Introducing my next big project 🚀 If you're building Real Deal Software™ - this is an absolute must see ProUI is a component library that gives your product my 5+ year experience building pro apps both native and on the web. Let's dive in 👇🏻

it's a complete million-line rewrite of a multi-year project done in 6 days by a clanker (and not the smart one out of the two coding clankers) it was merged because "it passes tests" no one reviewed the million lines of code in 6 days and the lead maintainer by his own admission did not care about it you're goddamn right I think it's hype

I will be the tech bubble's friendly neighborhood photographer today and try to explain why this is significantly misguided in the most respectful way I can. This is not a religious anti-AI post, so if you're a tech hater - go away. But nor is the opposite. This is a perspective from someone who routinely does what Pieter refers to here and has knowledge of the industry. So here's the rub. One of the things techies are really good at, and I'm not immune to this myself, is identifying technical tools to facilitate technical solutions to what we perceive as technical problems. The issue here is that there is no technical problem to solve here. You see, when a watch company hires me to do their series launch campaign, when a coupe hires me to do their wedding, when a music event hires me to shoot their stage acts, when a resort hires me to do their promos - none of them hire me to point my camera at the thing and press a button. They also don't hire me to set up lights and haze the room. They don't hire me to pose and direct the model. Those are all technical things that are part of the process, but the client couldn't care less about those. What they do hire me for boils down to one simple word. Authenticity. Yes, AI can now create a face, maybe even without the dead eyes with good tuning, put a piece of clothing on it and put it in an environment. And the average client doesn't care about that. Because when a watch company hires me and a model, they want us to showcase their product. There's communication that goes on regarding vision and let me tell you - a marketing person that might see an AI product and think "hmm, that's cool" cannot direct a shoot. They can punch some prompts into an AI and it will spit out some results, that will look exactly like some other marketing guy's results, making it all blend into a collective product marketing sludge. Which is why they hire creatives who can showcase their stuff with a vision, a human touch and authenticity that connects with their customers. When a resort hires me, they want to present their stays and experiences in the best possible light to sell them to people. You know what's the best way to make sure that your resort doesn't sell to people? When they show up based on your photos and things they saw don't exist. And it's not the same as HDR'ed room photos that don't get as much sunlight when you get there. InteriorAI is a phenomenal product for early stage property developers. You know those over-rendered pre-vis presentations they show to investors? AI is INCREDIBLE for those, because the entire point is to show *what could be*, and it's cheaper than doing 3D renders. Also great if you're planning a renovation, because, again, it can visualize the potential. But in order to show *what is*, AI doesn't work, because it lacks, yes, you've guessed it - authenticity. I have talked to multiple full time photographers and they all have the same experience - no one has had a client conversation where AI was ever brought up. It's funny because AI will continue to be used in editing photos, like it was for years before Generative AI came along, but the reason why GenAI is not even a consideration in this industry is actually in the name. It's "Generative AI", not "Representative AI". For things that are usually *generated* (like those pre-vis images), these tools are unbelievably useful. But when you need to "represent" something that already exists - it doesn't work. Because when you represent something inauthentically - people don't like it. General audience customers (for whatever reason) are also repulsed by AI, and people, especially younger ones can detect AI with ease (yes, even the fancy realistic Flux LoRas) It might not be the 6th finger, but on a deep visceral level, majority of people can absolutely tell, because as I've said before and will keep saying - you can't speedrun evolution. We have evolved for millennia to detect and recognize humans. Point is, AI is extremely cool, it's a great technology and it will be used to solve real problems. But much like blockchain, it will not solve problems that the technologists behind it picture people having, when they really don't. Photographers, filmmakers, visual effects artists, painters, musicians, writers - all of them look at the likes of Linus AI, Benjamin LLM, Javi Upscale and all other AI influencers in the same way parents look at an excited kid with a crayon who just drew a circle. The reason they do, is the same reason every DBA looked at every 2018 blockchain advocate the same way. Because they know better. ---- P.S. And no, it's not the same as the first iPhone and it won't "get better in a few years. If you want a non-AI look at what happens when techies come to innovate in an industry they know nothing about, look up Lytro Cinema Camera.