5 Practical Startups That'll Benefit Your Whole Life...
5 Practical Startups That'll Benefit Your Whole Life...
A My Pal Sammy Collision Conference 2024 Recap
Yo…
If you’re asking yes or no questions about AI (i.e. can I use it?) you’ve already been left behind.
You’re the person scrambling down the station stairs, trying not to trip…racing towards a subway whose doors are closing. By the time you’re on the platform you’re looking at the butt of the subway.
AI is no longer a yes or no proposition:
It’s now determining how we use it.
When do we use it.
How do we regulate it.
The exact same questions we asked in the 1990s as we started consistently going online and surfing the world wide web.
(It’s embarrassing to look back and see how often the Internet was treated like a fad; online acid washed denim. There are faddish aspects to AI but it’ll naturally level off. These days we take the Internet for granted in a way we didn’t in the ‘90s. AI will eventually lose its wonder and we’ll take it for granted.)
In Chris Rock’s 2018 comedy special Tamborine (on Netflix) he offered the following witty wisdom that is classic Chris Rock:
“I’m trying to get my life together, man. I’m trying to get a little religion in my life. Just a little. Just a little. Religion’s kind of like salt. A sprinkle’s good, but too much will fuck up the meal.”
And what Rock is saying about religions equally applies to AI. AI is like salt…and “too much will fuck up the meal.”
We talk about the abuse of AI like it’s novel when we have a deep history of ugly human behaviour. We set up an entire internet where we could freely exchange ideas and actively promote curiosity. An impressive human achievement.
But we also set up an entire internet riddled with spam and fake news and scams and revenge porn and cyberattacks. Like, why?
The U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is calling for warning labels to be added to social media platforms, similar to surgeon general warnings on cigarettes and alcohol. That’s where we’re at.
The potential bad of AI doesn’t outweigh the good of AI; anymore than the bad of the Internet outweighs the good of the Internet.
A lot of the Internet sucks and we’ve harmed so many people…from seniors to children. And yet there’s so much untapped potential. We can…if we choose…to get better at this.
Cory Doctorow recently wrote about How to Design a Tech Regulation:
“Making good tech policy is hard, but not because "tech moves too fast for regulation to keep up with," nor because "lawmakers are clueless about tech."”
This is gonna be the challenge of AI…how to effectively regulate it. Doctorow adds this insight about tech regulation:
“But when an industry dwindles to a handful of companies, the resulting cartel finds it easy to converge on a single talking point and to maintain strict message discipline. This means that the evidentiary record is starved for disconfirming evidence that would give the agencies contrasting perspectives and context for making good policy.”
That’s it right there…we’ve made so many mistakes with the Internet that now we know what do with AI. We know the way forward.
With AI every industry is gonna be different. It’s not a one size fits all deal.
And as always it’s on you to figure out what you are comfortable with and what works. It’s no different than another tools: we went from spellcheckers to Grammarly to fix up your sloppy writing to AI to write the damn thing. It’s the natural evolution.
Did anybody really think we were just gonna stop growing after spellcheckers and those red wavy lines were introduced? Of course not.
It was always the start of something.
In this society went from paper pamphlets to static web pages to blogs to social media. Nothing’s created in isolation. It’s all evolution.
The next chapter in our book is AI.
AI is like gambling which is like alcohol which is no different than weed: no matter how you feel about these things; no matter what your experiences are, no matter what your fears may be…they’re not magically going away.
We’re treating AI like a house guest…visiting in-laws who’ll depart soon but truly it’s a roommate. And like any roommate scenario it’s up to us to determine which aspects of our lives AI will be involved in.
Collision Conference ran from June 17-20, 2024.
It’s the last time it’ll be in Toronto, it’s moving to Vancouver next May. And so many startups at Collision featured AI or actively used AI.
None of this is a valid scary dystopian sci-fi concern. What’s worrisome right now is all the innovative scammers, pretenders and charlatans.
At Collision I attended a captivating panel discussion where Steven D’Souza (co-host of The Fifth Estate on CBC) and Margaret Talev (The Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship) and 2 others journalists analyzed the digital revolution of investigative reporting.
Talev talked about research The Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship (IDJC) in Washington, D.C. is publishing.
The IDJC “engages in nonpartisan research, teaching and public dialogue aimed at strengthening trust in news media, governance and society.” And what the University is confirming is that the majority of people who are actively online cannot differentiate between news and information, PR, fake news, spam and even scams. (She even pointed out, Russia/Putin isn’t the problem…scammers are the issue we’re facing.)
So AI is going to be a problem but AI is not the issue. We are.
AI is effectively creating another market for people to take advantage of other people. AI is coming but so are the scammers and spam.
“The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks,” says Jeff Hammerbacher (The dude who started Facebook’s data team.).
We can do anything with AI and the Internet and yet we’re willing to resort to spam and gross gimmicks to bilk people and corporations outta their money?
That’s frustrating.
So at Collision I wandered into the startups section of the convention floor…row after row of startups. Many of them using AI with full transparency. Some of them in Beta. Most of em seeking investors.
I wanted to recognize the good things people were doing and creating (often with AI).
Don’t sell me AI hype or fear with alarming articles about high school kids using ChatGPT to write their essays about Abraham Lincoln fighting in WWII. I don’t want to make any of that noise part of my cultural diet.
Fear is foolish.
Show me something good.
Show me something practical.
Show me something that’ll make my life better.
Show me The Future.
And this is what I found at this year’s Collision Conference…
I get this request all the time: “Sammy, I need a DJ for a wedding or for this office party?” Well, here ya go: DJ Locate.
Super simple concept: “DJ Locate: Your go-to for finding the perfect DJ for any occasion.” A practical and useful startup. We need those too.
Q: How do you locate a DJ for weddings or office jams?
Oh man: GoReader has so much potential. If I was an investor I’d put money into this.
Let’s say you wanna read articles from the Toronto Star and NY Times. You select em in GoReader and the app will read the articles to you, like a children’s bedtime story.
“Users can personalise their playlist by choosing publishers, topics or searching by keywords.” So imagine a playlist but not one with ‘80s hits or mood music but a news feed of articles all read out loud to you. Like a podcast but not a podcast.
GoReader is currently negotiating clearances with established news outlets (CBC, NPR etc.) so this’ll establish a revenue stream for journalism. (Tech and AI like this is gonna create a number of revenue generating options for journalism. That’s a win!)
And you the news junkie can now listen to the NY Times in your car while you’re driving or even waiting for a bus that is TTC delayed. Boom! Another win!
Q: Are you one of those people with 20 or more Chrome tabs open? Wouldn’t this help you reduce some of those open tabs?
Challengers is super interesting. We have a lot of sites and apps for mental health, meditation, networking…even therapy.
Challengers seems like a 1 stop shop for all of that: “The ‘Challengers’ app offers a serious social network that leverages social focus and attention. It allows users to easily create and manage challenges, combining cooperation and competition to encourage users to rise in the Top Challengers list. Users can share challenges, seek advice, and motivate each other with their successes.”
I spoke to Saeed Rezaeitoroghi the ceo of Challengers and he "stressed" how life is a challenge. Often many of the goals we have…we fail to meet.
As he demonstrated the app I was thinking about Dry January for example. How much better would it be to use an app like this…to have a community, check in with progress, motivation and support.
Social media works best when you find your people. Nerds connect with nerds. Bands fist bump with fans. And challenges…you’re not the only one facing challenges. Why would you go through anything alone?
Find your people and you find your hope.
Q: What’s a challenge you’re dealing with that could benefit from a tribe and some much needed motivation?
I chatted with the Roads Audio team (well, 2 people); I wanted to hear their pitch. This may not be a popular position but with podcasting; it’s rarely the end of the conversation.
I talked to them about The Howard Stern Wrap-Up Show. In the standard Howard Stern Show he’ll have on a big guest and they’ll talk about a pile of things. The Wrap-Up Show is the take away…what did we learn kids? Highlights & Insights. That could be interesting.
Q: When you go online do you gravitate towards video? Audio only? Written word? What’s your jam in what you consume online?
Have you listened to Dave Chappelle’s podcast: The Midnight Miracle? The production values are stunning. Especially the way they use music…it’s impressive and creative.
Not quite the same but still with Podbeat “you can add a beat to a podcast for a run, hike, bike or workout.”
I’d find this distracting but I could see this connecting with a receptive audience. Adding music to podcasts for working out would allow listeners to be fit physically and mentally.
Q: Do you listen to podcasts or music when you run or workout? Where do you listen to podcasts anyways? Cleaning the house? Chilling in bed? In the car?
And this is what I found. I found lots more as well. There’s an AI for that.
But what I’ve presented here is practical. You can use these apps and benefit from these sites. You know people who’d welcome these companies into their lives. Sharing Is Caring, right?
It’ll be sad to see Collision Conference pack up and depart for B.C. But that’s the evolution.
A correction from my recent Meet The Boy in The Woods dispatch.
Watchful Winnie pointed out my error: Maxwell Smart the writer of the book the movie is adapted from…is living in Montréal not Toronto. I apologize for the error. (And I enjoy Montréal , too!)
So fired. Sorry.
All In With AI…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.