can then interact with things in the Metaverse.

So if you have purchased an NFT jacket, perhaps you can wear that jacket in the Metaverse, or it gives you access to a special area in the Metaverse which is reserved for people who own the jacket, or a similar product from the same collection. If you own an NFT art piece perhaps you can display it in your Metaverse 'home'. Since your wallet is connected you can purchase/sell items directly to other people in the Metaverse.

The vision is that over time you can do everything in the Metaverse that you do in real life, like visiting places, playing games, working, and meeting people.

Right now you could think about playing Fortnite as a Metaverse type world but the vision is that the virtual and physical worlds are intertwined, for that to happen we need the widespread adoption of wearable AR/VR Glasses, being developed by Apple, Facebook, and others.

Read more

• A great point of view about the value chain of the Metaverse

• Interesting overview from Time magazine

• Decentraland, a popular Metaverse platform

• The Sandbox, a virtual world where players can build, own, and monetize

NFT

(A non-fungible token) is a unique token or record on the blockchain that cannot be exchanged for any other token.

First it's helpful to understand fungibility, something that this guy (who's constantly trying to steal my look) was first telling me about at Cannes Advertising in 2019, but I was too drunk on Rose to pay attention…

Here's a great explanation about fungibility that I've stolen from my colleagues at rehab.

Money is fungible 💸

• A £10 note is replaceable/fungible.

• If we swap notes, we both have the same amount of money and nobody is worse off.

• £10 is replaceable by 2x £5 also.

The Mona Lisa is non-fungible 🖼

• You can not swapping the OG for a replica or print is not equivalent

• A lot of Mona Lisa comparisons in the NFT world.

Since every transaction on the blockchain has a unique ID number, NFTs run on the blockchain, meaning each digital item has a unique ID number. Therefore it's non-fungible.

Therefore, we can represent something as one of these unique IDs and mathematically prove who owns it.

If we know the owner of an asset then we can provide that owner with a wide range of utility including access to a physical or digital event to gameplay.

NFTS can range from JPG images of funny animals, user-generated content, exclusive pieces of content, or a virtual representation of a physical item. Future applications allow NFTs to function like mini applications when combined with blockchain smart-contract platforms.

Read more

• A beginner's guide to NFTs

• An NFT project storing pizzas on the Ethereum network

DAO

(Decentralized autonomous organization) is a collection of individuals working together to accomplish a goal, all of whom are governed by a common set of regulations imposed via blockchain technology.

What's exciting about a DAO is that it fundamentally changes the way groups of humans come together to serve a common goal, or in other words, it's a completely new way of creating a company, business, organization, or team. One that's completely transparent, has a built-in shared economy for all participants and allows everyone to have a say in the future of the organization.

The transparency of the Dao allows for people who have never met each other to come together under a single shared vision and reduces fraud.

Let’s explore some DAO's

A few real-life, recent, and most famous DAO's to help you to better understand the concept:

Constitution DAO

A few days ago this DAO was unsuccessful in its mission to purchase one of the thirteen remaining copies of the US constitution at a live auction at Sotheby's New York. However, what they accomplished in a week was incredible, and not possible without web3.

Their mission was to buy the US Constitution and allow the people who contributed to the project have a say in its governance, where it was displayed etc. Anyone in the world could join the DAO, contribute Ethereum to the project, the amount contributed by an individual was correlated to a token, called $PEOPLE.

One token = One vote, so the more you contributed, the more $PEOPLE tokens/ votes you owned.

While this DAO didn’t offer fractional ownership of the Constitution (I believe there was a mistake in the initial setup of the DAO due to lack of time they had to research) it is possible for token owners in a DAO to not only have a say in the governance but also own a part of the asset itself.

ENS Domains

Similar to how URLs and domain names let you navigate the web by typing in an easy-to-remember phrase like timnotjim.com (which is then decoded through name servers to send traffic to the actual server address 99.83.190.102).

ENS Domains is a service that provides a lookup service for web3 objects, mainly wallet addresses. For example, my Ethereum wallet address is:

0x7cbC330Bf0B9479D320170B21F8ca9e88399FC16,

A little hard to work with, so ENS allows me to buy (web2 domain names are rented, but a web3 address is owned and verifiably yours on the blockchain) an Ethereum address, I grabbed timnotjim.eth. Anyone any web3 application or person can send things to my wallet using that address. Easy.

On the 8th of November, ENS did something incredible, they announced that ENS would be creating a DAO and $ENS cryptocurrency to govern key aspects of the ENS service and that anyone who had purchased a domain name through them would be awarded tokens in the company, a web3 way of thinking, giving back to the early supporters who helped to make the company a success and giving them a say in the future of the service.

This is how they split up the allocation of tokens, reserving 25% of tokens to be Airdropped (think automatically sent to your crypto wallet), through a publicly available calculation based on the length of time you had owned and your future registrations. They also allocated tokens to active discord users, contributors, and translators.

So my simple timnotjim.eth domain purchase equated to around 95ENS which I collected, or in other terms, I now own 95 out of 100 million ENS tokens, which I can use to vote on future governance issues, or sell them on a crypto exchange, as I write this $ENS is trading for $49.59 USD making my ~$200 domain name purchase now worth ~$4k USD.  I'm going to keep them to have a say in the future

A great example of web3 development moving to decentralized ownership.

Read more

• A beginner’s guide to DAOs

• Plug and play DAO platform

• Braintrust is a freelance hiring network, their explanation of a DAO is really great

• Blockchain-enabled groups, such as Friends With Benefits, invest in their own creative communities using cryptocurrency tokens

Thanks + Inspiration

Thanks to Packy, Teddy, Robin, Takunda & the Rehab team, Andreessen Horowitz, Jay, Piers, Dan, Greasy Fringe for your help + inspiration.

Let's build the future 🚀