The graphic above was created with AI (Imagen3) with the following prompt: “create a illustrated graphic in black and white only, showing the logos of openai, google, meta, amazon, and anthropic – all artistically drawn in a cloud resembling a human brain”. Clearly needs some fine tuning 😉
Diving Into the AI Landscape
Like many others, I’ve been intrigued by AI tools. My interest stems from personal curiosity and potential applications in my work and business, including exploring the competitive AI app landscape and integrating AI services into existing products.
I began exploring large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude to understand the current ecosystem. I wanted to grasp the relationship between LLM providers and app developers using their APIs, examine corporate partnerships and the integration of tools versus LLM APIs, and consider AI’s role in video and audio creation, graphics generation, automation, data analysis, image recognition, medical research, and even robotics.
The term “AI” encompasses many things, making it challenging to distinguish its various use cases and roles within the free enterprise value chain.
The Power of AI Brainstorming
Like many, I’ve experienced moments of amusement and awe at the perceived intelligence and capabilities of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and similar models. I’ve also been impressed by artistic generative programs like MidJourney, Synthesia, and Imagen for image and video creation. It’s remarkable that these are just the beginning of generative content and thinking systems. If we’re impressed now, these tools will likely seem primitive in a few years, given the rapid pace of development.
ChatGPT’s advanced voice feature is particularly handy when you are feeling inspired to iterate with a knowledge partner. I used it one day to iterate on a new business concept – covering everything from naming and marketing to software tools, tech stack, initial hires, and potential investors. That particular session transitioned between three different locations – all on the phone while continuing the conversation from home, to car, to office. Brainstorming sessions with AI voice are truly mind bending and one of the best use cases for the client-side consumer products. I find myself digging in deeper questioning everything with the AI, and often stimulating new ideas and twists different to what I had initially started with.
NotebookLM: A Wild Ride Through My Own Thoughts
That said – my most compelling experience has been with Google’s NotebookLM. It’s essentially ChatGPT but limited to user-provided content, often called a “closed knowledge system” or “personalized AI.” It’s especially user-friendly with Google Drive source documents or basic web URLs.
In one mind bending example – I connected my 100-page personal journal (aka diary) to NotebookLM, and it summarized it in about two seconds. I then asked questions about the journal’s author and potential themes. It offered options to create a study guide, outline the content, or—most notably—create a podcast with two AI podcasters discussing my entries. Listening to this analysis of my life and innermost thoughts was surreal—like hearing someone else discuss my life. I highly recommend this exercise.
I now use NotebookLM regularly. When I encounter a long but interesting article I lack the time to read, I connect the link to a new notebook and have it summarized instantly. Then, the AI podcasters discuss it with me. There’s also an “interrupt” feature to ask them for deeper dives or clarification. It’s impressive, and like all AI, it will only improve.
AI: The Future is What We Make It
While there are many potential downsides, I’m optimistic about general application of AI to our work and personal lives moving forward, particularly at the conversational and casual levels as a thought partner. There is no doubt it will bring about significant change in how we work day to day – particularly the speed at which we will be able to iterate and create new things together. Like many new technologies it’s up to us to use it for good and create the necessary safeguards.
(For those interested in the safety aspect of AI, I recommend “The Coming Wave” by Michael Bahaskar; it was a great primer on where AI has been and where it is likely to go.)