Apple is now setting up a system for AI-narrated books. This would allow the computer to generate an AI-based audio narration of a book so that readers can listen as well as read.
I consume a lot of books (primarily fiction) through audiobooks. For fiction, I prefer a human actor over a robot-generated AI voice. For non-fiction, however, I can see this being of use, particularly for books that wouldn’t otherwise get a narrated version. Expect more of this.
I was surprised to see the latest update from Craft added an AI writing assistant. The idea behind its inclusion (they are using the GPT-3 engine) is not so much to write for you (although it can do that rather poorly), but instead to help you with more practical AI tasks given the state of the technology, like outlining, summarizing your words, and translation. In short, it’s not AI to do your work for you but instead improve on what you make.
Because it’s integrated into Craft, you select some blocks, press Command-enter, and you’re off. There are usage limits:
Starter plan: 25 requests per month
Personal pro: 100 requests per month
Business plan: 250 requests per month
Hopefully, those numbers will go up soon.
Just for giggles, here is Craft AI’s summarization of the above text:
“Craft’s latest update includes an AI writing assistant powered by the GPT-3 engine that can help improve your writing instead of replacing it. It offers features such as spell and grammar checking, summarization, and translation and is accessible when editing blocks by pressing Command-enter. Usage is limited to 25, 100, or 250 requests per month depending on the plan.”
Please don’t write me and tell me you like the robot’s writing voice better. I’m hanging on by a thread here.
There’s a lot of talk lately about AI-generated art. If you want to explore it, I’d recommend checking out DiffusionBee, which has a free Mac App. That said, I took a few shots at getting it to draw a picture of a bonsai tree on top of a Macintosh computer. It did great with the tree but never did seem to remember the Mac.
