At SparkFun Electronics, we constantly push the boundaries of innovation, often exploring how emerging technologies can enhance our processes and offerings. In a recent experiment, I embarked on a unique challenge: to create a SparkFun product entirely with AI tools, including ChatGPT, from initial concept to final product video. The goal was to harness AI for every step—designing a microcontroller, crafting a hookup guide for Arduino, scripting and producing a product video. This endeavor provided a firsthand look into the integration of AI within our creative and development workflows.
The project involved several AI platforms. First I had it design the board, and after some tweaking, I was happy with this result:
After designing the microcontroller and its guide using AI-generated content, I attempted to produce a video that featured our colleague, Rob Reynolds, as the narrator—using only AI tools. The voice for Rob was synthesized through an AI that mimicked his speech, and I attempted to sync this with a video clip of him using free AI lip-sync software. Despite the potential shown by these tools, the result highlighted some current limitations of AI technology. The audio lacked the natural inflections of human speech, and the lip-syncing was entirely out of alignment, leading to a less than satisfactory final product.
You can see the final product here:
This experiment was enlightening, underscoring both the potential and the pitfalls of relying solely on AI for product development. AI proved to be a powerful tool for idea generation and streamlining certain tasks, but it also demonstrated that careful review and human oversight are essential. As we look to the future, AI will undoubtedly play a significant role in shaping the tech industry, but this experience reminded us of the importance of maintaining a balance between automated solutions and human creativity and intuition.
Was this blog entirely created with AI? Is it ChatGPT? Is it cake?! Well, sort of. Most of this blog was created with ChatGPT after I gave it a bunch of detailed information on what this was going to be about. My favorite response it first gave me was “That sounds like an interesting project!” But after reviewing it and changing a few things I was content with the result.
I really hope people who watch this video or read this blog will give some insight on some other options I could have utilized to create this project that may have led to a better result. That would be a nice change of pace from censoring internet trolls on YouTube screaming about how I don’t know anything simply because of my gender or some other close minded bigotry like that. (At least you know that wasn’t written by an AI software)
Rob is pretty eclectic and hard to duplicate with AI.I would love to get a board with a round microprocessor on it. Great project. Beside, who doesn't want see Rob's head in a blender. (not sure I read that right Rob ;)
A few days ago, someone knowing that I've been "doing" computers over 50 years, asked if they should be worried that AI was going to displace humans. My response was to remind them that the invention of movable type by Guttenberg in the mid 15th Century (that's almost 600 years ago!) DID put hundreds of scribes who copied books out of work. However, before Guttenberg's printing press, the cost of a book was about the same as the cost of a small house. Today, of course, we can often buy books for less than the cost of a restaurant meal. IMHO, although AI will put some people out of work, in the long run it will create a lot more jobs than it will eliminate.
Some cool stuff here, especially with AI still in its infancy. If you wanted to get really crazy, you could create a 3D object of my head, using something like Face Gen (they have a free demo version), then import that into Blender. Once that's done, you could read the script, track your face and translate it onto the model of my face, and that would solve the issue with GUI.ai. (Yes, you can do facial tracking in Blender!) There would still be the Uncanny Valley issue, but I'm pretty sure that I get that Uncanny Valley look in my eyes sometimes, too! I feel like my job here is safe for at least the next 90 days.
Did I miss something? It didn't seem like a board was created, just a generic picture of a board. So, unless I missed something AI just created a marketing campaign not an actual product.