Ep: 122: 1) Sora by OpenAI 2) Feelings on giving and being given career support

[00:00] $700 of Botox in my face. Oh my God. 700. How many units did you get? 54. Wow. She's pumping you. She is pumping it in. That's the cost of being 39. That's the cost of doing business. [00:13] Welcome to Two Online by Boys Club. Hot internet news served fresh. I'm Natasha Hoskins. I'm Dina Burke. And this is Boys Club. [00:23] Wait, is it just boys club? It's just boys club. [00:26] The Boys Club podcast? No. No. [00:28] Just boys club. [00:29] Guess what? Boys Club is doing our very first conference called Brand New. Dina, what are we going to be talking about? So we're going to be covering a lot of the stuff that we cover on this podcast. Crypto, of course, the new internet, digital culture, emerging technology will be at the Austin proper on March 12th. And we're pulling in some of the smartest people we know. It's going to be very fun. Tickets are now live, and they will never be as cheap as they are [00:59] Today, go buy your ticket. Members and zaddy holders get special pricing. And if you aren't a member, you can apply to attend brand new. So go to boysclub.vip backslash brand new link and show notes to get all the details and can't wait to see you in Austin. Yeah, I think you look absolutely perfect. Look at that face. It's absolutely gorgeous. You've been really Dina, for those who don't know, Dina has really leaned into a thick headband. She's not wearing it today,

[01:29] go off and plie down the street and every time I brings me like [01:34] Joy. Very preppy look. Super preppy. [01:38] But which is not the vibe usually for it's not the vibe usually either of us. So it's fun to see it honestly feels like you're [01:47] cosplaying that's how it feels it feels like that honestly that's i have told you this before but every time i wear a dress i feel like i'm cosplaying like i feel like i'm it's so funny [01:58] You're just like, I'm in drag. Okay, welcome to the podcast. Hello, friends. This is the feelings check in. We are going to be talking about some emergent tech news story. Dina is going to come in and teach me and you. And then we're gonna talk about some feelings. So excited to be here with you all. [02:18] Me too. We have a great episode for you guys coming up. So stick around. [02:48] Thank you.

[03:01] Sora. Here we are. Open AI. Sora is, now that I'm saying it out loud, it feels like maybe that's not how you pronounce it. It sounds like a sorer. [03:10] Ew, sore. But I guess that's the only way. Totally. I do have to say OpenAI has never been great at naming things. They've never been great at naming things. So it wouldn't surprise me. [03:23] Totally. Sour. Anyway. Okay. Sora, if we're saying it wrong, just send us an email. It's not that serious. It was never that serious. Okay. Sora from OpenAI came out yesterday. [03:33] How much have you seen around it about it? I've been seeing a good amount. I've been bookmarking a lot of it, but I have not been digging in because I had a feeling you would be teaching and talking. But I wanted to make sure that I had all the notes there if I wanted to. So my understanding is that it's a text to video tool. [03:51] By OpenAI and that it's one minute videos. And I've seen a few one puppies playing in the snow, people walking in a snowy, beautiful Tokyo. That's what I know. [04:03] That's a great summary. The bookmark book, [04:08] it and never go back to it is something that I [04:10] Classic move. Classic move. Okay. So Sora, yes, largely right. Release a research release from OpenAI that came out yesterday. It's text to video, generative art, generative video creation. You can create, like you said, up to 60 seconds of video. You can create new video or extend existing video. The video can also be created from images, image inputs as well. I will say this is the first time that I'm like, there's God in there.

[04:38] Oh, there's like some God. Yeah. It's okay. I do have to tell you one thing. [04:45] Mm-hmm. This is... [04:47] intimate information. [04:49] But Dina and I share an inbox. And so we see everything that either of us is doing. And I woke up this morning and I was going through the inbox and... [05:00] I saw an email that was sent from [05:03] our email and i was like oh this is like a note that dina sent herself and i opened it and was looking through it and stopped myself because i was like oh this is notes for the pod but it was it looked like notes from an unwell person like it was like totally incoherent and it was like weird spacing and a weird punctuation and then at the bottom it said there's god in there and [05:33] Thank you. [05:33] So I was really, really wondering what that was about. Well, it's so funny. Yes, I've been having an experience. I've been having an experience with this technology that is... [05:46] So I spend some time on like the EAC corner of Twitter where it's a bunch of... [05:53] crazy, fringy tech weirdos who post about AI all the time. Well, roast them. Well, I mean, I think they would describe themselves as that as well. Like, I think that that's... Self-proclaimed. Embrace it. Yeah, totally. And... [06:07] I also don't say that in judgment. I say it just

[06:09] In camaraderie, like camaraderie. In camaraderie. Yeah, totally. I think they're like curious about it. And I don't I wouldn't say that I'm yak, but I, I see it and respected for I'm like, really trying to not piss anyone off right now. I'm like, being very diplomatic, but besides the point, I spend time on that part of Twitter. And there's like kind of a running joke where it's like, Sam Altman raising people. [06:33] $7 trillion to create God. And like, there's all this whole thing about like Sam Altman creating a God and like, that's a running bit. And I've always thought it was funny because I'm like, Oh yeah. Like chat GPT, whatever AI, AGI. But yeah, [06:48] I've never really felt it in my bones. [06:50] As a joke. Yeah. And going through this and seeing how it's done and seeing the outputs that are coming out from Sora. I'm like, oh, I get it. [06:59] This is insane. Because you're like, this is generative. [07:03] It's. [07:04] It's. [07:05] generative, it's detailed. I'll say like, so text to video is not new. [07:11] there's um google's done it there's this uh startup called runway which i think is probably like the front runner of text to video ai stuff but the difference with what has been coming out around sora is that it's [07:24] first of all, like photorealistic. So it's not cartoons. It's not I don't know if you've seen like the Will Smith eating pizza video where it's like crazy and it's distorted and it's warped and it's weird. Or like the Budweiser ad. The Budweiser ad. Yeah. Where it's like just crazy. And the stuff that's coming out around Sora is very photorealistic. It is very detailed. It's

[07:46] It also, the sort of physics of the videos... [07:51] suggests that it understands how the objects in the video exist in the world. There'll be like a ray of light that comes down. There's like very detailed lighting. Like there's one video where it's a woman on a train looking at out a window. It's like the whole cityscape and she's in a train and she's looking out the window and you're seeing the cityscape. And then she passes quickly by like a, like in a tunnel and you see her reflection. Whoa. You're watching the video and [08:14] insane how much this is able to predict and create and understand about physics and light and [08:22] objects and weight and there's drone style video there's steadicam style video and like you can put those in as prompts like prompt direction wow so it's crazy and it's really it's i'd say many multiples times better than the other text of video stuff that's come out and in the positioning around sora from open ai you can kind of tell that they're like this is [08:49] crazy because of all the messaging that they put around the safety side of it. First of all, it's a research release, so it's only available to like... [08:57] influencers and what they call red teamers and red teamers i learned this yesterday so this is fresh off the discord i saw this from sam our sam altman our our internal sam altman which is samantha stevens red teamers are people who are basically doing like adversarial testing with the technology to try and break it and also to try and understand what people will do with it that's unsafe or there's bias or there's like deep fake stuff or celebrity likeness stuff or ip

[09:27] OpenAid has put a lot of messaging on their site around they're doing a lot of safety testing right now. And to me, that suggests like they get that this is... [09:36] a really big deal. Yeah. There's all these unintended, unexpected things that people do once they get their hands on technology like this. And so that's why they want to give it to the influencers as well. And like the creative people to try and find the boundaries of it. They also, there's this technology that they have where they review every frame that goes out. So it's a lot of computational power that goes into the safety reviewing as well. And so sort of unsure how that's going to translate to a public release, but. Did they give any sense of timing or anything [10:06] know, the sort of misinformation, the deep fake thing is front of mind when you're watching this. You're like, oh, OK, that's two steps away from. [10:13] where we are now and how that could be used. Okay, so I'm totally tracking. Yeah, so like a lot of concern about deep fakes about misinformation, you can see how this could be wielded in crazy ways. I saw a very funny tweet yesterday. That was a quote tweet of the announcement from OpenAI, with a screenshot of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Veep. [10:37] which I couldn't love that show more. And there's subtitles and then it's a screenshot. [10:42] And the subtitles on the screenshot say, what the fuck is this? And she's like laughing and like stressed out. And the screen, the quote is the screen actors guild. Totally. Totally. I think that. [10:56] Yeah, I know there were a lot of creative professionals, film professionals, animal trainers, actors and actresses. Oh my gosh, yeah. Who are seeing that and are like, yeah, what the fuck? Animators. Animators. That sort of...

[11:12] That sort of thing. Yeah, I was listing out where are the implications of this. [11:18] actors for sure i i heard someone talk about oh this is great because it means that there'll be like some licensing deal with open ai where you'll be able to like use actors likeness and pay them royalties and it can be like this programmatic royalty thing where you're like using it so i don't know but that definitely relates to the screen actors guild conversation from um last year and [11:41] amplify the stakes a bit. Totally. Also, it's crazy because this technology is developing so quickly that I don't even know how you really keep up if you're a guild or a union around this work. It's just like by the time you finish negotiating around it, there's going to be all these new releases that [11:58] make a lot of it not applicable anymore. Yeah. Also like the other AI startups, there's been all the sort of like a bloom of other AI startups that have done the runways and all these other little ones that are like doing something and then open it comes in and just like dominance by stock video sites. It's just like, I don't know what you do if you're them, like it's over. Cause you could argue that the Christopher Nolans of the world will be fine because... [12:21] Right. Or maybe they won't, but that like the lesser quality, more like fast fashion version of video work will be. [12:30] are totally decimated by this yeah i think also it's funny to think about we're at a really interesting moment in time where like [12:37] Now all this video is going to start to be generated and it's 60 seconds. So it's like perfectly suited for social media and it's going to all be out there. And yes, deep fakes and misinformation and all that. But you fast forward 100 years in the future, there's going to be this dividing line where it's like,

[12:53] What is... [12:54] real and what is fake, any video that's created after 2024, I'm sure there's going to be like this level of skepticism where you're like, I don't know. What's... Yeah. [13:01] It's not real. Could totally not be real. And that's a really interesting thing to start to think about that real fake line, just graying and blurring even more. It makes me think about we're having Chris Dixon on the podcast next week. And both you and I are doing a lot of preparation. Dad's going to be on the pod. Dad's coming to watch us at work. [13:23] It's take your dad to work day. Here at Voice Club next week. And [13:29] One of the things that is in his book and that he talked about on a recent episode, a podcast episode that he did was talking about the way in which. [13:38] when there's new emergent technology, what happens with it? And essentially looking at what Yahoo was like when it first launched and it just looked like a carbon copy of the yellow pages. And then there becomes a whole new language and literacy and visual direction for what websites look like and what that experience is for users. And the same was true for when film [14:08] being recorded and they didn't have this visual language for how to tell a story that didn't look like a play and obviously he was talking about it in relationship to how we're using blockchain technology and how creative people are using these tools and [14:22] we haven't developed a new literacy around what that means and what's possible. And I think that that is totally applicable to what we're talking about here, where right now all we're doing with this technology or what people will do is create videos based on the ways that we have been creating videos. And what I'm excited for and what I think will be...

[14:42] when it's less scary and actually more interesting is when people are starting to use these tools to do something that has never looked like anything before it. And there's an entirely new language around [14:54] how you use AI tools for visual creativity or direction, then I think we'll be in a much [15:00] better position to be able to look at, oh, that's what a video from pre-AI looks like because it so clearly has the culture around it that... [15:09] makes it of that time. And then there'll be, [15:12] future videos where we're living in. I don't know. You know that movie, that sci-fi movie with Ryan Gosling? That's a remake. Blade Runner. Mm-hmm. Like, it's an incredible shot of him, like, walking across this, like, overpass. And... [15:25] What's her face? She's so beautiful. [15:27] Do you know who I'm talking about? I have actually never seen Blade Runner. What? Dina. Oh my gosh. She's so hot. Oh, Ana de Armas. Ana de Armas. Wow. She's like an animated character. Like she's superimposed in the sky basically. And it's just so it's a beautiful shot and it's [15:46] very dystopian, but it's also for people who love tech. [15:50] they look at it and they think this is incredible. And, [15:54] I'm sort of like, when that, when do we get there with it? [15:59] Yeah, it's crazy. I will say the last thing about it is this will be... [16:03] obvious to people who are super into AI, but it was new to me. But I was learning about the diffusion technique. It uses diffusion techniques. [16:10] technology, which isn't new and is what's used for static image creation. But how diffusion technology works is that at first, it's this thing that looks like a lot of static, like it's like, it's just like a staticky thing. And then it gets sharpened into a

[16:24] the image and that's the same thing that's happening with these videos where it's just a static thing and then it gets sharpened sharpened sharpened sharpened into this video i know [16:32] That's so crazy. It's insane. That's really cool. So that's that. God's here. God is amongst us. God is in the computer. Yeah. Kind of scary. Kind of scary. Kind of cool. Once it's out in the wild and people are playing with it, how much of it feels generative versus [16:50] Like generative in the sense that it's something you've never seen before. Like everything that I, all the clips that I saw and were exposed to were like, wow, this is so realistic. This feels so like the world. And as you were saying, like the lighting of it, the shadows, it's mimicking our reality. [17:08] But I'm curious how much of it will feel... [17:11] distinctly [17:13] new. When people talk about the conversation around God and the technology or AI as God, the big question always comes back to, is this new creation or is this [17:21] a really realistic representation of reality. Or is it just a big prediction machine? Right. [17:28] A bullshit machine. [17:29] A bullshit machine. Yeah. I don't know. Wow. Thank you. This is crazy. Crazy. Crazy times. Okay. Thank you so much. Yep. [17:40] When you're first getting started with crypto, it can be scary. Am I doing this right? Is this just like my bank or trading app? How is it new and different? Well, that's why we love Kraken. They have a 24-7, 365 customer support team that's there to hold your hand all along the way. This isn't a 9-to-5 Monday to Friday bank. This is crypto. It's all the time. Anyone's welcome. Open door policy. Come one, come all. Try something new at kraken.com backslash boys club.

[18:10] are provided to U.S. and U.S. territory customers by Payward Ventures Incorporated, PVI, DBA, Kraken. Feelings check-in? Feelings check-in. So as you alluded to... [18:22] Earlier in the podcast, we have Chris Dixon. [18:26] coming on the show next week. Big deal for this little podcast. [18:29] very legitimizing and it feels great that he's willing to do it. So I just want to be clear, we've never gotten investment from A16Z. They don't invest in us. We are bootstrapped. We talk about it all the time. And so the relationship with A16Z is just a friendship. But I will say that getting Chris on the pod is a big deal. And I suspect that it's the work of one woman. [18:59] relentlessly. Yes. And she would never say this to us. And so it's not like she's been like, Oh, I got Chris on the pod for you. But like, we are feeling... [19:09] the effects of having someone champion us when we're not in the room and we're not there. That woman is Sherry Doherty. She's in comms at A16Z. She's an angel. And I think part of [19:22] What I've been feeling is just, first of all, like just on a personal micro level, just a lot of gratitude for her and like recognizing that that's a big deal to do that for other people, other women. [19:33] Sorry to like bring the woman thing in, but like it is kind of a woman thing. I've been thinking a lot about how one of the most powerful things that you can do for someone is to speak their name in rooms where they aren't yet. And I think that's something that I'm feeling the effects of with Sherry and with this like small example of A6 and Z. But I think it's something that I hope that Boys Club does and becomes known for. And I think you and I try to do it whenever we possibly can. And like that's like a value that...

[19:58] I really want to bring into the world, which is like, how do we advocate for each other [20:02] In moments where it doesn't even necessarily benefit you to do that, but that you know there'll be a follow-on effect for someone else in the community or in this network. And I think that's... [20:12] I'm just like wanting to pass that forward. I don't know. What's the word? Like play it forward. [20:18] Pay it forward. Pay it forward. Yeah. Pass the ball and pay it forward. I love that. I'm so inspired by that. Shout out Sherry. [20:27] in [20:28] every way. She has been so supportive and kind. It's not even like the right word, just really an advocate for us in many, many ways. And also just a great person and fun time and so cool. So that's her. And I think there are [20:45] Many times where I look at the world and... [20:50] See, it divided into givers and takers. And... [20:53] their [20:54] are people in the world who this isn't like a judgment, honestly, it's a way to be in the world that works for some people where they're very calculated and they look at situations and they evaluate what makes the most sense for them. [21:09] And then action that. And usually those people are... [21:14] very much [21:15] looking at what can I take from a situation and how can it benefit me or the work that I'm doing or my employees or the business that I'm growing. Genuinely, it's not saying that that's a terrible thing to do. I think some people are takers and do a lot of good in the world. And then I think there's another way to be in the world, which is just what can I give to this situation? What can I do to add? Who can I bring along with me? And...

[21:39] Sherry is a giver and has done that for us. And I think, [21:43] Boys club has attracted a lot of givers and, and, [21:48] It's a beautiful thing to witness. It's inspiring and makes me want to be that way in the world. And I'm, [21:56] I think we try to be that way. And there's times where I really question, man, like, do you win as a giver? Like, is is do you come out on top as a giver? When you look at sort of the examples of who wins in the world, like a Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg or someone like that, like you look at these examples of people who have won in the world, and you don't think, oh, that person's a giver, you think that person is calculated and smart and has made it somewhere because of the actions that they've taken. And I constantly come back to this question of it is that the smartest thing to be doing? [22:26] And at the end of the day, I actually have to believe and do believe that the more that you are doing what you're saying, which is building people up, bringing them along with you. [22:37] Saying people's name in a room when they're not there to give them legitimacy and to give them an opportunity is... [22:45] the most important and fulfilling thing that you can do with your life. And it's a muscle too. It's not always natural. It's not always, especially as you get in more rooms that are more powerful with more money and more influence. That's not always the [22:59] the language of the room. And I think it is something that, [23:03] is required to work on to continue to feel like also it's a natural thing to be doing where you're not shilling other people's stuff. You're genuinely out of your heart and out of your relationships with people.

[23:14] saying their name. And I think that there's been very many examples of people that we have come encounter with that have done that for us. And I think the more that Boys Club becomes bigger and the more that we have on the line and the more that that legitimacy means something for other people, it's... [23:30] a practice that we have to maintain and like look at and be disciplined about, I feel like. Yeah, it's not a value that's like celebrated or even maybe even understood in corporate culture. But I think if we're like here to kind of burn it all down and start over and to reimagine a future that we feel excited about and want to be building into, I want that as a core value and a core tenant and something that I think Boys Club also is like really uniquely positioned to do. And also [24:00] now we're starting to get into those rooms. Like let's bring the rest of gangs all here. Gangs all here. Let's keep, let's keep doing the work. One thing that I'm trying to articulate around the muscle thing is you're taking on a certain level of risk. You're putting yourself in a position to not be invited again. If you bring someone along with you that can't hold up their end of the bargain in whatever ways that means, whether it's coming to an event with you or being invited to a conference or whatever, [24:30] the situation have not yet like proven themselves in some capacity. And in this example of Sherry and in so many other examples with boys club, the [24:39] people have done that with us where, uh, [24:43] I look back at the first zine and there was absolutely no evidence to us being able to do a publication. And it was just a support of those sponsors to, to,

[24:53] say, we trust that you'll figure it out. And we trust that Boys Club will put a product out that we'll all be excited about. And that's, again, another small example. But I think there's a risk there. And that [25:03] is a part of the DNA and like the values of Boys Club that I think you're talking about. It's like, be willing to risk your own position to bring people up with you. And that's why I say like kindness isn't the right word because it's like sort of a radical thing to do. And I... [25:19] just appreciate it in other people and I want it to continue to be that way boys club one as you were talking about one person who also comes to mind Evan McMullen totally she is the queen of this and did it for boys club really early on in many rooms that we weren't in and and I was texting with her this morning still to this day she was like what does a win in Denver look like can I introduce you to this person the best do you want to be mentioned in this article I was like Evan you are so supportive and she was like I'm just a disciple and I was like that's so kind [25:49] That is a giver. Yeah, that's a giver. It's what do you need and how can I help you get there? And... [25:55] it's a beautiful thing to be a part of. It really is. It's really beautiful. Okay. That's that. That's that. See you later.