Last week’s ‘Real or Ai?’ It is …
REAL! There is no Ai in the video of the steam train that I shared last week. It is 100% real. Rewatch it here.
It’s from a video by Dynamo Productions of an historic Pennsylvania steam train that draws in old-timey train lovers who dress in the garb of the time to relive what it was like to ride on the steam train back when it operated commercially. The lighting and filming is remarkable, perfect with the old cars and people dressed in another time’s clothes.
A startle in the night
This morning just after 4am I woke suddenly to both my kids screaming in their bedroom. Adrenaline and instincts kicked in and I jumped off my bed and ran through my house into their room in 3 seconds flat, vision still blurry, still basically asleep.
I was in full-on protect mode.
I checked around and everything seemed in order so I calmed them and asked my older son what happened. In the end it was nothing. He had heard something outside, woke up screaming and that woke up my other son who started screaming. That simple. And one of the most terrifying moments of fatherhood so far.
Phones are no good for kids
Worse than a child taking small, regular risks and sustaining some injuries along the way, is the risk of the child growing up with a phone in front of their face, having their most important cognitive years formed around the judgement of others on social media, secret conversations and other darkness readily available on the unchecked internet.
I started a new book, Anxious Generation by Haidt, and it’s already opening my eyes to a new way of seeing the web, smart phones and especially social media. I never really thought about these things through the lens of childhood, cognitive formation, or puberty. I was already through this stage when social media hit the stage, and when smartphones became prevalent.
There’s a lot of doom and gloom, so I take it in stride but Haidt is backing his claims with solid sources and studies, and draws clear conclusions. So far I can recommend it, and I’ll report more in the future.
I led an Ai workshop
I led my first Ai workshop last night and it was a blast! Here’s what we covered:
I wanted this workshop to be simple and achievable by anyone, regardless of tech ability. I provided clear, step-by-step, copy-paste instructions.
We set up a voice agent using ElevenLabs. Then we gave the agent a “tool” – the ability to get a contact’s professional information from just an email address. This tool makes a request to the Apollo.io API and requests information on the contact, using the email address provided to the agent.
Then we tested it live through ElevenLabs’ integrated test feature. It worked well and as expected which is always a joy in tech.
Next steps might include connecting this agent to a phone number in Twilio to access the voice agent anywhere with a phone call. The options are limitless and this is only the beginning…
OK it might sound a little complicated but I promise it’s doable. ElevenLabs really made this process quite easy and approachable and it requires no coding knowledge, just a willingness to learn.
(And all on the same day ElevenLabs announced its new music generation platform, Eleven Music!)
Like this email?