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Subscriptions Might Actually Make Us More Creative These days, it feels like we have subscriptions for everything — Netflix, Disney+, Adobe Creative Cloud, so many subscriptions. Most of us view them simply as a monthly moment when our bank account drops a little. But what if I told you that some subscriptions, of a very specific type, might actually help you become more creative ? If you have a subscription to a generative AI service like Runway, Kling, Midjourney, Freepik, or OpenArt, they typically operate on a credit-based system. You receive a set number of credits each month, and every action you take chips away at that total little by little. At the end of the month, any unused credits usually don’t roll over...they expire, as in you lose them . At first glance, that might sound like a bad deal. But it may actually drive something most adults need much more of: an excuse to play . Children play all the time. They imagine entire worlds and try new things (many adults might actual...
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The Latest AI Image Game Changer

First it was AI generated text that seemed to have all the answers (or at least did a great job of making things up if it didn't), then there were AI generated images that were winning local and international art and photo contests. But even these tools, as magical as they were, had their weaknesses, their Achilles' heel. For images it's been things like drawing hands, which to be honest I still have one heck if a time drawing...so I may indeed be AI...who knows, or rendering text that isn't gibberish at best or a mess of cryptic letter looking random shapes at worst. Over that past year and half AI text to image generators have made great progress in fixing those weaknesses, but one still remained...consistency, character consistency to be specific. But with the release of the lastest update of Midjourney 6, everything may have changed with two new simple tags --cref and --sref which stand for "character reference" and "style reference" respectably....
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The Dark Side to Being Creative

It's Me I'm often described with words like "odd," "weird," "strange," and "not normal." I guess they're not wrong. You might catch me bursting into laughter at times and places that seem wholly inappropriate, triggered by things I simply can't help but notice. Or you might find me staring into space at a conference, not daydreaming, but deeply engrossed in trying to determine how the row of light fixtures across the room are constructed, because the diameter of one light is just slightly larger than the others, and if there were two dozen or so pivot points on the light that would allow it to expand and contract to different sizes which would in turn adjust the lighting it provides. There are moments when my expression shifts so suddenly, it's as if I've been poked physically with a stick, all because some random idea hit me like a truck. At times, my mind races so swiftly that it feels like the world around me, in...
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AI Prompts: Unveiling Human Solutions

Ever thought about how we chat with AI, like asking ChatGPT for help? It's kind of like tossing a ball over a fence and waiting to see what gets thrown back. But here's a twist: many times, the magic isn't in what comes back over the fence. It's in the way we throw the ball in the first place. And sometimes, every once in a while, the solutions are discovered before the ball even gets returned. Talking to AI: Like Solving a Puzzle Without the Picture Chatting with AI, such as asking ChatGPT for assistance, is like tackling a puzzle without knowing exactly what the final image should look like. You have to make your point clear, provide enough detail, and create a coherent picture from scattered pieces. Let’s explore some everyday scenarios: Writing an Email: Imagine you need help drafting an email. It's not enough to just say, "Write me an email." You need to provide the AI with the puzzle pieces – the email's length, recipient, and key bullet points i...
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The Power of "Why?"

One year teaching Multimedia Design, our class had just completed a project on creating geometric portraits. During this assignment, students chose a person they admired and selected a personal quote from that individual. Their task was to create a stylized vector portrait based on their chosen figure. To my surprise, one of the students approached me and asked if they could make a second portrait, a portrait of me. Feeling flattered, I agreed. Then, the student inquired if they could include a quote from me. Without much thought, I casually replied, "Sure." Over the next couple of weeks, during our lunch breaks, the student diligently worked on the portrait in my classroom. They never allowed me a sneak peek, but it was evident from the occasional hushed chuckles among other students that something amusing was taking shape. My curiosity piqued, and when the student finally unveiled the finished artwork, I understood the source of the laughter. The portrait was remarkably wel...
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From Turing Test to Empathy Test: AI's Role in Teaching Interview Skills

The explosion of artificial intelligence use since November 2022 has been staggering. ChatGPT became the fastest-growing app in history, reaching over 100 million monthly users just two months after its launch. One of my goals with any new technology is figuring out ways to make our lives easier and our work more efficient. So, I've been experimenting with ChatGPT in my high school classroom. We've used it to brainstorm new ideas and lessons, quickly come up with backstories for RPG games we're developing, and proofread our work. As it turns out, ChatGPT does all these things incredibly well. But as we began our unit on design thinking, we examined the importance of empathy interviews at the beginning of the process. Before students can effectively hold empathy interviews, they need to be taught HOW to interview someone. What if AI could help students learn how to interview someone? AI could serve as a training tool for techniques like designing open-ended questions, reflec...
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Treasuring Problems

If you have never seen Robin Williams talk about the invention of the game of golf then you are missing out on a true work of genius. It's not only a masterpiece of comedy, but it's also a brilliant demonstration of how much people love problems. Or, more specifically it shows how much people embrace the challenge of overcoming problems. Let's examine golf for a moment, the whole point is to knock a tiny ball into a slightly larger hole with a stick (ok, a club). This, in itself, could be a very simple task, that is if you started with the ball mere inches from the hole. With a quick tap of the club you could knock the ball in the hole record your perfect score of "1" and proceed next hole. But as any golfer will tell you, this is not how the game of golf is played. Achievement is most commonly found surrounded by problems. No, those first Scotsmen in their tartan kilts, understood that people get very little enjoyment from performing simple, mundane ...
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