Paul Bakaus

The next few years in #AI are going to be wild. Check out this guitaring panda made by the new text-to-video model from China, KLING, that's rivaling OpenAI’s unreleased Sora model. KLING can generate up to 2-minute long videos with 1080p quality with just a text prompt 😲

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Here is a recent practical example of applying generative AI technology: ↓ The AI-Augmented Product Manager Inspired by Claire Vo's talk on the "super IC Product Manager" Sarang Patel built this Wordle-like game in 10 days. 🎉 Key Takeaways: ☑︎ AI tools like Cursor, Replit, and v0 are game-changers ☑︎ The process wasn't instant, but significantly faster than traditional methods ☑︎ AI augmentation allowed for rapid prototyping and iteration → The implications for professionals? AI isn't coming for your job -  It's supercharging your colleagues.  The future belongs to those who embrace AI as a powerful collaborator, not a threat. How are you using AI in your work? ↳What's holding you back from embracing AI tools? ↳What could you achieve if you could prototype 10x faster? PS: Curious about Word Ball? Check it out at playwordball.com and let Sarang Patel know what you think!

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A very humble contribution of mine in this article from Forbes about Blockade Labs’ release of Blendbox. Here is my full unedited note on the potential of this new breed of tool: “I approach AI art in much the same way as I have approached photoshop over the past 20 years, utilizing techniques like kitbashing and photo-bashing. Blendbox, even in its alpha stage, is a promising step toward integrating AI into creative workflows that digital artists have used for years. The advantage of a tool like Blendbox, particularly as new features roll out, is in retaining control over composition and concept, rather than allowing AI to dictate the entire composition, colors, and other details. My hope and expectation for the future are to see features like image uploads, enabling me to incorporate my own assets and apply my own LoRas to maintain consistency across a body of work, aesthetic style, or even within IP-owned projects. With features such as these, combined with shortcuts and layer management similar to Photoshop, and potentially even 3D file imports, a GenAI-powered software could provide a level of control that Photoshop never achieved. Currently, I generate objects and layers directly on the platform, then import the results into Magnific for latent upscaling, and finally, into Minimax to produce a video. To address your question, Blendbox doesn’t quite compare with tools like Topaz or Magnific. Topaz is simply an upscaler, a pioneer but now largely outdated, while Magnific supports text-to-image, style references, and upscaling but lacks control over composition. In Magnific, control is only as precise as the prompt and the model’s ability to interpret it, which has limitations. For example, if I want a cow on the left, a cloud on the right, a character in the center with a bird on their shoulder, a top hat, a left red shoe, and a right blue shoe, some prompt information will likely be lost or elements misplaced. Blendbox’s real power lies in enabling control over an infinite array of elements, allowing you to position and size them precisely as desired, giving you mastery over the composition. This refined version improves clarity, flow, and readability while keeping the original meaning intact. Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to adjust!” I invite you to read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/g_zXu6mw

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AI should do the boring stuff, while we focus on the creative things. This isn't just a vision - it's becoming reality with TailorTask! 🚀 We're revolutionizing task automation, empowering non-technical users to: - Brief an AI - Get a smart workflow plan - Provide feedback and maintain control - Execute workflows on demand or on schedule Curious to see it in action? Check out our first demo! We are currently in closed beta, you can request early access (link in the comments).

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Over the years I’ve seen dozens of variations of the strategy/tactics “layer cake”. Somewhere at the top (or bottom) you have vision. And then three to six layers away you have projects, bets, experiments, options, or whatever. The vision is super stable, lasting years and years. The strategy sticks around for one, two, or three years. And at last we have the “work”—where the magic happens—lasting weeks and months. Everything cascades, nests, and connects neatly. It feels good; It looks good. Except… We operate in environments that don’t operate in terms of neat cascades. A shift in the macro-economic or socio-political environment can upend every layer. If you imagine a strategy consisting of many assumptions and motions, it is unrealistic to expect a homogenous level of stability. Some parts are about winning/losing in days and weeks. While other parts are much more stable. No one has any skin in the game for all the fluffy words in the cake. Nothing holds them to these words. No one will keep a 2y goal “stable” just because teams want it that way. One quarterly misstep and the whole thing will be rewritten—implicitly or explicitly. The budget is where the actual decisions are made. And no one looks back at the nice diagrams and says "alas, that's a three year commitment!" All to say that outside of the nice slide-ware, it is much more effective to imagine many diverse motions in play—each with unique shapes and needs—instead of a cascade.

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Everyone's talking about “founder mode,” but as it gains traction, founders will start using it as an excuse for poor management. Founder mode isn’t a license to run a company at 5,000 the same way you ran it at 5. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, exemplifies what I like to call “scaled founder mode”. Scaled founder mode is being highly involved in the most important things, that only you can do to drive the company forward. Nvidia is one of the most successful tech companies in the world, with a $3 trillion market cap. And Huang, with a 31+ year tenure, is the longest-serving CEO in the industry. He’s a highly effective manager. And he’s still very much in founder mode. When interviewed by Stripe's Patrick Collison, Huang said “CEOs are pinch hitters. We should be working on the things that nobody else can or nobody else is.” Nvidia’s leadership team of 60 reports directly to Huang. But he doesn’t do 1:1s. This way, the team of 60 is relatively flat, with no silos and no privileged access to information. Not saying that killing 1:1s is the answer to speedy execution. But Nvidia found that this way, everyone contributes to solving problems with equal access to important info. And because Huang sees his primary role as being a custodian of the culture, he eats in the cafeteria with employees every single day. At almost 30k employees, you can’t get much more “in the details” than that.

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As part of the revamp of their long form audio narration tool Project, ElevenLabs has added an automatic regeneration feature. The feature will automatically regenerate the audio output for free if it detects mispronunciations. Looks pretty helpful!

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"Our goal is to create operating leverage through AI. ... One of the ways I look at it is, our total people costs will go down, our cost per head will go up, and my GPU per researcher will go up." — Satya Nadella. I finished listening to the BG2 podcast with the Microsoft CEO last night. Extremely interesting conversation with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley, and a lot to chew on. I found myself skipping back repeatedly to listen to certain parts again, to make sure I understood exactly what Satya was saying. One example was the quote above, in the context of the long-term implications of AI for the workforce, specifically at Microsoft in this case. I'd be very interested in hearing what everyone thinks of this. Here's that specific portion of the show: https://lnkd.in/gcPjHpeg Here's the full podcast: https://lnkd.in/gHAquZpD

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Sweetndata, a South Korean AI-based fandom content startup, secured CNTTech funding to enhance AI fan cards, advance global expansion, and broaden its platform to diverse markets.

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The newest issue of The Pragmatic Engineer found a surprise uptick in eng hiring in the typically slow summer season - I'm curious to see how the macro environment impacts this uptick as we head into the fall, but I remain hopeful. I asked Gemini to give me the tldr of the article to share with my team (sorry, Gergely Orosz) and found it missed one of the most interesting pieces of the article. Gemini's highlights - Unexpected surge: Tech recruitment has seen an unusual spike in June and July, contrary to typical trends. Increased demand: Startups, especially AI-focused ones, are driving the hiring uptick. Global phenomenon: This trend isn't just limited to the US; Europe is also experiencing increased recruitment activity. Reasons for hiring: Companies are backfilling positions, investing in growth due to improved financials, and responding to increased VC funding. Challenges remain: While the job market is improving, finding qualified candidates and offering competitive compensation remains difficult for many companies. What I found most interesting - The nature of the backfills: the article finds that a lot of new headcount are actually backfills of folks that were "over-slashed" during rounds of layoffs. Not entirely surprising with the "trim the fat" and "rebuild lean" mentality, but interesting nonetheless. Either way, the uptick is encouraging (and don't always rely on Gemini's tldrs). #hiring #startups #VCbacked #softwareengineering

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Thought this was clever https://lnkd.in/gmpPKzKR

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Expanding Global Reach with AI: Insights from Hyunjin, CEO of Hudson AI In the latest Messy Middle podcast episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Hyunjin, CEO of Hudson AI. Their innovative AI-powered dubbing solution, Timbr, is helping creators and media companies expand globally by localizing content with realistic dubbing and lip-sync technology. Key Takeaways - Timing Matters: Entering the AI dubbing market was tough with competitors already present, but Hudson AI focused on an untapped space—creator-centered solutions for dynamic entertainment content. Adapt to Change: Hyunjin highlights the importance of staying agile and constantly adapting to new trends and customer needs. This focus has helped Hudson AI tailor its solutions to creators in a rapidly changing market. Customer First Approach: While AI continues to evolve, understanding and catering to creators’ needs is crucial for staying relevant and refining the product. If you’re a creator looking to expand globally, check out Timbr Studio—an exciting new platform for connecting with international audiences. Visit https://timbr.studio to explore.

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Roblox is a platform to advertise on but most people don't realize how many unique ways there are to bring your message to life. There's programatic ads, custom integrations, owned bespoke experiences and even ads inside social media game/experiences like Clip It. Check out this article from Digiday written by Alexander Lee. Good insight from Ben Sarraille. I was happy to get my two cents in as well for Sawhorse Productions. It's exciting times for immersive marketing. If you aren't exploring these UGC gaming platforms, you aren't reaching Gen Z and Gen A as well as you might think... #roblox #ugcgaming #marketing #metaversemarketing #innovation

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PSA for CEOs: It’s your job to understand what potential acquirers want. Even if you’re not looking to sell yet. This idea was top of mind for me during GDC, where I met with several bigger studios. I took every opportunity to ask how they think about acquisitions: - What makes a potential acquisition interesting to them? - What thresholds do studios have to meet? - What metrics do they value most? This type of forward-looking market exploration is a shift for me. My primary focus for the last four years has been building FunCraft into a successful business. But my role needs to evolve. While FunCraft is growing and thriving independently, it’s still my responsibility to gauge what could make us an attractive acquisition down the road and understand how we build toward it. My advice to other CEOs: If an acquisition is something you can envision for your company down the road, don't plan for it in a silo. Talk extensively with potential acquirers and let their input inform your strategy early on.

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