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After several months of stopping and starting the learning path, I finally took and passed my Google Generative AI Leadership Certification. Between work, life, classes at Chicago Botanical Gardens (I will bring this up later) and what's happing on the filmmaking front, getting this nailed down took some focus. The path is high level, with some hands on examples.

Just wanted to point out a couple things as I've begun my AI journey. Last year, I was terrified about what was going to happen to my career as a web developer, software engineer, solutions architect or whatever my title is anymore. I just spent close to a year working in the Algolia search realm for a prominent ecommerce company. So, I haven't really been a front end developer during most of that. And honestly, I'm not sure how relevant that skill set will be in the future.

Advertising Meltdown

About 6 months ago I read this article in the New York Times about the GenX Career Meltdown happening in the wake of AI Technology, mostly in advertising and production. I had a moment of realization what it will be like in the C-Suite with marketing executives.

"AI, I need a 30 second clip about a family enjoying Pringles at a picnic and how the can is adept at keeping your chips from being crushed in your bag." AI generation... "I like #3, post to social medias with a paid boosting strategy that fits our budget." Meeting over.

Something like that would take months of planning. Script writing, casting, location scouting, shooting, post production, music score. Done in a couple of minutes. The image and video generation quality is rapidly approaching photo realistic. Advertising as we have known it since the time of Mad Men is gone.

I got that Pringles example from this stand up bit by Greg Warren. One of my new favorites. "Efficient use of space!"

Turning the boat.

This visualization pushed me into motion. The metaphor in my head was the movie the Perfect Storm with George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.  Trolling along in my composable web development boat, ignoring the AI wave as insignificant, as it began to pick up steam. There was no other decision than to turn the boat and head into the oncoming tidal wave.

Over a year of AI Code Assist

For the last year and a half I have been using Github's Copilot for code generation. Giving you access to a variety of models. It's incredibly helpful debugging and adding comments in your code. And in a lot of cases will accurately predict what I am going to type.

Example. I'm working with a variable and then I type console, I get a suggestion for a console log with the variable already pre-formatted for debugging output. Those little things add up to hours and days.

If you or your organization aren't using it, it's a bad sign.

MACH Development

Click here for my notes from ContentCon. I've seen some interesting front end generation out of a demo I saw at ContentCon a couple months ago from Vercel v0, with Github integration into your CI-CD pipeline. Along with generative image personalization from DAM vendors like Cloudinary. Personalization will be the name of the game in the Composable space.

The oldest job and the newest job.

3 years ago we bought our first house. And I found I knew very little about landscaping, other than how to mow a traditional lawn. The stat that really devastated me was, the Traditional American Lawn is the #1 thing we use water on. Not food! Not human hydration! Our dumb, stupid, time consuming, constantly dying lawn. That's crazy to me.

So, I started taking classes at the Chicago Botanical Gardens to learn about ground covers. On my 3rd class now, very zen. But, also a lot of work. Especially memorization of scientific names. At first, I figured this would be a leisurely class. Wrong. Real school. A lot of material to absorb, a lot of science. Most of which was print outs, that I would scan in for reference.

Microlearning

I'm normally pretty busy, so I try to microlearn whenever I can. At the dentist, during my cardio, during my commute, anytime I am bored. Can't really bring a binder with me everywhere, not knowing when I will be stuck sitting around waiting for something or someone.

Earlier this year I bought a Samsung Galaxy Fold 6. Game changer. Large enough to read while I'm on the treadmill, along with being a walking image and video studio that fits in my pocket. So, I used Gemini and NotebookLM to OCR the study material into a Google Doc. What I couldn't do, was have any of the Google products generate Google Slides, creating an online series of flashcards. Had to create those manually and copy paste from the docs into the slides. Took some formatting, that I'm fairly confident I could automate using the Google Doc API.

I have found that the rhythm of my foot steps while doing my cardio was helpful in memorizing the scientific names of the plants. Probably also something to be said about occupying my body while I occupy my brain. I started this process in my first CBG class, Botany. I didn't really know anyone and was hesitant to share my study materials.

Flashcards

My second class, Annuals, there were some familiar faces and the class started a text chain for information sharing. So, I shared my flashcards and my formatted Google Docs with the class. Easily searched and accessed via a publicly shared Google Drive. This is my Week 5 Flashcards.

After attending Garden Walks with our instructor, I would upload on the spot, images I took on my Fold of the actual plants, leaves, flowers and locations, directly into my Google Slides flashcards.

I also used this material to create a couple Instagram Reels. The image quality on the Fold is very good. If you want to watch some zen, click here for an episode of Mj's Oasis. Tried to use Instagram's TikTok competitor, Edits, but it just didn't have the transition control I wanted. So, this ended up being edited in Premiere, and my images pulled from my Google Photos. Felt that it helped with memorization to be able to watch it over and over again. Images from our garden walks, with the scientific and common names. Most of my attempts at getting AI to generate these videos have not been successful.

Roadtrip

Right before our midterm, I had to drive from Chicago to Detroit for a family event. And I knew I was short on my plant list memorization. So, I tried the Studio section of NotebookLM and created a podcast out of the Plant Details pdf. Mind you, this is a scanned pdf. Not a rendered Google nor Microsoft Word doc. Click here to listen to the Annuals Podcast.

The podcast was incredibly consistent, entertaining and informative. A man and woman, having a discussion about the materials in our study guides. It wasn't exhaustive, but enough to help immensely with learning the names, with notable highlights of each. Especially when you are stuck behind the wheel of a car for 5 hours.

After a couple of weeks, when I finished my cards and shared the podcast with the class, I started getting comments like, "Study buddy GOAT!". "Super helpful, thank you!" "Are you taking perennials next semester?"

Proof is in the pudding...

I tell this story not to make myself feel good about me helping my class. I processed this information for my own self preservation, along with it becoming my use case for generative AI. I shared it, because why not? It's free. It's done. And it's completely sharable. And honestly, I really enjoy my classes, my classmates and my instructors.

But, the most interesting comment came from our instructor who said, "This is the best any class I've taught has ever done on one of my quizzes." He has been teaching for 25 years. Is there direct causation between my GenAI study materials and the class results? I can't say, but I know it helped me.

What Gemini and NotebookLM created helped 20 plant loving people learn faster about what I consider to be a quintessential life skill. How to grow plants. The focal point of all life on this planet. The only organism on Earth, that can grow and produce their own food individually. No other organism in the universe can survive without them. The first job and the newest job.

Filmmaking

In a couple weeks, I go back into production with a couple long time film school friends, along with the cast and crew members we have been working with on the 48hr Film Festival Projects. One of which showcased at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024. Talented crew, great people. This time we are shooting a horror feature back in Janesville and Beloit, Wisconsin.

I've been utilizing Gemini, Veo and Flow to generate props, brainstorming and shot list planning. Videos only export at 1080p, which isn't of much help on an 8k shoot. I've been doing graphics, marketing and props for movies for 25 years. These tools have reduced my production time by 80-90%. On stuff that is of little consequence to telling the story. Just pieces to make the experience look authentic.

I'll have more examples of what we are doing in a couple months. But, what I am finding is that AI is decreasing budget and time expenses across the board. I'm still not sure you can generate a feature length film, but I am sure you can use it to reduce time and money.

As a filmmaker, who has consistently been stymied by budget for the past 2 decades, I see AI as leveling the playing field. In an industry that is wrought with nepotism, back stabbing and greed. I see a new wave of Indie Filmmaking the likes we haven't seen since the time of Clerks, El Mariachi, Bottle Rocket and Reservoir Dogs.

Blowback

I spent the last 6 months studying emerging AI tools. The closer I get, the less afraid I am of it. And the more I am excited to really let my creativity loose. When I started telling people in my life about this certification, I expected more support and congratulations. What I have found is great fear and resentment.

I've spent the last 3 decades studying technology. I've said in the past, I graduated from Borders Books University. Consistently carrying around some type of 1000 page book in my bike messenger bag. So heavy, it was creating chiropractic issues for me. It's been my entire career. Every year, I have to add something new to the skill set. I guess AI is just another stack of books in my messenger bag.

I suppose I have been burying industries my entire career. Layout production, traditional photo retouching, film photography, storyboarding, film editing, catalogs, retail stores, taxis, traditional html, traditional Content Management Systems, SEO... Should we long for the day of covered wagons?

Conclusion

I don't think there is a choice, whether we like it or not. And it's becoming clear that I will have to refrain from discussing it publicly, for the time being. But, it's going to change every project management workflow in every industry for generations to come. It's akin to refusing to learn Microsoft Word in '95. The quote that I read somewhere on LinkedIN. "AI isn't going to take your job. Someone using AI will."

Next up Vertex AI Search , Google's Machine Learning Certification and N8N.