things are getting better (12.13.24)

Think about it: things will never be as bad as they are today. That means your professional life, your personal life, our platforms, our access to information, our technology, and so on will never be worse than they are now. Coming from an optimist, that doesn’t sound very inspiring, does it? On the contrary—if you view today as your low point, imagine what human creativity, ingenuity, and a bit of hard work can achieve to make everything even better.?

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AI is a spectacular example of this. The version of ChatGPT you might have used to edit a document or create a child’s bedtime story once seemed remarkable, yet it was the lowest quality it would ever be. Fast forward a year, and your AI assistants and chatbots can now transform your ideas into songs, videos, and images. (I can’t even count how many iterations of axolotls with lightsabers I’ve generated for my kids’ entertainment.) Just this week, OpenAI officially launched its?"Turbo" text-to-video AI model, Sora, as a standalone product at?Sora.com?for ChatGPT Plus and Pro users.?Sora allows users?to create videos from text prompts, images, videos, and personal assets to “extend, remix, blend, or generate entirely new content,” and it even offers storyboard tools for more specific input needs. The online examples are nothing short of amazing.?

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And yet, they’re also the worst this technology will ever be.?

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Even OpenAI acknowledged, “The version of Sora we are deploying has many limitations. It often generates unrealistic physics and struggles with complex actions over long durations. Although Sora Turbo is much faster than the February preview, we’re still working to make the technology affordable for everyone.” What I appreciate is OpenAI’s transparency in noting, “We are introducing our video generation technology now to give society time to explore its possibilities and co-develop norms and safeguards that ensure it’s used responsibly as the field advances.” They’ve also taken steps to block “particularly damaging forms of abuse.” While no system—or effort—is perfect, recognizing the shortcomings and limitations of new tools, especially tech-driven ones, is key to unlocking their potential in both the short and long term. While compliments are welcome, it’s often criticism and the identification of flaws that spark the creativity and forward-thinking solutions that make everything better.?

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With emerging tools like Sora enabling “people everywhere to explore new forms of creativity, tell their stories, and push the boundaries of what’s possible with video storytelling,” now is the time to reflect on the current state of your work, strategy, and creativity. Realize that none of it will ever be worse than it is now. As we rapidly approach 2025 and the inevitable uncertainties of tomorrow, ask yourself: What are you doing to challenge yourself and your teams to evaluate and elevate your work, strategies, go-to-market plans, creativity, and investments? How can you learn from the floor of your past to raise the ceiling of your future??