Talking Robots Circa 2023

[Nate North]

This script is just awful, I wrote it in 5 minutes and just went plunged ahead because I didn't want to spend more than a day on this. Just for clarity, the voice AI used here is an external tech, and was not developed by SP in any way. I just signed up for the new voice service, and then added it's output into our existing pipeline.

Every 6 months or so, I check in on the progress of many different technology tracks, in a rotation. Unfortunately a cursory glance or a youtuber's word isn't good enough for my purposes, so each time I actually build the technology (typically from modular code segments from research papers), or just rent it in this case, and run it through a use case scenario, such as building this video.

To simplify this dumb script, The automatic animation isn't good, but could be useful for youtube videos and comedy. The next gen AI voices are now so good that they could replace about half of the human voice actors. That's up from zero percent last year.

Anyway, I find this video a bit creepy. Not just from watching my head talk in another voice, but more because of the strange Wallace and Gromit teeth it draws in when it opens my mouth. (mouth was closed in the picture I gave it)

On another level though, it's kind of amazing how far it's come already.

The fake characters are from the SP pipe, so this does show what they'll look like, they will just move way more realistically like the cat in the hybrid video.

 

[sfoster]

I still buy books, and I'll buy a copy of your book.

It would not surprise me however, if we live in the last generation where a fiction writer can make it from a cold start. You'll have occasional breakout talents, but that mid tier is going to get really really oversaturated in a half decade, and we'll be looking at another lira situation over there.

Honestly the only real solution that I see for future artists is UBI, which would mitigate the crushing vicious cycles that have created the current creative income draught. (only people with money can borrow money to make money, or else wage slave treads water)

Appreciate that, though considering how few individuals I converse with-my society is quite exlusive you see-you'll no doubt receive an advanced copy for free.

I'm fortunate that I can ignore all my financial problems and focus on that creative stuff, but the result is 50 youtube subscribers. it's hard to argue that its been of much benefit to society.

 

[Nate North]

Appreciate that, though considering how few individuals I converse with-my society is quite exlusive you see-you'll no doubt receive an advanced copy for free.

I'm fortunate that I can ignore all my financial problems and focus on that creative stuff, but the result is 50 youtube subscribers. it's hard to argue that its been of much benefit to society.

Hey, game's not over yet.

Remember that 62 year old space marine captain in Avatar? Nobody ever noticed him, even though he'd been around forever, and all the sudden, he's literally world famous overnight. Same for Johnathan Winters or Stan Lee. I think Stan lee was around 40 when he published his first successful comic.

 

[sfoster]

Hey, game's not over yet.

Remember that 62 year old space marine captain in Avatar? Nobody ever noticed him, even though he'd been around forever, and all the sudden, he's literally world famous overnight. Same for Johnathan Winters or Stan Lee. I think Stan lee was around 40 when he published his first successful comic.

We all like to think we're owed some sort of destiny, and our life has been a path toward something meaningful, but I've got a sneaking suspicion that's not the case. Shit can completely fall apart at any moment for no reason at all.

Cheers to 2023 being about HALFWAY over and i suppose we are a bit closer to our current goals.
yeah theres still a chance.

 

[Spike]

This script is just awful,

Ah. Something I can speak to, not with authority, but with some experience (I have a Master's Degree. In writing!)

Just awful? Not even close. Your composition is good, clause to clause to clause.

 

[Nate North]

Lol, it's bad. That line, "the animations aren't that great, terrible really, so why am I even bothering to show this" That shouldn't of even been in the script. That's just my stream of consciousness while I was writing it, and was never intended to be in the video. I have so many things I'm trying to accomplish every day, including putting out these videos to stay sharp and record progress, that sometimes quality suffers within the rush.

Thanks though, kind of you to say.

I'm a little bit surprised that no one recognized Rod Serling, who I used for the first image.

 

[Spike]

That line, "the animations aren't that great, terrible really, so why am I even bothering to show this" That shouldn't have even been in the script

I disagree. A sense of "voice," of a single consciousness behind the narrative is usually, I think, present in good writing. Yes, this is often overdone, annoying, sophomoric. (I've noticed this, by the way, especially in online recipes--three paragraphs of chatty backstory before you get to the cups and spoons, lol.) But that line is, I think, fine. Maybe give it an "omit needless words" pass--something like "The animations aren't great, so why do i bother?" And the "I" part works, since you have introduced yourself ("for people like myself") clearly and concisely. avoiding crap like, "I was thinking about x, and researching y, and etc."

 

[Spike]

And of course Rod is recognizable, and because he is, and because we have seen him, mainly, looking at the camera and talking, it helps make your point--the first thing one notices, even before the voice, is his mouth not seeming natural. (But still pretty good, compared to just a few years ago.)