The AI genie isn’t going back in the bottle. Underneath the layers of fear, misinformation and hype is a set of technologies and tools that have enormous potential to elevate our individual creativity and productivity.
The important question is: who’s in control? Frontier models and eye-watering token bills are for large corporations. The bleeding edge of frontier model investment has little to do with getting our creative work out into the world or making sure our people get paid.
For individual creatives, creative enterprises, and independent businesses of all types, the future is AI is in augmenting the capabilities of the people around us, not replacing them.
Local AI has this capability. You can customise AI for your needs, on hardware you own or a server you control.
But while the newest small models are far more capable than the original ChatGPT, doing meaningful work locally is harder than it looks.
Smaller models need a different mindset, tighter prompts, and adjusted expectations. And the occasional lie-down after the laptop craps itself.
I’ve learned this the hard way. I’ve completed dozens of AI courses and still feel like I’m only just getting started. I’m sharing the journey, the stumbles and triumphs so you too can reap the benefits of AI.
Assuming the tech bros don’t kill us all in the meantime.