Hey everyone,

 

Squeezing one last newsletter in for the year. The news coming out of Sydney this weekend is so horrible. I hope you’re all safe and doing well and are able to spend time with your family and loved ones over the holiday period.

 

I’m lucky enough to have Mum, Dad, my sister and her fiancé and some friends joining me in NYC :)

 

Sending love.

Nick x

           

 

Years ago, my friend and artists Andy Murray spent what felt like an insane amount of time studying the colour blue.

 

Andy is a brilliant water colour artist. My memory of it is that he was trying to figure out a specific version of blue for a project.

 

The other day someone showed me yet another AI tool that can “just make an image that for you”. And I thought about Andy and his pursuit of this blue and I was reminded that for so many creative people, it is the process and the journey of creating things that matters, sometimes even more so than the finished product.

 

Can you imagine hearing about his project and offering him an AI app would create the perfect blue for him? Weeks of time saved! Project complete!

 

The difference in thinking here is exactly what is driving the current wave of AI-everything.

 

If you view making art, creating music, taking a photo, as a problem to be solved, rather than an expressive act that helps us understand ourselves, then you end up with AI slop. And you probably can’t tell the different. Or even understand why artists aren’t flocking to your new AI tools.

 

 

Leonardo DiCaprio shared his thoughts on AI art last week. I thought his point about it not being anchored or attached to a person and therefore it can never be art was spot on. I’m paraphrasing, but you can read his interview here.

 

Below are the links I’ve been saving to share with you. Many more examples of AI crap, but some other fun stuff too.

 

Oh! I nearly forgot. I recently made the switch from Spotify to Deezer. There are lots of reasons to leave Spotify, but one critical one for me is that they are now flooding the app with AI music. I posted lots of videos about the process which now lives on a highlight on my IG. Check it out here.

   

Sandbar is another AI wearable thing. This one is a ring that you can talk to to remember things. Every attempt at this stuff is to get more personalised data form you (and should be avoided imo). However, phones will not be the devices our kids use, so these projects are interesting as signals for where we could be headed. For now though, you need a menu to navigate and that has to be on a screen so these hardware projects all come with companion apps. That’ll change as hardware get’s better (smaller) over time. Link

 

Economist, Adam Tooze, wrote a great piece breaking down the Mamdami election win. One part that caught my eye, the split between people born in NYC vs. those who moved here. TL:DR, 1/3 of people who are born in NYC voted for Mamdami vs. 80% of people who moved here in the last 5 years. Link

 

Apple made a behind the scenes video to announce the Apple TV logo update. Lots of people thought it was AI/digital, but in fact they made it all in a studio. If this isn’t a quiet signal to their creative customer base about their position on AI, I don’t know what is. Link

MJT is writing important stuff 

“The price of love is often embarrassment.” By Magdalene J. Taylor. Link

AI slop at the top of Spotify charts. Link

 

A game about scope creep. Link

 

The Rot Economy (great listen). Link

 

For the audiophile nerds. Many examples of products making claims that violate the laws physics. Link

 

Everyone in LA want’s a giant front door. Link

 

Article claiming AI music start up Suno, is creating the entire Spotify catalog worth of music every two weeks. Why? Link

 

Dude with particular bad vibe is interviewed about his AI video start up. Link

Chris Joslin has been named Trasher Magainzes skater of the year. Watch his new video part here. Insane. Link

 

 

 

salute played a 7 hour set in LA. Link

 

Another Palms Trax set for your work day. Link

   

💌 If someone forwarded you this, you can click here to subscribe.

oh and finally, I don't have big updates for you on the AI conference. Work has been both slow and crazy and I've had to focus on clients. Date keeps pushing out, so will revisit in the new year. Lot's of interest still which is really great :)