Wezside

Generative Instructions 2024

Can a large language model truly inspire us to make art?

The art of instruction is about creating work based on an instruction given to you, where the instructions themselves is a work of art, as is the resulting creation of that instruction. So the artworks are only really completed once you interact with them.

Taking inspiration from the works of Fluxus - artists like Yoko Ono, George Brecht, Sol LeWitt, John Baldessari, John Cage and other pioneers of the art of instruction movement — Donald Swanepoel and I wrote a few prompts for ChatGPT and set up a page that generated twenty four new generative art instructions every day. Every time you refresh the page a random instruction generated by AI would be served to the user.

So what do you think? Can a large language model inspire you to make art?

https://www.generative-instructions.com/

We're excited to announce that Imizuzu, our Whatsapp transcription service is currently in Beta and we need you! So if you speak Zulu, Afrikaans or English we really could do with your help to test our Whatsapp voice note to text service.

It's very simple - you either engage in a conversation with Imizuzu on Whatsapp using voice notes only or forward a voice note that you've recorded previously and send it to the service. Once transcribed you will receive a message back with the text version of the voice note. The service is 95% accurate for English speakers but we would like to see it used more for other languages like Zulu and Afrikaans. A cloud service is also enabled for beta testers where you can access your past transcriptions or conversions in an online dashboard. Simply sign up with the number from which you engaged with Imizuzu and it will automatically show you all your past transcriptions.

We're excited by this as we've been building AI ideas for a while and this one seems to be very functional and works really well.

Send us a DM or Message to gain access to the Beta program.

"If a large LM, endowed with hundreds of billions of parameters and trained on a very large dataset, can manipulate linguistic form well enough to cheat its way through tests meant to require language understanding, have we learned anything of value about how to build machine language understanding or have we been led down the garden path?"

[Bender, E. M., & Gebru, T. (Year). On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? ACM Digital Library]

LLMs in it's current form provide very little value. The value lies within you, the LLM can't operate on it's own. They will get bigger and noisier but ultimately these finite state machines can't reason without mimicking the data they were trained on. One of the reasons why coding won't be replaced by AI agents anytime soon is the lack of reasoning. Reasoning dances with creativity which is often where us humans insert domain knowledge into the solution we are trying to design. The programmer inserts itself into the problem - it's the part that requires careful consideration as to how to pull together various different procedural or functional solutions to ultimately solve a complex problem.

The argument here is not to dismiss LLMs in it's entirety but rather to narrow down the focus to more specific fields of interests. This is where the best results would be achieved and where these predictive models really shine.

Another huge issue that would only become visible in the future is that, the more information is polluted online the less quality training data becomes available to expand and scale these models even further.

Our latest project, designed and conceived by FormulaD for the Mishkat Interactive Center for Atomic and Renewable Energy, is an interactive masterpiece that brings science to life in a whole new way.

Read the full article here:
https://www.wezside.co.za/work/mishkat-energy-breakthrough/

Incredible to see the aero at work during Max's run.

World's Fastest Camera Drone Vs F1 Car (ft. Max Verstappen) This is Formula 1 like you’ve never seen it before. The follow Max Verstappen’s brand new RB20 F1 car for a full lap of Silve...

Our new site is live! Go give it some love and see all the amazing projects we've worked on over the past decade.

Wezside the exploration of new ideas through the lens of tech is something we crave. it is where our true self is served in the best possible way, being creative.

I've always been fascinated by farming and technology. How can tech and automation be used to avoid hard and poor working conditions? Let's face it working on farms is less than ideal even though in the current times it is a necessity for some financially and also for the masses who need fresh food on the table.

Re-imagining the future where technology aids farming from the energy it requires to the harvesting of the end product, is an ideal example of making tech work for us.

James Dyson has done just this and it's absolutely incredible:

Behind the scenes of Dyson Farming with James Dyson Established in 2012, Dyson Farming is one of the largest farming businesses in the UK, extending to 36,000 acres across Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucester...

We've launched a new website. More attractions will be added in the coming weeks.

Powered by our very own data mining hub Isivuno.

Cape Town Weather Get the latest 7-day weather forecast for Cape Town with CapeTownWeather. Stay informed about temperature, precipitation, and wind conditions in your area. Accurate, up-to-date, and local weather information at your fingertips.

With the launch of Rabbit r1 I've seen a lot of skepticism online. Things like this is just an app or a wrapper. Some oak even built an online version of it showcasing his strong React skills. But I think what's missing in most of the online trolling of this new device or Humane's for that matter, is that the mobile as a device and it's assistants simply aren't good enough.

The app ecosystem of Human Computer Interaction is suddenly not good enough. And we've all known this for quite some time. What ChatGPT did was show this. We crave the natural language user experience. Interacting with machines like they are human. We've been conditioned to interact in computer speak, from Google search to match query like language for better results to reducing your SMS language to avoid striking those extra character buttons.
There is a space for devices that do just this because the mobile phone brands simply won't allow you to use their hardware and bypass the entire App ecosystem.

I think if you are in tech and scoffing at this idea you might just be too close to the proverbial trees. Will it change the future, maybe it's too soon. Will it get better? Judging by how many units shipped I believe that r2 will be substantially better. Just look at what was said about GPT1 and 2. Anyways just a thought.



https://twitter.com/i/status/1744781083831574824

Recently built a quick prototype to test GPT Vision. Introducing Flora Vision to classify the plant species from a single photograph. From my testing it works 9/10 times. It obviously can't detail very specific traits like diseases et al.

Flora Vision Prototype

Recent Work:

We had the opportunity to collaborate with local company formula D_ and their esteemed client, The Mishkat Interactive Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The project was to code an educational game for kids centred around wind energy and wind farms. This groundbreaking initiative aimed to empower young minds with knowledge about sustainable energy sources while fostering interactive and immersive learning experiences.

https://www.wezside.co.za/work/mishkat-wind-energy

Our latest creation is talked about in our latest Newsletter
#18: AI Menu Planner

Sign-up at www.wezside.co.za to hear more about our recent explorations in AI using ChatGPT.

https://share.sender.net/campaigns/5AY7/18-ai-menu-planner

Newsletter #16 is available. If you'd like to sign up and hear about our latest products, research & development or just interesting tech stuff then visit www.wezside.co.za

https://share.sender.net/campaigns/5jg9/16-a-new-dawn

#16: A new Dawn New Venture Wezside and Herd Africa, two innovative Creative Studios, have joined forces to launch SwanAI, a new AI business venture

Wezside and Herd Africa, two innovative Creative Studios, have joined forces to launch SwanAI, a new AI business venture aimed at revolutionising the way people interact and connect. The first product released by SwanAI is SparkAI, an AI assisted personalised dating profile writer, designed to help users create the perfect profile and increase their chances of finding a match. With the help of advanced algorithms, SparkAI analyses a user's personality and interests, and suggests the most effective way to present themselves on dating platforms.

Here is an example of such a profile:
"Born in London, now based in Bristol. Who says opposites don't attract? Looking for someone who's ready to explore this eclectic city with me. Let's get lost in the streets and see where this adventure takes us."
https://www.sparkapp.co.uk

Phew. This is amazing and extremely creepy at the same time. I loved how one of Zucks missing features early on for the Metaverse was eye contact but having no legs was just fine btw. Here we have just another spring board for false presence, mind wandering dissatisfaction during interactions with other human beings. The How is amazing but the Why is found severely lacking.

NVIDIA Broadcast 1.4 Adds Eye Contact and Vignette Effects With Virtual Background Enhancements Plus new options to mirror your camera and take a selfie.

The Horse In Motion

The recent backlash towards another human who decided to create a children’s book using Midjourney and ChatGPT for his friends’ children, polarised the online fiends to such an extent that I felt the need to write about it. Why do we feel so threatened by it? For some I guess it threatens their very own existence or livelihood. For others, it’s the unknown, and ironically the Other. And what we know about the Other is it invokes fear and anxiety and as Seth Godin likes to proclaim, it gives rise to the lizard brain and the resistance.

The invention of artificial intelligence (AI) has allowed for the creation of content that may not have been previously possible. While this has opened up a world of possibilities for creative expression, it has also sparked a backlash from some who are concerned about the implications of AI-generated content.

To understand the current backlash, it is important to look back at the introduction of the motion picture and the photograph. When the motion picture was first invented some 50 years after the first photograph, it was seen as a threat to the traditional art of photography. Many argued that the motion picture would replace the need for photography and bring about the decline of the profession. Similarly, when the photograph was first invented, it was seen as a threat to traditional forms of art such as painting and sculpture. With AI-generated content, there is a fear that it could lead to the decline of human creativity, as well as the displacement of professional creatives.

More recently the traditional marketing and media industry had to pivot because of the invention of social media and every psychological imposition it brought with it. Some chose to adapt and others remained resolute in their ways. Some folded and others survived. The decline in traditional media consumption could be attributed to many reasons, not just the invention of a new technology.

While the backlash against AI generated content is understandable, it is important to remember that technology has always been seen as a threat to traditional forms of creative expression. From the motion picture to the photograph, each new technology has been met with fear and resistance. Ultimately, however, these technologies have gone on to expand and dare I say revolutionise the way we create and experience art. It is likely that AI-generated content will be no different. But only time will tell.

'Tis the season to be in awe. Cape Town magic.

Recent Work: Mishkat: Renewable Energy Interactive Installation

The Mishkat Interactive Center (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) for Atomic and Renewable Energy is dedicated to teaching children about the importance of renewable energy sources and how they can help us save the planet. In order to make the learning experience more engaging and entertaining, I created the software to run the creative concept designed by FormulaD that allows kids to play a renewable energy game on a big projected screen using Touch Designer software.

The game is designed to be easy to understand and fun to play. Kids can place objects representing renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, wind turbines and geothermal equipment, in front of the virtual house and the placement of the objects will be reflected in real-time on the projected screen. On screen hints helps the player decide where the particular renewable object should be placed. As the objects are placed, they will begin to power the house and the energy sources will be represented with different colours.

This software provides a great opportunity for kids to get hands-on experience with renewable energy sources and learn how each one works in a safe and interactive environment. The game also encourages visual and spatial learning skills as kids must figure out how to arrange the renewable energy sources in order to power the house.

The game is designed to be fun and educational and can be used to teach kids about renewable energy sources in a stimulating way. The Interactive Installation offers this innovative way for kids to learn about renewable energy and help save the planet!

Thanks to FormulaD for the opportunity to build this - was really fun!

Testing our WebAR platform Rolla3D to view a piece of art in your own space. It's pretty cool.