AI: you have to use the yetzer’s own sword to kill it
Long-time readers have probably been noticing I’ve been going through a lot of ‘stuff’ the last couple of months.
This is probably a natural reaction to all the ‘stuff’ all of us have been going through the last few years, plus all the ‘stage of life’ stuff I’ve also had mixed in with that, where I’m now a granny-empty-nester, trying to figure out what I do for the next 30 years of myself.
So, I am part way through a content creating course, and I have to say, I am really enjoying myself, learning new things.
And also, thinking about how I can apply the new things I’m learning to ‘sharing content’ in a totally different way, that will be more fun and engaging for a lot more people who can’t sit and read 9 page blog posts about Jewish history (kol hakavod to all of us, really, that are still doing that) – and perhaps more importantly, more ‘fun’ for me, too.
Because stuff has been feeling so heavy for so long, doing things the ‘old way’.
And I am really getting the push to come off the fence, and to start to content create some good, holy stuff, just in a very different way that before now, has been totally beyond my budget.
==
Take this for example:
==
Because our storytelling, especially our ‘chassidic storytelling’ got hijacked a longggg time ago, most of the ‘Jewish stories’ told are basically Artscoll sanitised pap, or kiddie stories set in the holocaust.
Personally, I’ve been so, so sick of Jewish media for years, I haven’t been engaging with it. But when you’re a creator of ‘Jewish media’, that’s kinda limiting, especially when the Artscrollers and Mishpacha Magaziners have a total monopoly on controlling who can reach the frum audience.
I’ve been yearning for ages, to have more creative ways open up to bypass them, and reach out directly.
But up until now, that’s meant having to spend fortunes I just don’t have, or using smartphones that I just don’t want, to try to do that.
Now…
Other options are starting to swim into focus.
==
Take this, as an example:
==
I had so much fun putting this together, it took me half an hour, and it cost me literally $3.
I don’t have to put my face anywhere, I maintain my privacy – and this guy is totally, 100% AI generated, even before the flowers show up.
Genius!
I am literally starting to feel like the cage has opened, and there is something very exciting to aim at, and walk towards, in terms of putting out interesting, useful, holy stuff for religious Jews and others, and not all the ‘fake perfect’ externally-pious pap that is standard fare in the frum community.
==
I am still playing around with this, and still lots to learn, in terms of the tools.
But people, work with me here.
What sort of stuff would uplift you?
Help you?
Inspire you?
What sort of stuff would you want your kids to be engaging with?
The sky is the limit, but I’d really appreciate some feedback, about how we can use AI to play the yetzer at its own game, and start to put GOOD stuff out there… in a fun way.
==
I know, we all got started here on the blog from an obsession with bad news and woe-filled predictions.
But personally, I can’t live like that any more.
And I see all these headlines come and go for year after year – and what difference does it really make, honestly?
How does it help us?
What really helps us is ‘real stuff’ about working on our bad middot, hearing stories that inspire us, or give us koach, sharing things that are meaningful, with others, in a meaningful way.
That’s what I want to spend more of my time doing, bezrat Hashem.
And I’d love if you’d give me your ideas, suggestions and input, and come along for the ride.
==
UPDATE:
I just spent an hour learning how to do stuff like this, based on that static image above (there is no sound yet, working on that next…):
This is literally game-changing how I think about connecting with readers, and putting out more ‘Breslev’ content…
Your projects above have convinced me that there might be some use for AI after all. I’ve been writing about the Kingdom that should take the place of our current governance (next secular year is an election year here unless…) — maybe I could learn how to do something visual that resembles what I’m writing about, besides putting up pictures and videos?
Yes, you are starting to get the idea Hava.
I’m going to post up some more stuff shortly, just ‘experiments’, so more of us can start to get an idea of how easy it is to use this stuff, and how cheap, and how effective it might be to start getting real Jewish messages and information out in a way more engaging way.
Most under 30s don’t read these days… and even the older readers are finding it pretty hard to keep following long blogs… there has to be a better way.
TAKE A LOOK AT THESE VIDEOS FOR EXAMPLES AND SEE IF YOU CAN ADD TO ANY OF THE CONTENT PRESENTED BY THE RAV THAT IS CONNECTED TO THE SPECIFIC STORY
https://www.theshoemakerreport.com/rabbi-nachman-of-breslov/
That could be another nice experiment… thanks
maybe it needs to be said that this AI LLM text generation still has a tendency to gaslight people into megalomania or self-harm — and sometimes the opposite.
even though a bunch of work went into preventing these things from making offensive output, they are still trained on the entire internet, or a really big chunk of it.
a person should also be careful with the text-to-image and text-to-video stuff.
Fair point, thank you Yosef. I am doing hitbodedut to see what God really wants here. All I know, is that after 15 years and huge amount of effort ‘content creating’ the old way, I have very little to show for it. I can’t even buy a cup of coffee with the amount I make in book sales on Amazon every month, where my royalties are literally cents, despite having so much stuff out there.
The definition of madness is to keep doing things exactly the same, but to expect things to change. I feel like I need to try and do things differently… it’s an experiment, that’s all. At this stage, I couldn’t really be less successful, commercially, with my writing, however that experiment goes. So, we’ll see what God wants. Or at least, I’ll do my best to try and see what God wants.
Well, lately, after being really close to God for a while, now as I’m getting older (now 18) I have been so disconnected from God and far from Him, that I can scarcely muster a word to say to him, other than that I wish had more words and connection. I feel like I’ve lost my road, or something. I feel lost in the material and intellectual realms, far from God. I still don’t know what to do to break this farness. How much I *want* to be close to God!
Content about that! That could be interesting…
Rabbenu spoke exactly about this, he has a story about it, even. I will try to look that up on Shabbat. I think many people are feeling quite ‘burned out’ spiritually at the moment. It’s a big test. But Rabbenu teaches that when you are being ‘turned away’, or it feels like that, it’s just to strengthen you ultimate desire to overcome the obstacles, and come closer.