One year ago, ChatGPT went viral.

Powered by GPT-3, people were blown away by the ability to have natural language conversations with a computer.

In two months, ChatGPT amassed 100 million users… breaking the previous record of nine months set by TikTok.

The success of ChatGPT was followed up by AI image creators like DALL-E and Midjourney.

They created images like this one…

“Théâtre D’opéra Spatial,” took first place in the digital category at the Colorado State Fair

Source: New York Times

But AI wasn’t great at everything. Users quickly realized it struggled to make even simple videos. Here’s a clip of what I mean…

AI-generated video clips of Will Smith eating spaghetti

Source: Shutterstock

Unlike text and still images, video outputs were subpar.

But that’s all changing now. Pika is the latest AI that’s pushing the technology further.

It allows users to create or edit videos from a simple text prompt.

Here’s a demo video from Pika…

Pika 1.0 generating video based on text prompts

Source: Pika.art

These videos aren’t free of flaws. But they mark a huge leap in progress. I haven’t had the chance to test out Pika yet. But I am on the waitlist.

And Pika isn’t alone. Stability AI and Meta have both released new video models in recent days. From the demos, Pika looks the best.

The bigger picture here is that AI developers are turning their focus on making video generation just as good as image creation.

And that’s going to rapidly increase overall AI adoption.

The Kids Love Video

People under 34 spend about seven hours online each day. The youngest among them spend more than half of this time surfing social media apps like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram which are largely video-based.

That’s in contrast with just 1.5 hours spent on social media for those over the age of 55.

That means the way to reach the younger generation is through video.

Text is useful. Images are cool. But video is captivating.

The rise of AI models like Pika is going to usher in waves of new viral AI content.

Young people aren’t just going to consume AI content. They’re also going to create it and become interested in building better AI models.

Ultimately, viral content will increase AI adoption at every level. And that plays into my AI roadmap.

The AI Roadmap

It follows a simple but time-tested path… Hardware, software, everywhere.

Virtually every technological revolution has followed this same roadmap. In the internet age, it was the hardware companies like networking giant Cisco that moved first. Then, it was the software players like Facebook that rose to prominence.

And as for everywhere? Today, every company in the world… and roughly 65% of the global population… uses the internet in one form or another.

The adoption of AI starts with hardware companies like Nvidia and others that are building the chips – aka semiconductors – and networking devices that power AI systems.

Software companies like Google, Microsoft, and Tesla are building the AI models that make our lives easier. Google’s Bard can help you summarize emails and documents… or help you book your next vacation.

Tesla’s autonomous driving AI, known as Full Self-Driving (FSD), can safely drive in traffic almost on its own.

And Microsoft is rolling out its AI Copilot across its full line of products to help users do more with less effort.

When we think of the “everywhere” phase of adoption, think of existing products and services that will be made cheaper, more efficient, and more profitable with the adoption of this technology.

But remember, it’s not just about making work faster or easier. It’s also about having fun.

Internet adoption in the U.S. has grown from 62% in 2003… to 92% today.

That’s been helped along by the rise of social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.

These apps generate billions in revenue from selling ad space alongside entertainment.

Just know that the breakthroughs in AI tech that we’re seeing today are paving the way for the mass adoption of AI.

There are still plenty of AI skeptics out there who believe it’s just a fad. That’s fine. I can’t convince everyone.

But you need to know that the breakthroughs in AI video creation happening today are accelerating its overall adoption.

Regards,

Colin Tedards
Editor, The Bleeding Edge