#31 🤖🔍🌍 Explore the Who What Why in the world of AI
AI builder series
Hey friend, welcome to another new issue of WhoWhatWhyAi. As we shared in the previous issue, we want to explore the world of AI with you differently. Behind every fascinating AI application, there's a human element at play, and that's what we're set to delve into jointly.
Let’s meet a cool AI builder!
Who
Meet Fernando Doglio. He is a developer with 20 years of experience in the Software Development industry and a tech writer with 16k followers on Medium.
What
He is building VirtualSnap, an AI-powered Product Photography Studio. It's using Stable Diffusion to take "virtual" photos of products that either don't exist or are provided as a set of pictures by the user.
Why
He thinks photography as we know it can be impacted positively by AI. We all know that with the right tools and the right knowledge, one can generate fake photos using Stable Diffusion. His aim is to remove that entry barrier and help anyone generate incredible-looking photos, even if they don't know anything about AI or Stable Diffusion. Because he hasn't seen many people doing it (most are focused on human photography), Fernando is focusing on product photography as his niche.
Why should we care
We can save costs on hiring photographers for product photoshoots with the help of AI.
Let’s learn more about this cool AI builder and how he started in the field of AI and pursue this career path
Fernando : I wouldn't call it a "career path" in my case, it's more of a "this is interesting and I'm lucky to have enough understanding of software development to get into it without spending 5 years studying the field" kind of scenario. I think the jump we've experienced around AI tooling is making this tech available to everyone (there are even some no-code tools out there that make it available for people without dev experience, which is amazing). I just decided to try my hand at it after playing around with Stable Diffusion in the form of LeonardoAI and my local install of SD. I think it was the #356DaysOfAI challenge that did it for me, I was generating one image every day and I just saw the potential of this technology, so I decided to try and focus it on one particular niche.
Some wise words for AI builders
Well, I think that if you want to create something impactful with tech, the first thing you need to do is to research it a bit. I'm not saying "become an AI expert", that would completely destroy any other goals you might have. But just make sure you understand the basics of it, and play around with it enough to get a glimpse of its full potential. Whether you're thinking about using an LLM, Stable Diffusion, or something around Voice/Sound/Music. The better you understand its capabilities, the more room to play you'll have. On top of that, I'd suggest researching what others are doing with that tech. Even if they're not developing the same idea you have, seeing how they're using AI might spark ideas for your own product/project.
What is the most surprising or fascinating thing that you have learned from working with AI?
I think that the most incredible thing is seeing how this field is moving forward thanks to the community around it. We've had AI-research for decades now, but thanks to the recent developments in SD and LLMs, we've seen the field jump ahead probably a few decades. We're now starting to witness the true effect AI can have in our world outside of academic research or some specific applications.
Sharing with WhoWhatWhyAi readers
Fernando: I just want to encourage everyone who has not yet tried to build something with AI to do it! If you have an idea go for it! The worst that can happen is that you realize it's not a valid product, however, you'll learn a lot about AI in the process. If there is anything I can help you with or guide you through, feel free to reach out! I also have a newsletter where I randomly share some insights for developers (around AI and other techs), so if you're also a dev, feel free to join.
AI Gone Wrong
The Prompt: A girl sitting by a window, drinking coffee in a relaxed environment.
The Image:
Have any AI gone wrong images? 😆Share them here
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Thank You!
That’s it for today. Please let us know what you think of this issue.
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Thanks for the feature Zeng! Loved the issue!