AI (Artificial Intelligence) Could Ruin My Blogging Career!

Hi Everyone,

Hope you’re all doing well with the early summer weather. Thankfully the temperature is dropping, just in time for the marathon tomorrow. Alas, rain is predicted, but that’s preferable to boiling temps.

So, I guess everyone, by now, has heard of Artificial Intelligence. Or, AI, which in a non-serif font looks a lot like Al, as in Allen. Not Ai, as in Aiden.

 

I have to say, as a blogger, I am inundated with ads for courses that will supposedly help me make untold sums of money using AI. $1,997.00 value for only $499.00!

 

I wish! Alas, it’s a fantasy.

There are many people who make a living solely by telling others how to make a living. Sigh…

However, it’s true. One can write an entire blog post using the words spat out by a computer. Hell, one could write an entire novel using AI.

Hello, Brave New World! It would appear that computers really are taking over everything, But, hey; not so fast!

 

Aren’t you worried, Laurel? Your headline seemed to indicate so.

 

Am I worried that computers are going to start writing about the best white paint colors and knock me back to page 113,698 of 64,000,000,000,000 results?

Naaahhh… Not really.

I’m not worried because no computer can replicate my wackadoodle voice. I mean, do you know any computers that will suddenly throw in a word of Yiddish in one paragraph and play Mozart for you in the next?

 

To demonstrate this point, I went into the free app; you must have heard something about it by now.

 

ChatGPT.

 

No, Laurel, I haven’t heard of ChatGPT.

 

Ah, well, then consider yourself lucky. Or, maybe not.

ChatGPT stands for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer.”

Transformer? My son used to play with Transformers when he was little. You know, those toys that would transform from a robot into a truck.

 

Okay, let’s test this ChatGPT baby out. By the way, it’s FREE to use!

 

As a preamble, I went to the Design Blogger’s Conference eight years ago and heard Bunny Williams speaking. She mentioned her legendary husband, John Rosselli, and with a wink, said how annoyed (jealous?) he gets when she stays up late reading our interior design blogs.

That gave me an idea for an attention-grabbing headline.

 

Why Bunny Williams’ Husband Hates Me

 

Please feel free to read it.

However, in order to make a comparison of writing, I put the same headline into ChatGPT.

Please note: I am putting all ChatGPT into a graphic because Google, my sadistic boyfriend (that I hate right now), knows when AI has written something, and that does not amuse him because he figures if people wanted to read an encyclopedia, they would look it up on Wikipedia. So, we need to be careful to appease Google, for he might decide to punish us.

 

Below is my headline, and below that is ChatGPT’s answer.

 

Haha! Gosh, that’s a terrific answer! Well, it would be if AI understood that I AM joking 100%!

Of course, AI doesn’t understand that Bunny Williams’ husband not only doesn’t hate me, but it’s also highly unlikely he’s ever even heard of me. Okay, it’s eight years later and there’s a remote chance he has by now. Maybe. However, in 2015, definitely no.

Sure, people will use AI to write blog posts, but it won’t help them much. I think I’ll be okay, but if I were a psychotherapist, I might be a little concerned. haha

 

So, Laurel, why do you hate Google?

 

Ummm… Google has been giving me fits for over ten years in one way or another.  That’s all I can say. We’re trying to work things out.

Maybe ARTificial Intelligence can help. :]

I follow Neil Patel, the marketing and SEO genius I met and had dinner with just over three years ago. He says there’s a good use for AI when it comes to blogging. And, that’s for ideas, and structure.

I haven’t tried it yet. I’m not sure if it would help or get in my way. However, it is a fast way of researching something I’m not 100% sure about.

 

Aside from ChatGPT, a new friend told me about OpenAI.

(I think it might be the same thing. But, it creates images instead of text)

Have y’all seen that one?

Fair warning.

Open

AI

Is

Highly

Addictive!

 

All you do is put your sentence or phrase in the box, wait a few seconds, and up pops up AI’s version of what it thinks you might want to see. All are free of copyright, too.

I did it for kitchens putting in several terms, like DeVOL Kitchen, Gil Schafer Kitchen, and finally, Laurel Bern Kitchen. And, yes, I’m not going to show the others, but I did see elements of the designers in the kitchens Open AI sent back to me.

 

But, my kitchen? ChatGPT has NO idea who I am.

 

Clearly.

That is unless he was just messing with my head. That might be the case.

 

Haha! Ummm that would be a big fat, NOT even close!

With everything I put in, there was some degree of deformity. I’m not sure what that’s about.

However, Art must’ve done some quick research because he soon realized his error, and I got back some beautiful kitchens. Or, at least, the concept for the kitchen. There is always some level of deformity in the designs. But, you get the idea, for sure.

 

I will now share some of the Artificial AI kitchens ala Laurel Bern, and with tall glass cabinet doors.

 

This one reminds me of a combination of the two kitchens below.

 

John Jacob

 

This week after writing again about warm gray paint colors and featuring the beautiful homes of Furlow Gatewood, I began thinking about the decorative palm fronds he had in his homes.

 

I think it’s safe to say that “thinking” is a gross understatement.

 

Cuthbert House has these lovely stylized fronds, above. (and below)

 

It says they are made from tole. They look more like plaster or ceramic. But, of course, they could be metal.

This version of the palm fronds was found in the Peacock House.

 

Photo: Rod Collins

Above is the living room, where the palm fronds hung majestically over the fireplace mantel.

 

For the big black sofa post, last year, I was going to put this in, but it didn’t make the cut.

 

 

I read in Furlow’s book, One Man’s Folly, The Exceptional Houses of Furlow Gatewood, that these fronds are also metal, and he had them made in India. Okay, I’ll buy that.

Getting back to the palm fronds. I couldn’t find them.

 

The closest was found by Cubby, a kind reader, who spoke of them in the comments a few days ago. (The warm gray paint colors post.)

 

Heartwood Carving

 

They’re fantastic, but here’s the problem. They’re only 15″ wide. However, Furlow’s look to be somewhere between 42″ – 48″ wide.  These would look a little dinky on that wall. But, maybe on a smaller wall, this would work.

Believe me; I looked and looked for something else.

There are zillions of pieces with a rococo flavor, like these from Outwater, that are 10″ long in unfinished polymer resin. These are beautiful, and I could see Furlow using a fragment of something like this somewhere, but that’s not what he did. What he did is plainer and more Louis XVI/neoclassical/Regency than Louis XV in style.

 

This piece directly, above from Decorator’s Supply could work if painted. I might put a carved rosette in the middle of opposing pairs. Actually, and very beautiful and definitely neoclassical.

I just found this piece also on Decorator’s Supply. It is 26″ wide. I think Furlow might like this one, but it is more delicate than his.

 

By the way, I asked Open AI to make a Furlow Gatewood living room.

 

This is quite interesting. It looks like Furlow, but Furlow high on something.

Still, I wanted to find the palm fronds. I put some of the drawings from Open AI in Google Lens. That was what I hoped would find them for me.

But, instead, I found this next image.

 

Uhhh… No. This is hilariously wroooooong!

 

Now, here is when I got lost in my addiction to OpenAI.

 

ChatGPT is merely a gateway drug. ;]

I put in my search terms, like plaster, palm fronds, laurel bough, branch, Furlow Gatewood, branches, leaves, neoclassical, Regency, and so forth… However, you don’t need to change the search terms. AI will gladly create three new iterations of what it thinks you want to see every time you hit ENTER.

I probably did at least 300 of these “fronds.”

Above are a few of the better ones. You can see the one in the middle, on the bottom, is totally in the manner of the  Cuthbert fronds. The one on the bottom left is more of a classic “laurel” leaf. The rest look like sconces.

However, I did make this image in Picmonkey using the laurel leaf image. This one is like mixing Cuthbert with Peacock.

I could see using this tool as a fantastic aid for product development. It’s not that anything needs to be a direct replica. However, it could serve to inspire a derivative.

 

Although most of the images were pretty good, some of the Open AI iterations were pretty comical.

 

This is seriously cracking me up. Is that first dude on the left sticking his tongue out? Then, there’s the legless laurel wreath goddess, and finally, palm frond hair! I could see John Derian selling stuff like this in his NYC shop.

However, this next one takes the prize.

 

Dismembered and conjoined twins worked into a laurel wreath?

 

So, I didn’t come up with anything else in the marketplace that’s like Furlow’s palm fronds.

 

This carved wood comes from CustomsBot on Etsy.  However, it is only about 15″ wide.

So, maybe this could be a DIY project for some brave soul. I tried to imagine myself making them.

I thought about carving them out of wood.

No way. Waaay too difficult, and I am sure I would be ripping my fingers to shreds.

 

So, I asked AI the question.

 

 

Thanks, Art. That’s a very well-thought-out and lucid response.

I think modeling clay might be the way to go. That would be the kind of clay that is self-hardening.

And, very quickly, I found one of the best tutorials I’ve ever seen on Youtube. I wasn’t bored for one second.

I found another tutorial to make a beautiful rococo wood carving similar to the one you can pick up easily.

 

What is the point of making something that’s already manufactured?

 

However, the modeling clay video is excellent. Here it is.

 

I guess what would make sense would be to make a prototype and then make a mold that could then produce copies in plaster or perhaps resin.

I think it would help a lot to have a line drawing underneath the clay to make sure everything is straight and the right size. Plus, it takes the guesswork out of what each element will look like.

So, is anyone game to try this?

I dunno if I have the time or patience. Plus, these pieces aren’t small.

 

Maybe I should stick to what I do best, for now.

 

 

haha! Although, I don’t know if the world is ready for conjoined Laurels.

 

Alas, artificial intelligence looks like it’s here to stay.

 

I think it could be a useful tool for many businesses, but I wouldn’t go overboard thinking it’s the next shiny thing one must go running after— or else, be lost in the dust.

While I also think it’s important to make changes in one’s business, I also think it’s best to stay the course and do what’s working for you.

For me, it has largely been consistency and not following the crowd.

xo,

 

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