AI is a Puppy (and other lessons from Bath)
Workshop number three is in the books, and I’m back from The Studio with a notebook full of scribbles and a head full of ideas.
If the last session on IP was the “vegetables” of the business diet, this week felt a bit more like the dessert buffet. The topic was “What AI can do for me”. I am far from unfamiliar with AI, its been around my work for years. I have worked with classifier networks and genetic algorithms in my research and GAN more recently with painting robot, but the current culture of AI is moving so quickly it feels hard to keep up with. It has become much closer to consumers and the social impact could be quite big. I am also starting to explore where I can use it in my business productively without losing a sense of humanity in my decisons.
Top Trumps and TV Fame
We started, as always, with an icebreaker to wake us up. This time, we had to create our own “Top Trumps” card—a quick self-portrait and one fun fact.
I’m a creative technologist, but let’s just say my hand-drawn self-portrait won’t be winning any awards. For my fun fact, I went with something that usually surprises people: I was once featured on Countryfile with two of my interactive sculptures at Tyntesfield Estate. The irony? I don’t even watch the show. It was a good laugh walking around the room trading cards; you realize very quickly that everyone has a hidden backstory you’d never guess from their LinkedIn profile.
The 60-Second Pitch: Less is More
Then came the weekly ritual: the 60-second pitch.
I’ll admit, I treated this differently this time. Last week, I felt like I was stumbling, trying to cram the entire history of Octopus Immersive into one minute. I spent this past week refining it, recording myself, and even sending audio notes to other founders for feedback.
The result? “Less is more.” I cut the fluff and focused on the core value. Standing up there today felt significantly calmer. I wasn’t racing the clock; I was just telling the story. It’s satisfying to feel that muscle growing stronger week by week.
The Main Event: Taming the Machine
The core of the day was split between two talks: Blue O’Connor on practical tools and Joyann Boyce on the ethics and reality of using them.
Blue gave us a great landscape view of what’s available beyond just ChatGPT. We were signposted to a massive list of tools for image generation, productivity, and coding. I’ve got a long list of tabs open on my browser right now that I’m keen to test out.
Joyann Boyce’s session, “AI is a puppy,” opened up some great questions about the ethics and impact of AI. Coming from a technical background where questions about what intelligence really easy were common place during my undergrad, I cant help but worry that AI is just another tool to wield capitalism over the working class rather than liberate them. It could sew great class divides and be useful only to those with privilage.
The Analogy: Treat AI like a puppy. It’s enthusiastic and can do cool tricks, but if you don’t train it well, supervise it constantly, and clean up after it, it will absolutely make a mess on your carpet.
It was a refreshing take. We often hear about AI as this terrifying overlord or a magic wand. Viewing it as a tool that requires specific, careful instruction (prompt engineering) and fact-checking (cleaning up the mess) makes it feel much more manageable.
New Connections and a New Idea
We wrapped up the day with a tour of the wider studio offices. It’s a great space, and seeing where everyone works sparked a bit of an idea.
I’ve been loving the conversations in the “in-between” moments—the coffee breaks and the walks to the station. Everyone in this cohort has such a specific, interesting niche. I realized I want to capture that.
So, I’m toying with the idea of starting a podcast to interview the other founders on the programme. It would be a great way to document their journeys and dig a bit deeper into the “creative tech” scene in the South West. Watch this space—I might be bringing a microphone to the next session.
For now, I’m off to see if I can train this AI puppy to help me sort my inbox.
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