Ep. 52: Midjourney’s Next Chapter: V8, Style Tools, and The 99.99% Problem

0:00Cold open, what’s on deck this week

Play from 0:02 8:88 0:02 And we're back. Midjourney Fast Hours podcast episode 52. Rory Flynn, Drew Brucker. We're going to do a little bit of Midjourney focused features currently available coming down the pipeline cover office hours notes.

Play from 0:28 8:88 0:28 Then we're going to get into all of the sort of like latest happenings across the board, because there's a lot going on right now. A lot of stuff. like it's it's like a feel like it you know just taking taking grenades from every angle every time I get just in the trenches like right it's just like you know in our role of course which is us trying to stay on top of everything and deliver news but also then figure out ways to use this stuff not just for us but for the clients that we have it's just like every time you get good at something it's just like bang something new it's I figure that one out And it's all good now.

Play from 1:05 8:88 1:05 It's not like just like random stuff. know, when two years ago, right? It was like, you know, this tool might be something. Now it's just like, yeah. Yeah. you know, these bigger brands and more brands are getting into the fold because it's a little bit less painful and a little bit easier. It's still not easy than it would have been six, 12 months ago, uh at least.

Play from 1:30 8:88 1:30 You're right. you're right. I mean, the quality across the board has got much better. We've also, you know, Sora 2, we talked about last time. We're gonna talk about Veo 3.1 a little bit today too later in the episode, but like those are how fast these advancements are coming. And then there's still two more months in the year that I think plenty is gonna happen between now and then. And then what the hell is 2026, bro?

Play from 1:57 8:88 1:57 I mean, I remember when we were doing this stuff, we were talking about this stuff in 23 and... we were already kind of thinking about it. And it's funny how many things we got right, and it's funny how many things we didn't see coming, you know? And uh it's just kind of been this wild ride, but I... should definitely do that at end of the year. So go back to what we were talking about in the beginning of the year and thinking like, all right, this is what's going to happen. Or like, we're thinking about this and just see where it all is.

Play from 2:25 8:88 2:25 Yeah. What did we get right? What did we get wrong? you know, make a... We actually did get a lot right, which is actually very surprising just because this is like very intuitive, I think, in terms of like what we're thinking could happen and things that could make sense. But it's also very novel and never been done before. So like the predictability in that alone is very hard.

2:50Midjourney focus: v8 push, V7.1 “flatline” expectations

Play from 2:51 8:88 2:51 And so I've kind of been surprised by some of the things and um I don't know, man. I'm super just excited about the possibilities going into 2026. And, maybe we start with Midjourney trying to push the eight, you know, before the end of the year, um which would be great to get before the end of the year. I don't know whether that happens or not, but it did sound like that's their core focus.

Play from 3:18 8:88 3:18 It's been sounding like that's their core focus. And then they're also kind of, um seems like 7.1 is just kind of like this flatline thing where they're just like, hey, if we do it, we do it, we get it out there, but don't expect anything other than maybe better prompt accuracy at this point is what they're saying. I got interesting. popped onto office hours for maybe like 20 minutes during it because I, you know, in between calls and whatever other life we have going on.

3:37Office Hours notes: V7 data “trash” comment, inconsistency feels

Play from 3:49 8:88 3:49 And it was, I heard David say something along the lines of maybe I'm misquoting him, but he just was like, yeah, the seven, the V7 training data was trash. And I was like, okay. Then it was like, so what is the v8 training data look like? Cause you know, You do notice it. It's so weird now. I don't know if you noticed this, but when I'm doing when I'm in there, I either get something that's an absolute banger or I'm like, what the hell is this?

Play from 4:15 8:88 4:15 You know, like it feels very inconsistent at the current moment with all the different options, the style references, the style codes, the personalization. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's just like when I just want something that is exactly what I want. A lot of times the hit rate isn't as high as I feel like it used to be. That's probably just me. the way that I'm using my personalization codes and things like that. that's a... I don't know if I'm the only one feeling that.

Play from 4:41 8:88 4:41 no, that's a valid point. Also, I think because Midjourney has been, now that we've gotten, you know, more of these tools that become part of the workflow and the quality of those tools gotten better and the capabilities of those tools gotten better, Midjourney has now sort of like been just a piece of the process versus, the majority of the process, which I think historically has been the case.

Play from 5:10 8:88 5:10 Now, I'm not saying that's uh a global, universal thing that I'm saying here because it depends on what your use cases are. But I think maybe in terms of like what me and you are doing and probably some, you know, most of the people listen to this, like Midjourney's got like its place now in the workflow or the process, but it's not the majority or all of the process in a lot of ways, whereas maybe historically it was, you know? And I think to your point then it becomes like you almost want something that can be a little bit more predictable and consistent in some use cases.

Play from 5:42 8:88 5:42 Is that kind of what we're saying? yeah, like, you know, they mentioned a few things on there. I will probably get into it. But it's like, look, I, I like Nano Banana. I use it every day. Like, I just, that's, I would stay on Midjourney all the time if it could just take this thing and just maneuver it. But it's like, I don't, I hate to be this, I hate to be the guy now, now that I know that I don't have to use, you know, O-Ref.

Play from 6:09 8:88 6:09 and like play with the weights and use the EXP parameter. I like that sometimes, but I know. you know, like, yeah, that's kind of where we've, Just natural language to change, add, subtract. You know, I mean, so that capability has been huge. I agree, man. I think that's a really good point is where's mid journeys lane?

6:39Midjourney’s lane vs. Nano-style natural language edits, hue/personalization fixes

Play from 6:39 8:88 6:39 in that capability because I think at some point it has to come. Is it going to be in a similar lane than we've seen right now with something like NanoBanana where it's just simple language? Like you don't have to be great at prompting to use NanoBanana well, right? I mean, it's just straightforward vernacular. I mean, you're just like, hey, look, swap this, keep this the same. um So um I wonder about that.

Play from 7:07 8:88 7:07 um I think that's a really good point. The other thing that was kind of catching my attention on the office hours while I was there too, just part of it, was they're redoing the personalization. They're going to update it again, which I think is great. And of course, the exciting part about that, that I heard on that was, hey, if you've got sort of like this warm or this cool hue to your images and blah, blah, blah, this is going to solve that.

Play from 7:34 8:88 7:34 And it's like, yes, please, yes. and blue hue to your images. I've been rolling with S100 since the personalization, because I want enough of it. And then again, anything above that, it's just like it's too blue, right? It's just too blue, too pink. And I think that's going to be interesting to see how they go about that level of personalization, what that looks like.

Play from 7:59 8:88 7:59 That'll help for sure. But the excitement behind V8. ah is ultimately what has me hyped just because I haven't heard this level of excitement since six. Yeah, David's not a pretty chipper on the call. I don't know what it was. There's sometimes he comes on there and he's like, it seems like he's like morose and like sort of like, yeah, like we'll get things done.

Play from 8:25 8:88 8:25 You know, and then this time he's just like happy and excited. And I'm like, all right, maybe things are moving in the right direction over there. And they're feeling good about where stuff is. you know, I'm, when they say it's targeted for the end of the year, we'll see. We know how V7 went. I don't want to be, I don't want to be let down again. travel plans you got for the other year? Because you could start kind of working backwards from there, but.

8:39Release vibes: David’s chipper mood, holiday-timing speculation

Play from 8:51 8:88 8:51 true. Very true. would, you know, I feel like we saw, I feel like we saw, remember two years ago specifically, cause I had a conference in when I was doing the speaking engagement in Bangkok. That was 23 December. And it was, I think it was like the first week of December. And I was like, yeah. And I remember saying like, everything I tell you here right now, probably going to be different in two weeks. And they dropped it like the day after I got off stage. So it was like, huh, if we're following a similar pattern here.

Play from 9:21 8:88 9:21 it seems like that would probably be in that range. They might want to get it out before the holidays. They might just push it to the end, but I would like it this year. I definitely like it this year. man. I'm really curious to see what that looks like. And then also, you know, they're kind of waiting for V8 to then go to that next sort of video uh model too. So I think those things are interconnected. There's also sort of the style finder style creator tool.

9:29V8 → next video model; Style Finder vs. Style Creator; Style Explorer today

Play from 9:48 8:88 9:48 So style finder, uh performing well helps users quickly locate desired aesthetics, likely to release sooner than creator will. while creator may be postponed as a next-gen feature. um Both features closely tied to personalization and user profile rollouts. So style finder, this sounds like, I mean, I thought this was already what they were calling what was launched, but I guess that's style explorer.

Play from 10:17 88:88 10:17 Style finder though, what is the iteration of that, right? Because you can go in here and... We can type colors now, right? I mean, we can type colors, we can type styles here. And of course, like my, there we go, red illustration. So there's some level of control you have now, but what is the ultimate sort of status, I guess, of what that looks like?

Play from 10:46 88:88 10:46 I'm not really sure what else they're trying to do with that unless they... I don't know, almost break it out like you would like these third party curated style libraries where it's just like maybe you have folders or I don't know. I have no idea, but. Yeah, I would just say if I had a recommendation, just keep it simple. Like right now to me, it's like simple. It doesn't need to be any. Yeah, it doesn't need to be anymore. I mean. Maybe there's an explore page similar to what the you you just flip your like flip the from like, know, the same way it is images, videos, maybe it's styles like in that same sort of type.

Play from 11:19 88:88 11:19 um Is it like that? Can you filter on the top day like you just filter styles? All right. Yeah, I mean, they go. mean, so like this is what I'm saying though. Like we're already saying that this is kind of already here. I mean, they've been talking about adding more and more styles, which is great. So you're not going to run out there. mean, if you've got billions of styles. ah And then we've talked about the smart sort of search feature you can incorporate.

Play from 11:49 88:88 11:49 I just showed you the search through Word feature that you can do for style. So I wonder what else is left. Can you, when you go to Likes on here, on the Explore page, can you filter it just by style? Or is that... Oh you can't? All right, cool. I haven't even looked at that yet. you've got that. I mean, that's what I'm saying is I don't really know what else, what else you'd need. I mean, if you, it's interesting.

Play from 12:16 88:88 12:16 Again, like. mean, style blends are unique, but. There's to me it's like I said, I don't really know if this is just Adam adding more is it? It seems pretty awesome the way that it is right now. that's what I'm saying. Like to me, I don't know that I would, if it were up to me, and again, I don't have all the context here behind what they're doing, but to me, this would be like something I feel like I would move on from for right now.

Play from 12:43 88:88 12:43 I mean, it's probably got what you need. I think this part of it is interesting if people wanna create styles, right? Because I think people do, you the style codes are cool, but at the same time they are... You know, they are pre generated styles. There's nothing necessarily unique, unique about them. Like you can't create them from scratch. So think that component is interesting. The style blend things interesting, but yeah.

Play from 13:09 88:88 13:09 And then also there's this user profiles rollout. Yeah, what does that look like? And I think we've kind of talked about that. Is this is this more, you know, discover ability across other creators and sort of like a little bit of a social media component or community? you know, kind of experience, but. What would you want from that to use it? Hmm user profiles, um, that's a great question.

13:33User profiles: do we actually want a social layer?

Play from 13:38 88:88 13:38 What would I want from that? there's a few things like there was one thing with if there's gonna be like a home feed or something like that for people you follow like I don't know how it's gonna look but like I what I really like on Sora's on Sora's be, that could be, yeah. Because it's sort of the one thing that I do like is like seeing when there's like the trending video and they sort of have the remix threads where it's like, this was the original video.

Play from 14:04 88:88 14:04 And then it's like you just keep swiping and like, here's what people did with it. Like, know, like if we saw if you saw an image, right, then you use that image as a style reference and seeing what you came up with or something like that or using the image as an image reference. Like I sort of like that trail of seeing the evolution of things that's in there. Like that's a that's a cool one to me. It feels like sort of like block Cheney kind of situation. But profiles, right? Like, I feel like I don't like I don't know.

Play from 14:30 88:88 14:30 It's one of those things. I would want, think, even though I love mid-drake, is last thing I would want is another social media channel to manage. And I don't know what their appetite is for that currently, but in the past, David's pretty much said, we're not gonna do anything that feels like a social media thing. So yeah, that's a great question that you asked though, like what would you want?

Play from 14:55 88:88 14:55 And maybe that's a good thing that we ask. the listeners too, because I don't really know. I think to your point, it could be interesting to see, yeah, what's Rory creating and other people that I follow. ah But outside of that, what is the real value there? Not sure. like we, I remember us talking about it a while back and being like, it'd be cool.

Play from 15:22 88:88 15:22 But then I'm like, what did we actually want from it? Cause you know, I do like the idea of being able to like search for people. Like that would be one thing instead of being like going to the explore page and finding the username and clicking on the username and finding like eight images, you know, like it would be cool to see what other people are doing at all times. Like to know like other or follow them or whatnot and just see what they're. what they're posting.

Play from 15:47 88:88 15:47 I don't need much from it. Like if I was just like, want to go see what Drew is doing, you know, outside of what I see you post on social, right? Because I think that's, that's the other thing. tokens that they use, like maybe there are certain things like that that could be interesting. Maybe most common settings. I don't know. I don't know. Because I would like to see the one thing that this would solve for is that is that like group of images that never sees the light of day, right?

16:21The unseen archive: making value from the 99.99% you never post

Play from 16:22 88:88 16:22 That you like that you're not posting on LinkedIn, right? Because it doesn't make sense. Yeah. perfect. I think this is something that we haven't really talked deeply about before, but I think this is a common problem. We've all created so many damn images on this tool and less than 1 % ever see the live day. But that doesn't mean they're not valuable. Like I almost sometimes want to be like somebody wants to see some of my work and I'm like I have a hard time.

Play from 16:51 88:88 16:51 picking out 10 things versus like, let me just give you like a preview of, I don't know, my organized folder of things I've upscaled so you can kind of get an idea and diverse taste of things that I've created, right? Because right now there is no value marker for all the things that you've created, but you just haven't shared. And I think there is something there that can be explored. Like how can you make images in general feel more valuable, maybe repurposable and seen outside of just your organized folder inside of your own instance, right?

Play from 17:32 88:88 17:32 because that's how I feel. what half the stuff that I wanted, half the stuff I want to post on X or LinkedIn or whatever, it like doesn't feel like necessary. You know what mean? Like doesn't feel, it just feels like I'm posting to post then. It's just like, I liked this, you know? So. exactly. And there is a part of that that's great, right? We also know though, like there are some people that do that and get good engagement, but it's just, we always like to share something if it's got some value to it versus like, here's what I did.

Play from 18:01 88:88 18:01 But I think we need a here's what I did solve. Like there needs to be something there because otherwise, what's happening with 99.99 % of images that are getting created on this tool, just like, they cost money to generate and then they just, what, hold no value after that? How many times do you go back and you're like looking for something specific and then you scroll by like 30 images?

Play from 18:27 88:88 18:27 You're like, when did I do that? And it's like, yo, these are good. Just like didn't even catch your eye at the moment. Yeah. I look back and instantly when the date's there, it takes me back. It's like a time machine. It's like, what did I have going on in my life at that moment? I'm able to instantly capture what was happening. It's the weirdest thing, right? Because if it's tied into a project or if it's tied into a certain maybe post that you're doing for social media, you can almost take you back and just say, shit, yeah, like in April.

Play from 19:01 88:88 19:01 I remember I was doing this and blah, blah. And it's kind of cool in that regard too, just to like historically annotate the journey. Yeah, that's what that's maybe is all can be part of it. I think it is, you know, as much as they the call and impersonal profiles, like, is it for me? Is it to share? Like, I don't know. That's why it's a it's interesting, which I think it's probably good to get like a lot of the weird stuff that I want like in there, you know, because I think everyone's we're all doing something if you're posting it on social media, majority of the people aren't just posting it because they like it.

Play from 19:34 88:88 19:34 There are some there are people that are posting it because they know it'll do well. Like that's there's a difference. And that you know, much as you've been on social for a while, you know, it's going to do well versus what you actually really like. You know, my fringe really like cases are not are going to get like zero views. You know, my my p code with the uh you know, with with the goats and the homesteaders, you know, that's not going to get a ton of views. But I some of them I like because they're a little bit creepy and crazy.

Play from 20:00 88:88 20:00 But, know, space like that just might be nice. And I probably have like thousands of images that'll just get dumped in there. know, who knows, but I'd like to be able to go find Drew's and just go like there you go. Yeah. And I think this is, I love that we brought this up, this point about just your archive of images. What's the value? How can we extract more value?

20:10“Friends not followers” and smarter discovery without another social grind

Play from 20:25 88:88 20:25 Like I would, if Midjourney is listening to this, I think he got something there. I would put some creative minds in a room and think about how you can extend the life or even bring, breathe life into images that are otherwise just collecting dust. And is that something that can be used to increase time on the site or is there some sort of ah community driven aspect of that, like repurposing, remixing?

Play from 20:53 88:88 20:53 I don't know what it is, but there's something. Yeah, I'd definitely be more inclined if I could just like, just like hit the button and it goes to the profile and like done. That's like, I like that one bang done. going. Just so it's like a, again, then I pretty well probably, you know, it's weird.

Play from 21:18 88:88 21:18 it's like, you kind of want to have like friends or like followers, things like that. Like, I don't know if I necessarily... Like the followers, as much as I like the friends, almost like the old, like almost like the old Facebook days when it was just like that. If you're friends with someone, they can see your profile and like, you know what I mean? It's like I don't need to play another social game. sit at this table. um No, I think there is something even to that.

Play from 21:48 88:88 21:48 It's like everybody does followers though. Everybody does followers though. And yeah, okay, you could follow me, but uh I could follow you. Most of the time you don't get a follow for follow. In some cases, right? uh I think the friend component is interesting. Yeah, it's like I don't want to be like I don't want to be posting to get likes and visibility on there, which is my own personal opinion.

Play from 22:16 88:88 22:16 I'd just rather like see what my friends are doing. Like I don't need another one. That's what I'm saying. my God. All right. We're either getting old or we're onto something, but I think it's maybe both. um Okay, so we kind of went through personalization already. I would say like maybe just wrapping this thing up, couple of quick things. So you've got community events. They started doing some things in San Francisco, sailboat, trying to get people together.

22:17Community events, MJ TV walls, style rankings, merch tease

Play from 22:42 88:88 22:42 If it goes well, they're gonna maybe expand that to other cities, maybe even other countries, cool. uh Mid-Journey TV, so they have a new sort of feature here where you can kind of create a video grid displaying real-time um Mid-Journey TV content. You'll want to not have a crappy computer if you try to do that, I would imagine. ah So, you know, make sure you have a processor that can handle that.

Play from 23:09 88:88 23:09 Let's see, so that's just kind of pointing that out. uh Community engagement, so they're starting to do style rankings again, if you guys aren't sure about that, you can get in Discord, get the link for that. um And then, beyond Secret Project, because nothing new's there, they are doing merchandising and swag though, that they're going to, it sounds like it's getting pretty close, so that would be cool.

23:14Stickers, swag, hoodie season, and not becoming the mailman

Play from 23:36 88:88 23:36 I don't know what that looks like, be cool. buy. Take my money as usual. Thank you. What else do you want me to buy mid-journey? Throw it on the table. We'll do it. it's not for the money though. It's not about the money. It's just merchandise. correct for the fans for us. but they did say that about the year one book and they charged 80 bucks.

Play from 24:02 88:88 24:02 I'm just saying. I'm just saying. But yeah, I think like the merchandise and swag stuff would be cool. By the way, we got to, I feel like we got to do something with merch and swag. uh I did get a nice little, you know, sticker mule deal come my way. um And yeah, yeah. mule is. I mean like they do stickers.

Play from 24:28 88:88 24:28 do some other stuff too, like decals, key chains. They do magnets, stuff like that. But they, if you sign up for their thing, they do these like weekly deals. And every once in a you'll find where you're like, okay, I can get 50 stickers for like 15 bucks. Cool. Yeah, done. So I got that today through on the Mid-Journey Fast Hours clock guy as a sticker. And I just ordered that today.

Play from 24:54 88:88 24:54 So we're gonna get some of those. I'm gonna send some your way. Also, if you want one of those, maybe just let us know. I'm not sure how we're gonna distribute them. I'm not trying to turn into the mailman over here. So I gotta figure out the distribution of this, but yeah, we're long overdue. Like we gotta start thinking about that too. I mean, we could do some cool shit with the merch. 100 % like there's there's so many if I could pull up one of these things that I did recently have to find it.

Play from 25:22 88:88 25:22 Oh man, it was so dumb and so awesome at the same time. It was I was doing you know, not to not to get into sports, but I'm sure you're familiar with the Jackson Dart cam scataboo show that's been going on for the for the Giants if you've opened up social media and or a sports fan at all. They're psychos. So I made like a mock t-shirt and it's like, was actually relatively easy with Nano and whatever. Like I could, we could do this.

Play from 25:48 88:88 25:48 We could, we could make it as ridiculous as needed to be. So, you know, maybe t-shirts are in the, maybe t-shirts are in the, in the future for everyone. We'll see. See what we can get through. It is hoodie season. It is hoodie season, which I, you know, I don't know if it's as cold by you as it is by me, but we, we dropped into the thirties today. So. Okay, no, no, it's not like that.

Play from 26:14 88:88 26:14 It's not like that here. it's it's bad. This is this is now like hold on wait what's let's let's do this real quick. I'll show just this uh nope that's not it never mind we'll go back to back to regular scheduled programming. I was going to pull up the little nano thing but screw it. of disappointed now, to be honest. There was there was so I had so much fun with it.

Play from 26:39 88:88 26:39 It's so dumb and I'm just like enjoying the hell out of being able to Did I Where is it? I have so many I have to go through like all of my weavy sort of All my weavy workflows and like reads there's so many here just have like untitled I'm like, what did I even do there? I don't know and I have to just like look through it Organization Well, let's get into, so mid-journey, we've kind of covered that.

26:58Sora 2 afterglow: IP clamps, virality headaches, and death-threat absurdity

Play from 27:08 88:88 27:08 Let's get into maybe some of the other updates happening. ah We did cover Sora 2 quite a bit last time around. I think it just launched a day or two before we had talked about it. ah Right after we got done talking about it, they started to kind of like peel back. They started to really start to put all the IP stuff. back in the box, right? I mean, you couldn't generate basically anything that could be considered IP after we got off.

Play from 27:43 88:88 27:43 And I think it's remained that way. I haven't been in there in last few days. But that was sort of big. Any other big takeaways from Sora 2, though, since we talked about that last time? Yeah, there was some cool stuff. You know, I think some of the IP stuff, I might have had a hand in that getting the Japanese government to respond to them. My Super Mario video went like way more viral than I thought it would.

Play from 28:11 88:88 28:11 And every time I opened a social media page, whether it's Instagram or TikTok, I'm seeing it. I'm like, damn it, this isn't what I wanted to happen. Because it's like one time I use IP, right? And it's like, it's like I never do that. It's like, shit, come on. Yeah. rather posts not go super viral. Like I want them to do well, but there's like this threshold that exists where when it goes truly viral, it then expands beyond people kind of like you and the lookalike audience and all that.

Play from 28:47 88:88 28:47 And it starts to get into just like the average people that probably you don't align with. And that's when you start getting people that are nasty and they don't understand it. And there's polarization, there's controversy. It just gets stupid, do you feel the same way? mean, there's a level of where I want it to be. And then there's that level where you're just like, ah, fuck, man.

Play from 29:12 88:88 29:12 It's kind of annoying. It's really kind of annoying at that point. I got death threats for a Super Mario video. You know, like, come on. it's like, got not one, like multiple for that thing. And I'm like, are we are we being real here? Can we not just have a little bit of fun, everyone? Like lighten the like lighten the fuck up. Sorry for my language. It's like not that serious. I think everyone you're throwing around like legit death threats because of an AI generated stupid video that has no purpose.

Play from 29:46 88:88 29:46 other than for social media entertainment. Like, come on. just drop it right there. Cause like that's the thing that I think people struggle with is just like, there are certain things like that where it's just like, it's just cool that you have the ability to kind of, you know, do your own unique thing using that theme or that, you know, that character or whatever it is. But outside of that though, it's not like you're sitting here and you're trying to monetize the video.

Play from 30:15 88:88 30:15 You're not trying to create a Mario brother. world outside of this and you know, like so let's take it for what it is. Like it's just kind of like this opening a gift on Christmas kind of thing where you're just like, this is cool. Like, let me see what this does. OK, right. Like same with the studio Ghibli stuff. dude, what happened after that? I mean, people were pissed and then now what? No one's talking about it. You know why?

Play from 30:40 88:88 30:40 Because it was just for you know, it's just like this moment, this micro moment in time where just like, this is cool. Like because Unless you were an animator or somebody that's doing the drawings for Studio Ghibli or working there, you would not be able to create or have a hand in anything like that, right? It's just like this novelty of being able to do something you could never do before and show it. And that's what it is. on a trend. That's all it is. All this stuff with the social media stuff, it's here one day, gone the next.

Play from 31:08 88:88 31:08 The Studio Ghibli stuff lasted for a week. You haven't heard about it since then. Everyone overreacts as if this is some giant microcosm of society. And it's like, let's just get real. It's just the tool came out. Everyone wants to use it. They're testing the capabilities. And then it's gone. They forget about it. And then VO3 releases, and everyone goes back to doing the VO3 stuff. It's not life or death when it comes to this stuff, which... unfortunately people feel like you know the end of the world and the end of like I had I saw my aunt when I was recently she was talking about like the end of creativity and like no no thought and like anything and I did I did come up with a you might like this one does a mid-journey deep hours conversation where I was like I had a couple glasses of wine so I was like real deep thinking at that point you know like I was like well at this point

31:59Rant: the skill shift from “right answers” to “right questions”

Play from 31:59 88:88 31:59 I think we've shifted from finding the right answer with critical thinking to finding the right question. It's like when everything can be answered and it has 100 % accuracy, which majority of times at some point it will, then it doesn't matter how you get to the answer. It matters what you're asking. It's like, what are we asking? You have to actually think to ask good questions. can't just, you you've been in an interview with a potential employer.

Play from 32:29 88:88 32:29 And they're like, what questions do you have at the end? And you're kind of like, I don't know, I just want to get paid. But at the same time, you have to ask some good ones to like, either seem like you're paying attention or like to really like or you are naturally curious and you want to know the people that asked the better questions that ends up having a lot better of a result, I think most of the time. But I just feel like that's like that's where we're heading. It's like who is asking the best questions? Who's trying to problem solve?

Play from 32:55 88:88 32:55 Who's thinking of the the craziest things. Can we do this? Can we not do this? you know, so I think that's sort of like the shift of where this is going from macro level, deep hours. Yeah. Yeah, right. It's like. Yeah, I think that's a great point, man. I think that's a great point. Questions are hard. You have to ask, you have to know what you're asking. Like if you've ever been on a sales call, anyone here who's listening, who's been in sales, right? When you start at sales and you're just like reading the script and like, you don't know how to direct the conversation or ask the right questions to get to like the end result.

Play from 33:27 88:88 33:27 Once you've done it for, you know, a couple months, you're hitting like home runs with questions. It's like, you, know exactly what to ask to get the right response, to get the right information. And that's where the win is. It's not in reading the script, asking the right questions to get people to tell you stuff or to like, reveal things about themselves or the business that they wouldn't readily admit. So it's, you know, there's, there's a, there is a pristine art in asking questions.

Play from 33:55 88:88 33:55 And I think it just like prompting essentially what it is. So rant over, rant over on that one. Well, that's good. mean, so, so sort of to, yeah, I mean, then you had VO3 drop, 3.1 drop, what? No later than a week later, which we were thinking maybe there was four and then it was like right after we talked about it as like 3.1, like not four and is this true?

33:57Veo 3.1: longer clips, start/end frames, sound tweaks, quarterly cadence

Play from 34:25 88:88 34:25 You know, is this just a rumor? It seems like Google's been pretty bad with. keeping these rumors. I almost wonder if that's part of the strategy. ah Yeah. So, you know, the 3.1 thing landed, which I don't know, uh feels like a huge jump, but it is a jump, right? I mean, you've got certain things that this now brings to the table. I think it's, uh you know, it's the longer piece of it, right?

Play from 34:50 88:88 34:50 Like, I think you can create videos up to, is it a minute now? Yeah. up to a minute. It's, it's very similar to what like a Midjourney version five to 5.1 would be where it's not they didn't, to my understanding. little tweaks, better editing, oh, well, you did get the start and end, right, frames, which is probably, I guess, the biggest piece of it, ah because you had to go with VO2 before that, so I think you finally got that.

Play from 35:21 88:88 35:21 Which is nice. It makes it so much better. then, you know, really it's like not an aesthetic upgrade in terms of like what VO2 to VO3 was. It's more just like, I think it's built on the same architecture there, but it's like adding the different features to it where they're touting better sound, they're touting the new features. you were in there before too, it was just like, it was just kind of a pain in the ass because you're like, you know, like 16 by nine versus 916, you know, you had to be doing, you know, there were certain things that you had to do in 16, 9 or 916 and they didn't have the same capability.

Play from 35:56 88:88 35:56 One had to, you know, be switched over to a different model, you know, or you didn't have the ability to add the ingredients part. think ingredients is part of it too right now where you've got that. so it's like kind of everything now coming available to VO3 is probably really what this update is in addition to the longer videos, right? Sound a little bit maybe better I've heard, but. they have VO4 ready, I'm sure.

Play from 36:23 88:88 36:23 Like, you know, it's just sitting there waiting for the next, like, big... get three, do remember? 3 was probably around like June or July-ish, I would say. It's just like, you know, for public companies, just the public companies, you're going to get a big drop per quarter. Like that's how it works. rolling in from a stock perspective. Yeah, investment and all the other stuff that goes on. Like you see like, we hit October one.

Play from 36:48 88:88 36:48 What is October one? Beginning of Q4, we get Sora and then we get Veo 3.1 and then watch everyone else release their stuff that they're going to have. And then, you know, January rolls around. You have some major drop. They'll do like little incremental releases up until the next quarter and then drop something big. Right. So it's, it's sort of, that seems to be the dev schedule. It probably could expand. It probably is going to speed up, but that seems to be like the the play. I think it was March or April when we got the original Gemini chat jbt image, those sort of image editors.

Play from 37:21 88:88 37:21 And then it was again in, I think it was either June or July also. July? July. Around August, maybe. I forgot. um Then we got the second round. So you can see the consistent sort of dev schedule that it feels like they're pumping out. But I think this one's a good one. Google's just... oh Again, they're just waiting. They have everything they ever need.

Play from 37:46 88:88 37:46 think the V04 is probably going to be real awesome, if I had to assume. But Sora's been interesting, though. It's, again, added things that we didn't know we wanted. I didn't know I wanted really awesome edited stuff that writes script. the one thing that still, to me, where Sora is head and toes or head and shoulders above. Everything else is humor. it's the first tool that understands like humor without me having to ask for it.

Play from 38:17 88:88 38:17 like timing, like some of the things that the script, the scripting writes is actually really smart. Yeah. got some creative. uh It definitely has built-in imagination there. And I don't know if that's the right word, given that it's operating in some sort of algorithmic programmed function, but it feels that way. Because to your point, you don't have to say a lot, and you could get something that is uniquely funny.

Play from 38:48 88:88 38:48 It doesn't sound like a ChatGPT one-liner, like straight out of the box. You can one-shot something that could be pretty funny. ah Yeah, so I think that's a really good call out of something that is a novel thing that we haven't had yet, right? That is probably then now the norm in table stakes moving forward. I don't know if we talked about it on this on this podcast or another one where it was like, what's the last frontier?

39:11Why Sora is quietly best at humor and timing

Play from 39:17 88:88 39:17 And I was like humor because like nothing can do it yet. Like without me having to like direct every little piece of the humor, like it actually be funny. Like Mini Max 1 had some like goofiness to it, which was funny. Like it understood a little bit of comedic timing, but Sora definitely gets that. And that's what brings the masses in. Right. It's like fun, not like serious filmmaking. Like fun is what brings in more users.

Play from 39:42 88:88 39:42 And then people get into serious filmmaking. Right. So I think that's that's they did a good job. I think they did a great. Everyone's a do we need another social platforms like I don't know. But I think it's funny to go on there and like just scroll through and just look at all the ridiculous stuff like it's it's hilarious knowing that it's all AI in one place. I don't have to think is this real or is this not real. Like I know it's I know someone came up with it and like yeah.

40:04The future of social: less followers, more friends, fewer ads

Play from 40:07 88:88 40:07 to that social thing, man, there's something, not to get too far-tracked, but I think of the last few social, new social tools that have come around, and I'm just not excited or have this... uh this long like this uh long term enthusiasm and attachment to to stay on there.

Play from 40:34 88:88 40:34 you know, threads, uh even tick tock, you know, like this, like sore. Like I think the next big iteration of whatever social media channel or whatever that bubble that category is, is going to have to be dynamically different. It's going to have to be uniquely different. um And that was kind of just what brought me back to, you you're talking about the friends thing versus followers.

Play from 40:59 88:88 40:59 It's just like another thing where I got to build a follower count or do this to get people to see the stuff. It's just like, that doesn't feel like the future at this Well, if you take the followers out of it, you take a lot of the business out of it, right? Like to me, that's, that's important. Or that's just maybe like a thought I've had. I, I didn't have to grow a following, then there's no way to sort of monetize a following, right? Like that's what you're monetizing is eyeballs, right? It's at the end of the day, that's what it is. You're just trying to move eyeballs from one place to the next.

Play from 41:27 88:88 41:27 So like take the business out of it and you just have like friends, like it's like you're connecting, it's like trading phone numbers, you know, like that's really to me more like personal and like less about like scale, which I think everyone's always trying to like immediately, how do we take this as marketers? How do we take this ambassador as a shit out of it? uh Kind of like what we do. But it's, it would be nice because I don't want to have ads. I don't want to have like, you know, saying this the other day, like to say this to Min, right?

Play from 41:58 88:88 41:58 To to our friend Min Doe. There was like, all these other tools that like charge these, you know, these fees and whatnot. Nothing pisses me off more than like paying for YouTube premium, sorry YouTube, paying for YouTube premium and then like, you don't have to worry about the ads. And then everyone just natively builds the ads into their videos. So I still have to watch them. So it's like, I'm paying, but then I'm still watching ads, right? It's like, we find a way to get stuff in there no matter what as marketers.

Play from 42:26 88:88 42:26 And that one is so annoying to me. I don't want it anymore. I don't want it. I just want a space advertising free. That's it. don't want to be bombarded by it at all times. Well, yeah, mean, Vio 3.1, maybe the other thing we should touch on too as we of like wrap is getting into some of these other things that came through.

42:39Runway “apps”: micro-tools that make editing obvious

Play from 42:52 88:88 42:52 There was Runway, this whole piece of it with apps. um So they've got sort of like all these different breakdowns, know, apps so can remove something from the video, you can reshoot the product, you can add dialogue, you can upscale video, you can change the image style. I think they had another batch too, yeah. Change the weather, change the background, change the time of day, which I mean, I think these are all just, again, it's just like editing the video.

Play from 43:26 88:88 43:26 ah but still um very, very interesting. And... I think it's a nice touch for like see this is I like when they do stuff like this because runway always seems to be like the first one to sort of think about it a little bit if that makes sense because like yeah you have a tool like a left when it's unlimited I don't know what to actually do with it so break it out into little micro tools that now it's like this is what you do with it you know what I mean sometimes sometimes like these these yeah to a user.

Play from 44:03 88:88 44:03 Yep. just need some digestible things. So this to me is a great idea. Yeah. So you had that. There was also a big thing with Reeve, which I don't know that a lot of people heard about. And I honestly haven't been in there yet, but I've been meaning to. Which is like, you can now do some other things in Reeve. I think they're like calling this almost like a relaunch of the platform in some ways.

44:05Reve’s relaunch: edit-any-image, reverse search, excellent skin/texture

Play from 44:29 88:88 44:29 But now you can do sort of like this edit any image kind of thing. So it kind of feels like maybe a little bit Nano Banana-ish in that sense too. And then you and I have both talked about Reeve, mostly offline, but I think we both agree that this, like Reeve does have really good image quality baked into it. Probably one of the better ones that are out there.

Play from 44:57 88:88 44:57 And so this is maybe particularly interesting too for those of you that haven't been in there in a while, maybe this is a great time to revisit. capabilities. This was the one I think that caught my eye, sort of like this reverse engine search. think this is how I... Wait, is this the same Reve? That was like the moment that I had. I was like, wait, the same Reve, like you can just like reverse searching, you know, images now for items of clothing that you could potentially buy or whatever.

Play from 45:24 88:88 45:24 You know, it of felt like a little bit of... I was like, oh snap, like this is different. That is cool. I didn't even think of that as like a I didn't see that post, but that's a good one. I like that a lot. That's for anyone that's not for anyone that's looking for like a Midjourney ask solution to for, know, let's just say you're working in Weavey or you're working in a workflow building tool.

Play from 45:49 88:88 45:49 Reav is probably the closest thing to a quality of Midjourney. It's not going to be like flux where everything looks just awful in my opinion, but You know, it's the closest thing you can get. Not on the breadth of style and potential of mid-journey. We can go anywhere. If you're looking for real photo realism, like real quality aesthetic taste, Reeves is a good one. It's also great with skin texture.

Play from 46:15 88:88 46:15 That's another thing. If anyone's looking for skin texture, that to me is, it nails it, especially on close-up shots. there's, I'm a fan. I use it a lot, especially in Weevy. use it... almost exclusively for ImageGen, because that or Higgs Field Sol is basically as good as it gets, you know, in terms of creative capacity. You heard about this one in beta photo labs.

46:34Photo Labs: restyling real photos without losing the moment

Play from 46:41 88:88 46:41 I've seen it pop up on my feed. Like I've seen people talking about it. I have no idea what it is. like an interesting thing. And I don't know if it's too early to say like, at least from my view, maybe just require some deeper thinking on it. And if this loads, that'd be great. But the way that I interpreted it was this can essentially uh restyle existing photos for better.

Play from 47:16 88:88 47:16 Quality or storytelling purposes like it's almost like you could like me and you could take a picture together And then this can take that picture and just do some things with it Whether that's changing the camera under whatever but staying very true and authentic to the original photo And it's just like this little slice of a lane which again I can't tell you at how big this lane is if it's a commodity or what but it's just like okay, so Let me see if I can kind of just show you guys this.

Play from 47:48 88:88 47:48 um You know, so let's see, never miss a moment, blurred, chaotic, almost lost, bring back with clarity, detail, touch of magic. So it's taking, you know, it's almost like a photographer sort of tool versus like an AI tool. I mean, it does have AI power, you know, components, obviously. But I think like this is going a little bit of a different direction, right?

Play from 48:13 88:88 48:13 So again, like here's the original, here's the after. It's almost like you maybe had a better photographer on hand to keep track of these memories. Maybe you got a picture of your kid. They got a booger on their face or something. I don't know. You know, maybe the light's harsh, right? Like you got this this backlit thing, which just with these lights is terrible. And now you've got sort of like this little highlight thing that that's interesting. Restyle with moods. Yeah, I don't know, like.

Play from 48:38 88:88 48:38 Well, it looks interesting. It looks like a lot of the photos, like if you were going to take this image on your iPhone, and then let's just say instead you wanted to use like a more professional lens where you're maybe instead of like the iPhone, whatever the base one is, like you're using like you're pushing in closer up and using a lens for a wider field of view. So you have like that sort of that really good, you know, professional look with the bokeh added and probably adjusting the lighting skin texture.

Play from 49:05 88:88 49:05 Like the one I saw that was really cool in there was like the people in the dark environment and then I hit it with like the harsh flash, um, sort of like blown highlights type thing, which I was like, that's cool. Cause this one, right? Like it's, or the one that it's about to come up the dog, right? It's the same thing, black and white. We're pushing in closer and we're probably opening up the field of view, right? Like that's like the one with the, the food, right? Pushing in closer up field of view, adjusted lighting.

Play from 49:32 88:88 49:32 Like that was the one, the one dark one to like this direct flash, like sort of, it was like a this is funded too by I think. A16 if I'm not mistaken. um So, you if this is interesting at all, they have a wait list. I joined it maybe a couple weeks back. I just got an email last night that they're rolling out an app for it for like betas.

Play from 49:57 88:88 49:57 So I would, you know, if you're listening to this and it's interesting, go ahead and do this now. This would be a good time to do it. I don't know, again, I don't know what this is yet, but it's interesting. It's a different take that I haven't seen yet. So, you know. research and product company building personalized visual that brings your memories to life to be seen, felt and shared. know, again, like remember when we were talking about even last week, we were talking about different senses being involved in the future and new, you know, future frontiers of this.

Play from 50:24 88:88 50:24 Like how can you start to bring in touch, you know, and you know, that tactile feel of what's happening around your smell, right? Like those are, those are things that probably aren't going to happen relatively soon, but when they do, like those are game-changing things too. Could you see a world where something like this exists and then you're able to almost step into a memory? You know, can, you know, like, I don't know, man. I mean, it's uh definitely interesting.

50:44Wrap: building real workflows across tools, not just vibes

Play from 50:49 88:88 50:49 Definitely interesting. Check out photolab, photolabs.com. I that's an appropriate way to cut this one off, because I gotta run. I gotta make another call here pretty soon, my dude. this is... I just like that use case. That to me is like creative thinking, not just image generation. like, let's work more so. Yeah.

Play from 51:15 88:88 51:15 We've got the LoRa models and stuff, but we haven't seen anything taking existing photos and really just kind of reimagining them. so, ah something to check out. We covered a lot. Mid-Journey, we're going to continue to kind of keep an eye what's happening with that. We'll keep you guys up to date on all the latest happenings too with these tools because they are interconnected, right? Like these things, especially when you get outside of just personal fun and joy and like, creative stuff.

Play from 51:42 88:88 51:42 you putting this into use cases, professional projects, et cetera, you know by now that mid-journey is a piece of the puzzle and not the whole puzzle, right? We've got all these different things. And so it's important for us to craft a narrative too where you can experiment with this from here are the tools that are working right now. Here are the things that you can combine that really kind of help you achieve what you're trying to achieve from an automation standpoint, an efficiency standpoint, et cetera.

Play from 52:10 88:88 52:10 Anyway, we'll continue to bring you on that. Rory, good to see you, Stay out of trouble. Don't step on any nails. Just do your thing, man. Just do your thing. But you know, if you're still here, you know the deal. We gotta start doing this in the beginning. Just like and damn subscribe. Do something. Like it, comment on it, send it to your mom, send it to your friends, dog, whatever. Poke it with a stick, do something. Just something.

52:31“Poke it with a stick”: like, sub, share, we’ll keep it under an hour

Play from 52:36 88:88 52:36 If you're hanging out for 52 minutes, you know, come on. And then I... episode under an hour, by the way. Let's go. fault because I gotta I gotta run but it's also the same thing as everyone where we won't you know if you're watching this on YouTube premium I won't add an ad into the middle of this episode so you have to still listen to ads maybe sometime in the future though we should think about that. All right, guys. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you guys next week.

Play from 53:01 88:88 53:01 Have a good one. Later, see ya.