Welcome to Pivoting to WEB3 Podcast

July 15, 2024

PTW3 043: AI Avatars: Ethics and Impact on Business with Expert Philip Blackett and Donna Mitchell

We dive deep into the fascinating world of AI avatars with our esteemed guest, Philip Blankett. As an accomplished author, consultant, and entrepreneur, Philip introduces us to the HeyGen tool, a groundbreaking technology that creates instant avatars replicating voice, mannerisms, and speech patterns from short video snippets.

In this episode, we explore the ethical and security implications of AI avatars, the potential for misuse, and the necessity of consent and responsible use. We also delve into how AI can revolutionize businesses, from streamlining marketing efforts to simplifying podcast production and preparing for the growing impact of AI in the workforce.

Philip shares insights from his books on artificial intelligence, offers practical examples for traditional workers and entrepreneurs, and emphasizes the importance of embracing AI as a tool for increased productivity and competitiveness. Don't miss Philip's live demonstration of an AI avatar and insightful discussion on using AI for good versus evil.

Welcome back to the Pivoting To Web3 Podcast! In today's exciting episode, "AI Avatars: Ethics and Impact on Business," our host, Donna Mitchell, sits down with AI expert Philip Blackett. Philip introduces us to the groundbreaking HeyGen tool, which can create realistic avatars using short video snippets. He delves into both the opportunities and ethical dilemmas that such technology brings. From the intricacies of AI's role in streamlining business operations to its potential impact on the workforce, Philip provides invaluable insights on staying ahead in the age of artificial intelligence. Whether you're a small business owner, an entrepreneur, or a professional looking to future-proof your career, this episode is packed with practical advice and thought-provoking discussions. Stay tuned as we explore the dual-edged sword of AI technology and learn how to leverage it for success!

Key Takeaways:

Introduction of the HeyGen Tool**
- Creation of instant avatars from short video snippets.
- Modeling realistic speech with pauses and tonality.
- Replication of voice, mannerisms, and speech patterns.
- Professional avatars with enhanced realism for extra cost and time.

Ethical and Security Implications of AI Avatars**
- Importance of consent in using AI avatars.
- Responsibility of users and tool developers.
- Potential misuse and ethical considerations.

Realistic Similarities Between Philip and His Avatar**
- Donna’s amazement.
- Encouragement to listen and watch the upcoming episode on YouTube to view Avatar created by Philip Blackett

About Philip Blackett:

Philip Blackett is an author, consultant and entrepreneur who previously has worked with FedEx, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Chick-Fil-A. He got his Masters of Divinity degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, his MBA from Harvard Business School and his Bachelor’s Degree majoring in Political Science and Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Connect with Philip Blackett:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipblackett
https://www.youtube.com/@PhilipBlackett
https://www.facebook.com/PhilipBlackettFB
https://www.instagram.com/philipblackett
https://www.twitter.com/PhilipBlackett
https://www.PhilipBlackett.com

Connect with Donna Mitchell:

Podcast - https://www.PivotingToWeb3Podcast.com
Book an Event - https://www.DonnaPMitchell.com
Company - https://www.MitchellUniversalNetwork.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donna-mitchell-a1700619
Instagram Professional: https://www.instagram.com/dpmitch11
Twitter/ X: https://www.twitter.com/dpmitch11
YouTube Channel - https://www.Web3GamePlan.com

What to learn more: Pivoting To Web3 | Top 100 Jargon Terms

Transcript

Thanks for checking in the pivoting to web three podcast. Go to pivotingtweb three podcast.com to download and listen, or web three game plan to check out the videos. Thank you. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome to pivoting to web three podcast. And today we have Philip Blackett, who's an author, consultant, and entrepreneur who previously worked with FedEx, Goldman Sachs, bank of America, and Chick fil A. He got his master's at divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and his MBA from Harvard Business School and his bachelor degree majoring in political science and economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Donna Mitchell 00:00:47 - 00:01:25

So now, Philip and I have been having some great conversation. I think you all are going to love hearing what he has to say. He's very impressive, has a great background, corporate work for the big guys, and he's going to share with us some of the information and insights that he has gleaned. He's wrote in quite a few books. And it's in the business space how you need to keep your job in this AI and what you need to do with your business with AI. So I'm going to turn it over to Philip. And, Philip, say hello to your audience and, and mine and let them know who you are and how you got into the AI space. Hi, Philip.

Philip Blankett 00:01:25 - 00:02:08

Hello, Donna. Hello, everyone. It's so happy. I'm so glad to be here with you today. And so I'm very excited to talk about AI in particular, because you're right. I wrote a couple of books on artificial intelligence, one called Future Proof, how to adopt and master artificial intelligence to secure your job and career. That's a book more so for our nine to fiverrs, our working professionals, career development, and that sort of thing. And then I also wrote another book called the Unfair Advantage, how small business owners and entrepreneurs can use artificial intelligence to grow sales, outsmart the competition, and build their dream businesses without breaking the bank.

Philip Blankett 00:02:09 - 00:03:47

Obviously, that book is more so for our small business owners and our entrepreneurs. But nonetheless, Donna, the main message in both of those books is essentially this artificial intelligence is here to stay. It is not a fad. This is this generation social media, this generation's smartphone, personal computer, automobile, television, airplane wheel, and fire. So what do I mean by that? AI is a emerging technology that's only going to get better, and it's going to be here for the long term. But the question we ultimately have to ask ourselves, regardless of what capacity we serve in, is what are we essentially going to do about it? Are we going to put our heads in the sand like ostriches and think that it's a fad that will pass over over time? Well, we get fearful thinking the AI is going to take our jobs away, and it puts us in analysis paralysis where we don't do anything about it still. Or we say, listen, this can be an opportunity that serves us. Let's take the time to learn about it, figure out how we can adopt it into what we're already doing, and grow with Aih to be more of a linchpin and a thought leader in our particular spaces and teams, so that not only are we securing our jobs, our careers and businesses, but we're becoming more productive and more profitable with AI going forward.

Donna Mitchell 00:03:47 - 00:04:30

So, Philip, that was quite a bit of both sides of the coin. And I want to start with what I haven't talked about much on this podcast. Those that are working the nine to five have jobs scared to death. They're not sure what to believe. They're also part of the generation where they don't know what's true, what's false, or what is factual. Can you give us, from your perspective, a clear example on what somebody should be expecting once they decide, okay, I got to deal with this, and what do they do first? What should they expect in their next steps?

Philip Blankett 00:04:30 - 00:05:10

Right. So I think it's a great question, Donna. I think one thing that comes up top of mind is understand that this is not a situation where we should be waiting for Superman. What I mean by that is we should not be an expectation that somebody outside of ourselves is going to all of a sudden swoop in, save the day, and tell us, hey, we don't have to do anything from our end. We just got to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. And what I mean by Superman, listen, your manager or your boss or supervisor or team leader, he or she may know about AI. He or she may not. They may have it as a top priority.

Philip Blankett 00:05:11 - 00:06:23

He or she may not. But we should not, especially in this day and age, be more lax, for lack of a better word, to wait on somebody else to tell us what to do with AI or what our next step should be. What it should be more so from our standpoint, is, how do we become proactive to say, listen, let me learn about AI? Is there anything in my company that talks about artificial intelligence? Great. If so, I'll read up on it. I'll learn it. I'll listen to it. I'll watch it. But if not, then do not be afraid to look outside of your company to learn what AI is about? What books can you read, what podcasts can you listen to, what videos on YouTube or Google can you watch just to learn what AI is just to begin with and then take the next step to say, hey, now that I've gotten a overview of what artificial intelligence is and recognize that it's not as scary as I once thought it was, what is the next step? It's more so to say, hey, let me take a look at my job that I do every day.

Philip Blankett 00:06:24 - 00:07:56

There's certain parts of your job that if you're honest with yourself, you say, hey, nobody else can or should be doing this part of my job outside of me. Maybe that's 2020, 5% of the job. But what do you do about that remaining 75% to 80% of your job duties? Maybe that those jobs to be done can be tasks that you can either outsource to another person or preferably to AI. And so just that exercise of being able to take inventory of what you do on a day to day basis, what things you absolutely have to do and what things could you facilitate? Being done through AI is a significant exercise in itself, because what will often happen, Donna, is you then move to the next step to say, hey, of the things that I can outsource to AI, let me experiment a little bit. Let me do some research. Let me try to figure out what tools can I implement to help make my job easier, because once again, we're all on the same page here. AI is something, a tool to serve us, to help us be more productive. And if you can have an AI tool that works for what you're doing, that can get a certain task done, what usually would have taken you 2 hours to do now can get done in 15 minutes.

Philip Blankett 00:07:56 - 00:08:53

Well, now you just save yourself an hour and 45 minutes. And if you do that same job, let's say, five days a week, you just saved yourself an hour and 45 minutes times five days a week. So almost 10 hours freed up for you to do more of what I would call your sphere of genius. What is it things that you really want to do that's really helpful to move things forward for your team and your organization. But up to this point, you said, you know what, I just, I just don't have enough time. If I had more time, I'd do more of what I want to do or should do or no one else could do with AI, in this quick example, be freed up almost 10 hours a week, almost 40 hours a month to do more of that. Now we can bring more to the table for our team.

Donna Mitchell 00:08:53 - 00:09:31

So when you say that you could bring more to the table. So I'm quite sure some people are listening that haven't used AI. They've been thinking about it. They may be starting to play with it. What and where do you think it's best used? What are the best use cases when someone's an employee or working for a corporation or working for someone else? What are some of the best use cases that you've seen AI used for that really cemented the position of those that are working nine to five and scared they're going to lose their jobs or get displaced. Are there any key positions or industries that you think will be more favorable or like some. It's going to be everywhere. It's everywhere.

Philip Blankett 00:09:32 - 00:10:18

Yeah. So I've been fortunate enough to work on different type of functions in my short career so far, whether it's finance or marketing or sales or operations. And what I would say, Donna, is that AI can impact any of those areas as far as, like, what a business or a nonprofit does on a day to day basis. Artificial intelligence can help there. But just as a quick example, the thought is communication is something that's important for all of us, regardless of function one way or the other. We got to send that email, we got to send that, write that PowerPoint. We have to draft that memo and that sort. And oftentimes, what's often very daunting for many of us is seeing a blank page.

Philip Blankett 00:10:19 - 00:11:49

How do I start this? Like, how do I come up with, you know, Shakespeare in like ten minutes? Right. And because of AI, for example, there's a number of different generative AI tools that one of the best case scenarios or what's helpful about it is it allows us to quickly come up with at least a first draft of whatever we're trying to communicate, whether it's an email or presentation or report or social media posts. And essentially what happens there is the thought of, can you share what you're trying to achieve in one of these AI tools? And then in a matter of seconds, it spits out its version of what you should write. And so now, as opposed to looking at a blank page and wondering, how do I start this? Yeah, 15 seconds later, you now have a first draft to say, okay, now I got something to work with. You know, I can take a sentence out here or add a word here or add some more personality or the corporate mission statement here. But now what would have taken you a significant amount more time to come up with, you're already working with the first draft within the first minute, polishing it up a little bit, and you can send that email out or that communication in a matter of minutes afterwards, once again, saving time for you.

Donna Mitchell 00:11:49 - 00:12:15

So, a couple of questions, because this is also an education podcast. So for those who don't know, what are the different types of tools? You've been mentioning different types of tools, you know, they've probably heard about the art and they've heard about, you know, mid journey and chat cheap et. But so, sounds like, you know, a lot of the tools. What are the different functions of the tools that are out there in case everybody's like, what is he really talking about? Is he talking about chat TPT? But what are the tools? That's all I've heard of.

Philip Blankett 00:12:15 - 00:12:25

Oh, yeah. So, so one, one misconception we definitely want to debunk and demystify here is AI is way beyond chat GPT.

Donna Mitchell 00:12:25 - 00:12:26

Exactly.

Philip Blankett 00:12:26 - 00:12:59

Chat GPT is really like the tip top of the surface of the mountain called AI. And so. But I would also say, though, at the same time, Donna, we all have to start from somewhere, and so for us to even just start with chat GPT to learn about it, get more proficient with it, get more comfortable, that would be significant in and of itself. Another tool that's related to it that I would share or put on the table for people to consider that's been helpful for me is perplexity AI.

Donna Mitchell 00:13:00 - 00:13:02

So I just heard about perplexity just recently.

Philip Blankett 00:13:02 - 00:13:21

Yep, perplexity AI. What's helpful about that is if you've ever, like, did something on chat GPT, maybe to come up with some sort of blog posts or communication or that sort of thing, and you ever wonder yourself, where, where are they getting this information?

Donna Mitchell 00:13:22 - 00:13:24

Yeah, where's the footnote?

Philip Blankett 00:13:25 - 00:13:49

Because lo and beholden, I can't necessarily just copy and paste this into what I'm doing and just be like, tada. This is Phillips original, fresh off the head work. Especially they say, hey, how do I learn more about this, Philip? And now I'm trying to save face at the same time in real time, when I don't know where to go outside of saying chat GPT.

Donna Mitchell 00:13:49 - 00:13:50

Right.

Philip Blankett 00:13:50 - 00:14:47

But perplexity AI is helpful, Donna, because at the very least, it can come up with a similar work product as chat GPT. And what you also know, in the process of getting to that, it actually searches the web for certain information. So it's like adding Google to the mix. But what happens afterwards is when you try to copy and paste what comes out of there, what's often at the bottom, are you citations? So you'll have like ten plus sources of where perplexity got its information from. So from a research standpoint now, when you're taking a look at it, you can say, hey, it got this piece of information from this website. Let me click on the link, learn more about it. Maybe there's some other things I can reference from it. So now you're no longer just saying, hey, let me just work with the first draft of what they gave me.

Philip Blankett 00:14:47 - 00:15:02

Now you have a number of sources that you probably didn't know of before that you now can consult, take a look at, include and what you're doing. And now it's a much more robust work product to share or to publish or to provide for your team.

Donna Mitchell 00:15:02 - 00:15:29

Now, well, I like the fact that it had the citations, and I just recently learned about perplexity. My question to you is, with perplexity, does it still give you, if you ask a certain way, those scenarios that don't really exist, or because it can research and give citations in the footnotes and everything else, does it mean it really runs on facts and you're not really dealing in the world of did they make this up?

Philip Blankett 00:15:30 - 00:16:22

So no hallucination we're asking here. So, yeah, I think that's part that we have to be mindful of when we're using tools like chat, GPT, and perplexity is the possibility of it, quote unquote hallucinating, or coming up with things that are more fiction rather than fact. I think that's more the reason why perplexity is a more helpful tool, because at least you have a place where you can consult to verify. So you can at least have a place where you can go on a citation and say, hey, where is this coming from? Who's the source? Who's the institution? Is this a viable source? Should I include it or should I look for something else? And at the same time, you can always edit the response and ask perplexity to reiterate what it just, you know, provided for you as well if it's not to your liking.

Donna Mitchell 00:16:22 - 00:17:16

Okay, thank you for clarifying that. So we talked about those that are nine to five. They're working. They really need to move forward, investigate, learn, step it up, be creative, delegate, and get used to the AI and use it as a tool. It really enhances who you are, your thoughts, your research, and what you're trying to do, and definitely saves time, which could also mean increasing money. So as you increase your cash flow due to your productivity, and saving time in the business world. As we shift to that conversation, what have you found to be the best benefits in the business world and how do you think it's going to be looking going forward with the emerging trends? You've done a lot of work in the corporate world. You've done a lot of conversation and communication, research, writing.

Donna Mitchell 00:17:16 - 00:17:25

And what can you share with us as we move forward on the business side? What insights do you want to give us?

Philip Blankett 00:17:26 - 00:18:15

Yeah, so I think a similar place we can look at applying what we're just talking about with regards to AI, with working professionals, we can have that same sort of exercise apply to business owners and entrepreneurs to how they run their businesses. Because one first recognize that AI is an opportunity to serve you as a tool that can help you become more productive and more profitable. It's not a threat unless you decide to not use it and then lean yourself up to be victim of your competition that actually takes on using it. You know, it makes me think of, you know, a quote that the CEO of Nvidia once said. He said that it's not that AI is going to take your job, it's the person that knows AI who's going to take your job.

Donna Mitchell 00:18:15 - 00:18:16

It's true.

Philip Blankett 00:18:16 - 00:19:18

And I would apply that same rationale to businesses. It's not AI that's going to put you out of business. It's the business owner or the team that's your competition that knows AI that can potentially put you out of business. But yet, and still the question that comes out of that still is the same question as before, what are you going to do about that? So in this same way, if you're a business owner looking at all the different functions of your business, marketing, content, sales, operations, finance, legal, the same sort of functions every business practically has you do the same exercise. As far as like, hey, like, let me focus on one particular area, let's say marketing. Many businesses may not be doing as much marketing as they would like to because they just couldn't afford the whole team, the whole staff. They say, hey, there's so many different positions. I have to fill the eight to ten positions that's gonna cost me tens of thousands of dollars a month, and I just don't have that.

Philip Blankett 00:19:19 - 00:20:25

Now. You can look at certain AI tools that you can take a team of eight to ten people and have that same sort of productivity and slim that team down to essentially two or three people. And what that looks like when you're using AI tools is if you can meth meet out the same productivity with teams with bigger marketing, what does that now free you up to do? And so I think where that comes off down as far as, like, the, the insights, is thinking big picture out of the box to say, hey, how can AI help me do more with less? You know, it's oftentimes something that a lot of businesses will usually say before layoffs. Right. But more with less can be helpful here in the sense of how can we achieve the type of goals and strategies we have, even with a limited footprint or a smaller team. And the thing that can bridge the gap between where we're trying to achieve and where we are currently can be AI tools.

Donna Mitchell 00:20:25 - 00:21:09

Is there a project that you can think of or that you'll be able to share? So a lot of the audience is new, and there's quite a few people that are jumping on board and early adopters. But what I'd like to try to share is what does it look like for a company that's now using AI? If you could paint that picture on what was, what they couldn't do and what they could do today, are there any projects or any clients that you can really share with us, the pros and cons, or. This is what it was before and this is what we implemented and this is the outcome. So people can clearly delineate what's happening in the AI world versus generalities.

Philip Blankett 00:21:10 - 00:21:19

Perfect. Perfect question. So, I'll actually focus on something that you and I are very familiar with, and we're actually doing right now, podcasting.

Donna Mitchell 00:21:19 - 00:21:19

Okay.

Philip Blankett 00:21:20 - 00:21:39

So, podcasting is a relatively new medium that business owners and entrepreneurs can tap into, that can essentially broaden their audience, increase their thought leadership or their reputation, and bring in more leads that can lead to more sales for their, their business.

Donna Mitchell 00:21:39 - 00:21:40

Right.

Philip Blankett 00:21:40 - 00:23:03

However, the challenge is, Donna, and you and I probably can attest to this, hosting and managing a podcast show is not for the faint at heart. It's not something that is easy for people to just do very simply, which is often the case where if it's not something you can easily do, you're less likely to do it. Right. And so there are AI tools out there that makes the whole podcast production process much easier. Where now it's a sense where, if I were to play this out for a client, if you wanted to build your thought leadership, let's say, you know, on automotives, would you say that as far as, like, thought leadership and automotives, what you could do is you can have somebody co host or interview somebody. They come on Zoom, they record the Zoom interview. And I've seen a tool in particular that allows you to take the file you just recorded of your Zoom interview with your guests. You then upload that file to a particular AI tool that, and essentially, in minutes, can transcribe the whole interview, can pick out which voice is whose, and you can label it as far as like, okay, this one is Philip, and this one is Donna.

Philip Blankett 00:23:03 - 00:24:14

And in the transcript is now saying that Philip said this, followed by Donna said that. It can come up with table of contents, it can come up with chapters, so that when you're actually watching it, you can segment or specify which one you want to listen to. It can upload it to podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify. It can even come up with viral video moments. So like ten to 32nd, 62nd video moments that you can now share at the push of a button to your social media channels. So those are just a few of those benefits of that particular tool that I've been accustomed to or I've seen, but I think to myself, how long would it take for a team to manually do all that, to take a video interview and transcribe it to then be able to come up with table contests of what this actual interview talked about to figure out which person said what, like, this is coming from. Somebody has actually physically manually transcribed interviews before. And knowing that that's like a two to three hour process, depending on how long the interview is.

Donna Mitchell 00:24:15 - 00:24:20

I had an agency. I didn't, I didn't go there. I did that. That's a long time. I had an agency do that.

Philip Blankett 00:24:21 - 00:24:29

And so, and what the agency would do is they'll do that, and they'll probably cost you a good amount.

Donna Mitchell 00:24:29 - 00:24:31

Maybe they're not doing it anymore.

Philip Blankett 00:24:31 - 00:25:32

Right. And so if they are doing it, they probably have AI tools of what I'm referencing. But to use that as an example, what it basically does is it not only saves time for you to actually produce a podcast and take it to market, but now in that sense, because it's much easier for people to do something like podcasting that they originally thought was going to be tougher to manage. Now you have an opportunity as a business to be able to get out into your local, regional, and national markets to showcase what you're about, to provide content that you can leverage and reuse across multiple different mediums, like social media and blogs and corporate websites and email marketing as well. And you can also use that as a source to build a relationship with your listeners that can become prospects and then become customers, and then hopefully raven fans as well.

Donna Mitchell 00:25:35 - 00:26:35

Raving fans. Yes. I've have that book and a few others that you've mentioned, and it's been really great speaking with you regarding AI and the impact and the trends that are emerging. And you are absolutely right, Philip. I happen to stumble on a few tools in the podcasting world that have been very helpful and saved a lot of time, and the AI being able to help me with my quote cards or the quote of the client and LinkedIn or Twitter or the appropriate content and the keywords, you know, for your YouTube and your channel and everything else, it's really been remarkable. I came into the podcast game. I launched September 5. My trailer was the end of August.

Donna Mitchell 00:26:35 - 00:27:02

I wasn't sure what I was doing, how I was doing it. So I did get an agency because I wanted to make sure it was professional, and I wanted to learn what a podcast was. I didn't know what a podcast was. That's not my generation. So it has been a learning experience. And Philip is absolutely right. Production, post production, and everything else can take an awful lot of time. So, with that said, I'm also very curious.

Donna Mitchell 00:27:02 - 00:27:23

What is it that you've learned or you share with your clients that you prepare them for with some of the challenges? I'm sure you talk to clients that want to implement AI, they're not sure which AI to choose. How do you assess, and how do you prepare them for the challenges and the obstacles going forward in today's trends?

Philip Blankett 00:27:23 - 00:27:48

Yeah, so I think it's a great question, Donna. I think the first thing that comes up top of mind is to really set and manage expectations. So AI is something that's growing and evolving by the day. Right. It's one of the common analogies I come up with is when we buy a cardinal. So let's. Let's take your favorite Mercedes ML suV. Right.

Philip Blankett 00:27:48 - 00:27:57

The year now is 2024. Okay. They have 2024. Mercedes ML is out now, and I.

Donna Mitchell 00:27:57 - 00:27:58

Think they're Gls is now.

Philip Blankett 00:27:58 - 00:28:04

Oh, GLS is. I don't know. So I'm trying to educate myself, and.

Donna Mitchell 00:28:04 - 00:28:10

I don't have one. Okay. I don't have the GLS. I'm still in the ML. If they discontinued.

Philip Blankett 00:28:11 - 00:28:26

I'm learning from you here. So let's go with GLS. And what I would imagine, come fourth quarter this year, like, around October, Mercedes are going to start selling what type of GLS is.

Donna Mitchell 00:28:28 - 00:28:37

Oh, you mean for the next year, they'll start selling? I don't look at them. Okay. Because everything I see, I want.

Philip Blankett 00:28:37 - 00:29:23

So, so, so they'll start selling the 2025 version of the GLS. But we were just, we're still in 2024, but they're already starting to prepare to sell next year's version, even in 2024. But that's over the course of a year. Like a new iteration, a new model with certain features that are different from the previous year. Compare that to AI now, where you're not necessarily waiting till next year to see the new bells and whistles and new tweaks and updates that this tool in particular may have made. You're seeing version upgrades by the week, by the month.

Donna Mitchell 00:29:23 - 00:29:24

Oh, okay, that's true.

Philip Blankett 00:29:25 - 00:30:34

And so what happens fast? It's moving much faster than we can as humans. And so it's very easily a potential cause for overwhelm. And so what I like to do with my clients, first off, is manage expectations and say, hey, listen, the tools I tell you today may differ this time next month. What we have to understand is we have to have a growth mindset with regards to AI. Like, we're going to learn this, we're going to adapt to it, because these tools are competing amongst each other. And so what you were paying for one tool is now going to be less of a price next month, probably, and have five or six more features you didn't ask for because they're constantly competing. But the only constant in this case, Donna, is change. And it's helpful for people to understand that this is going to be a lot of changes, a lot of expert experimentation that we'll be doing, that we have to have the right mindset, the right attitude that we're going to learn from it, try new things, define what works, and then what works will work with until we find something better.

Philip Blankett 00:30:34 - 00:30:39

But I think that's probably the first thing I usually help my clients on with regards to AI.

Donna Mitchell 00:30:40 - 00:31:11

Have we ran into any legal challenges or issues that have come up already with AI, or what is the mindset of most of the clients that you've worked with? Has there really been any intersections where there was tension between the people and process of the organization and then bringing in the AI? Anything you can share from that culture standpoint or that ethics bias standpoint, was there any tension that you could see?

Philip Blankett 00:31:12 - 00:32:05

So I would say that for sure, I think because this is like the wild, Wild west, again, we're learning as we go, and I think from a legal and regulatory side as well, they're learning as well, too, as far as how to best manage this. But I think in terms of businesses, I think one thing that comes up top of mind is thinking about how do you go about AI with regards to the use of video and audio in terms of. You have some tools out here that can clone your voice, Donna, we have some tools out here that can clone your image in video. One of the things I often like to kid around with other people I've talked to is, how do you know that you're actually talking to the real Philip right now?

Donna Mitchell 00:32:08 - 00:32:35

How do I know? Well, I had a conversation with you prior, so I'm sure glad that I ain't talking to a video. You wouldn't be here. I've never gotten that far yet. I don't think I'm going to those channels that, you know, they produce it with AI, and a lot of them look very realistic. It makes me nervous because I'm wondering about that myself. Here I come in the podcast, and now somebody going to be taping my voice and duplicating it? I don't think so.

Philip Blankett 00:32:35 - 00:33:19

I hope so. I think that's part of what I'm sharing here, is that, you know, I've definitely seen tools that, you know, and I've used that can clone my voice, that can clone my video, where basically I feed it a script to read, and it'll take my whole image and it'll speak that whole script in a video that I can use. But I think the ethics of it. Yeah, absolutely, Donna. You hit on it wherever consent and privacy concerns definitely come up top of mind that from a branding standpoint, we have to really be vigilant on how we go about using some of these tools, especially if it's presenting something that's realistic but didn't actually happen.

Donna Mitchell 00:33:19 - 00:33:20

Right, exactly.

Philip Blankett 00:33:20 - 00:33:40

It's not saying that we can't do that. We just have to be very mindful of what's involved and whether or not we need to put any sort of disclaimers or, you know, messaging behind it or in front of it to make sure we're not potentially misleading people in any shape or form.

Donna Mitchell 00:33:40 - 00:33:53

Yeah. YouTube wants you to check off a couple of boxes if you're doing that. I'm curious, do you have that on your laptop or something you can access now that clone and that video that you did to yourself? Let's see. Can we share screen? I would love to see that.

Philip Blankett 00:33:54 - 00:33:54

Sure.

Donna Mitchell 00:33:54 - 00:33:59

And I think it'd be nice to see you on YouTube. I'm sure. Put it out there.

Philip Blankett 00:33:59 - 00:34:00

No problem.

Donna Mitchell 00:34:01 - 00:34:04

Let me. Let me pause this for a minute. Is that okay with you?

Philip Blankett 00:34:04 - 00:34:05

Of course.

Donna Mitchell 00:34:05 - 00:34:26

I think that'd be pretty cool. You all hold on a moment. Okay. So what we have now, I'm gonna. I can't believe this, but we have it on the screen here. And you have to look at YouTube and this particular video from pivoting to web three podcast with Philip. And he is now have on the screen. This is a.

Donna Mitchell 00:34:26 - 00:34:33

I'm scared. This is, this is AI. Tell us what we got on the screen, what's going on, and let it play. Let's hear its voice.

Philip Blankett 00:34:33 - 00:34:36

Let me introduce you to my friend, AI, Philip.

Donna Mitchell 00:34:37 - 00:34:38

Wow.

Avatar Philip Blankett 00:34:38 - 00:35:36

Hey, there. My name is Philip Blackett, and I would love to be considered as a guest for your podcast show. When I was younger, my grandmother gave me the nickname, the special package, for she believed I had all the special gifts God could give me wrapped up in one person. I believe I can share what I have within for the benefit of your audience. I can talk about business, relationships, politics, entrepreneurship, religion, money, inspiration and motivation. I am an author, speaker, consultant, and entrepreneur. I have written and self published seven books, ranging from artificial intelligence, politics, and how to respectfully disagree with those who think, believe, and vote differently from you. I have my own audio and video set up at home, so I can record episodes virtually with you.

Avatar Philip Blankett 00:35:37 - 00:36:06

I can share with you my one pager that includes more background information on myself as well as ten story ideas that you can consider us having a conversation about on your podcast for the benefit of your audience. If I potentially am a good fit for your show, let me know, and we can discuss next steps towards having a conversation on your show that your audience will enjoy. Thank you, and I will talk to you soon, my friend.

Donna Mitchell 00:36:08 - 00:36:14

Wow. The tone, the pitch, the eyes, they all look just like you.

Philip Blankett 00:36:16 - 00:36:16

Yep.

Donna Mitchell 00:36:16 - 00:36:18

I would have never known that wasn't you.

Philip Blankett 00:36:19 - 00:36:22

Especially if it's the first time you've seen it. Absolutely.

Donna Mitchell 00:36:23 - 00:36:42

Oh, this is scary. I don't know. Makes me a little bit nervous here, especially being a podcast. And I'm out here now. Okay. Voice, image, everything is out here. So how did you do that? How. How long did it take? Can we talk about that a little? Just a little bit? We're running out of time.

Philip Blankett 00:36:42 - 00:36:43

Sure.

Donna Mitchell 00:36:43 - 00:36:51

So tell us about. Tell everybody how you did that, the prompt and everything else, and. Well, yeah, we could tell the tool if you want. Tell us what you want to share.

Philip Blankett 00:36:52 - 00:37:34

I was going to start with the tool. Like, the tool. The tool is hagen he y g e nde. And essentially what that does is it allows you to send a short snippet of video of yourself, preferably one that has, like, pauses in your speech, maybe some different tonality. So it can help model it as realistic as possible. And what it will do is it can come up with an instant avatar. So basically, like, I can get you one just as quickly as possible within, like, an hour, that you can start to use. They'll use all of Donna's, like, mannerisms and talks and that sort.

Philip Blankett 00:37:34 - 00:38:15

Or you can do more professional avatar, which takes a little bit more time. It's an upgrade in cost, but they try to make it even that much more realistic. And so essentially what happens there is that when you have your avatar, you can essentially open up a video project where you can feed it, what script you want it to essentially speak about or talk of, push the button. And after a few minutes, what we just, what we just experienced just now is essentially what anybody could do from that standpoint where they can actually see themselves talk. But it wasn't really theme.

Donna Mitchell 00:38:15 - 00:38:37

So this is really not good for some people because you can already get tripped up or what we used to say in the old days, you can get caught up. It's something that you had nothing to do with. So now you've got AI, and this can match your voice, it can match your eyes, it can do everything. So what about security? What about ethics? What's happening with that? Or. We don't know that yet.

Philip Blankett 00:38:37 - 00:38:38

Well, the most common.

Donna Mitchell 00:38:38 - 00:38:40

How can you tell it's AI?

Philip Blankett 00:38:40 - 00:39:27

The most common thing they'll do in these type of instances is they make sure that you have to sign off on, this is my voice, this is me, this is Philip, and I give consent for this tool to use my voice or use my image, even literally recording a video. You saying that, like, the real version of you. And I think that's really important because. Yeah, like, what it basically does is that it's not going to make an action towards doing this unless you give it permission to. And so I think that's really what's important, that these tools take security very seriously, and they try to come up with the right standards and safeguards in place to make sure that if you do use this tool, you're doing it for yourself and you're doing it the right way.

Donna Mitchell 00:39:29 - 00:40:00

I'm an old girl from Brooklyn, okay? I hear what you say. It's watching what you saying, but you got the world out there and you saying, well, you just make sure you sign on. Okay, so we won't go there. So what are your concerns? What are your concerns? And then we'll end on what is your wish list? And thank you so much for bringing that up. Sharing the information, sharing your screen taking the time. I am, like, shocked at what I'm seeing. It looks just like you.

Philip Blankett 00:40:00 - 00:40:55

Yep. So I think my biggest concern is it's the same concern I would have with any technology, whether it's. It's a car or plane or social media, that sort of thing. Like, people can use these new technologies for good, and they can also use it for evil. It just depends on the person behind the wheel or the person using it. It's a thing I often say, Donna is like, hey, if I go to my kitchen and I pull out my drawer, a butter knife in my hands, it's helpful for me to put butter and strawberry jelly on my toast in the morning for breakfast. But that same butter knife to somebody else, in somebody else's hands, can be wielded as a weapon that can inflict serious harm on somebody or worse, but it's still the same butter knife. It just depends on whose hand is it in.

Philip Blankett 00:40:56 - 00:41:24

And so I think the concern I have with AI is similar to that. Whether it's somebody behind the wheel or somebody in the comments on Twitter or somebody creating AI video of themselves or somebody else. You know, having people with the right intentions, doing the right things with regards to AI, is supremely important as we become more and more immersed in what AI is looking to be in our world today.

Donna Mitchell 00:41:26 - 00:41:40

And on that note, I like this. Thank you for being a guest on pivoting to web three podcast. We're shaping the world together. And how can people reach out and talk to you or connect with you and or buy your books? What else would you like to share?

Philip Blankett 00:41:40 - 00:42:17

Absolutely. So we'll love for anyone that's interested in my books, future proof or the unfair advantage with regards to artificial intelligence to head on over to Amazon.com and just, you can look up those books primarily just looking up my name, Philip Blacketta. P h I l I p b l a c k e t t. You can also touch base with me on my website, dream businessmakeover.com, or look me up on social media. I'm on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Just look up my name, Philip Blackett.

Donna Mitchell 00:42:18 - 00:42:52

Phillip, you the real Philip right here. I'm glad you're here with me. I'm glad you showed me who the avatar you have. And I would have never that if somebody told me it would look almost exactly like you, sound like you blink their eyes, like you have the color your eyes there, too, the white of your eyes, the non white whatever. It's picking up everything. And thank you so much. You guys are going to be excited. Make sure that you go over to YouTube, web three gameplan.com and check out this episode.

Donna Mitchell 00:42:52 - 00:43:17

It's going to be episode that's going to be coming to you soon. And thank you so much for sharing everything and being here and letting us serve. We're shaping tomorrow together. Good evening, good morning and good day. Have a good evening. Thank you. Thanks for checking in the pivoting to web three podcast. Go to pivotingtweb three podcast.com to download and listen or web three game plan to check out the videos.

Donna Mitchell 00:43:17 - 00:43:19

Exclude

0:00 - 43:20

Thank you. We're shaping tomorrow together.

Philip Blackett

Author / Consultant / Entrepreneur

Philip Blackett is an author, consultant and entrepreneur who previously has worked with FedEx, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Chick-Fil-A. He got his Masters of Divinity degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, his MBA from Harvard Business School and his Bachelor’s Degree majoring in Political Science and Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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