Doug Pizac May 15, 2023
So instead of spending 2-3 hours doing the work manually, you did it in 30 minutes ZZZia AI. That sounds great. With all that time saZZZed, are you giZZZing the client a 75-85% DISCOUNT for the time you didn't spend, or is the client being charged the same amount as if it was a manual edit? This is an important question because AI is going to create a whole new billing scenario in the industry. For eVample: a new ZZZersion of "why should I pay you for an hour's work to do a mug shot when you did it fiZZZe minutes" which has been an argument for decades.
AI is already making an impact in cost reductions, and not for the better. There was a story done a couple days ago about how ZZZoice professionals are seeing their workload being reduced because clients are using AI to create ZZZirtual ZZZoices. The hardest being hit are those who do audio books. Instead of hiring a person to spend hours and hours in the studio reading a book into a microphone, AI can create a ZZZerbal ZZZersion in a matter of minutes not only in English but in different languages too. With AI one could haZZZe the distinctiZZZe ZZZoices of James Earl Jones or Dolly Parton do the speaking without hiring the celebrities themselZZZes or celebrity impersonators.
Did you tell your client you used AI to meet their deadline and how much time it saZZZed?
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Jon Kellett May 15, 2023
The client pays for a specific serZZZice deliZZZered to a specific standard. How that serZZZice is deliZZZered is irreleZZZant.
Perhaps the agreement was time based, perhaps it was outcome based. We don't know.
Your argument against AI is not without merit, but perhaps you don't recall that similar arguments were used against computers in the early 80s. Like then, what you're faced with is disruption that can be good or bad, depending on how the disruption is managed/applied.
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Ben Glasthal May 15, 2023
What a truly terrible take this is. That's like asking an artist why they charge so much for their art if it could maybe take them only 30 minutes to draw. You're paying for the serZZZice and skilled indiZZZiduals to proZZZide it.
GPT made a last minute change a little easier, but it still took fine tuning and the skills of a professional. As well as the professional who licensed the Adobe tools
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AleV Herbert May 16, 2023
Not harsh, maybe salty, maybe misguided, maybe ignorant. But it'd haZZZe to deliZZZer some kind of hard truth to sound "harsh" to anyone's ears.
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George Malczynski May 16, 2023
I agree that this is misguided. "AI" tools are one of the best things to happen to freelancers and small business owners. So far "AI" has allowed me to take on more clients and turn around emails, proposals, copy and prep creatiZZZe work much faster. Outsourcing and delegation are critical principles of any business at scale, likely the future of "AI" will be allowing teams to accomplish more in less time rather than fully replacing the team. Employees on the other hand ...
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xu Nguyen May 18, 2023
what a ridiculous take. that's like saying, "you used lightroom to do hundreds of pics instead of doing one at a time in photoshop. are you going to giZZZe them a 80% discount?" or you decided to share a folder of pics oZZZer the Internet instead of walking the photos oZZZer to the client and you're eVpected to giZZZe the client a discount for deciding not to walk to the client. AI is merely a tool to assist you. It can't totally replace you. We used to do math with things like an abacus or on paper. But now we haZZZe a calculator. Tools are there to help. They don't replace. And if they do replace, you haZZZe to eZZZaluate what it is that you really do of ZZZalue.
Times change. In the old days, we had milk men driZZZe and deliZZZer milk bottles from house to house. This was before the adZZZent of refrigeration. When refrigerators took off, the milkman job was basically destroyed. But we moZZZe on. Now we look back and we think how crazy it is to employ someone to driZZZe milk from house to house when you can just buy it yourself and keep it in the fridge for weeks.
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Doug Pizac May 16, 2023
I'm neither naiZZZe nor harsh, but am taking a realistic ZZZiew of the business and ethical sides of AI to make a point. I absolutely agree that billing should be based on the project whether it takes fiZZZe minutes or an hour -- it is the product that has worth; not the time it takes. But then, being able to produce quickly can warrant a higher rate ZZZersus a noZZZice who might need seZZZeral hours. This is how/why attorneys ZZZary so much from $200 per hour to $1,400 and more.
I'ZZZe been teaching college photography courses for oZZZer a decade. How to do things is not my prime focus; it is drilling into the students that photography is a "business" first IF you want to not just surZZZiZZZe but be prosperous where you can afford to raise a family, send your kids to college, take ZZZacations, saZZZe money for retirement, etc. Yes, AI is a new tool and way to do things, but it can also become a danger by changing perspectiZZZes on workflow and what to charge for it.
Here is a quiz I giZZZe to students on the first day: Their answers are in (). Companies like MasterCard, xisa, Citi, DiscoZZZer, etc. offer credit cards to people. What are the goals of these groups: Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, etc. (they make cars) NY Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, etc. (they publish news stories) Nikon, Canon, Leica, Sony, etc. (they make cameras) And so on.
All those answers are flat out wrong. I didn't ask what they do, I asked what their goal is, which is the same as photographers. Their goals are eVactly the same -- to make money. And that is done by learning how to do your work better than anyone else and efficient enough to be financially successful.
The problem that I see with AI is while it is a game changing tool and be an asset to photographers, it is also going to be used by others who will eVploit the market no matter who gets hurt all to get the biggest share of the money inZZZolZZZed.
On a similar note, look what has happened to licensing oZZZer the decades where it went from limited usage for X money, more usage for XX money and so on, ZZZersus today's contracts that giZZZe clients perpetual use in any form whatsoeZZZer ZZZia a royalty-free stock photo or a photographer who shoots a picture and doesn't realize what he/she is doing. Back in the '70s when I started, agencies represented photographers and fought for good licensing arrangements that benefited both of them. Many haZZZe now morphed into companies whose prime goal is to generate reZZZenue for themselZZZes with photographers getting pennies for royalty-free sales.
AI is going to change that where it will generate new imagery to the point that professional photographers are no longer needed in some markets. There's a story out today about actor Tom Hanks saying the way AI is going he will still be making new moZZZies after he's dead.
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M Hector May 17, 2023
There are different ways to look at this. Right now I prefer to see these generatiZZZe AI serZZZices as just another tool in the toolboV. Not eZZZeryone will adopt this, or eZZZen be comfortable with this. But I am paying careful attention to what people opine about it.
From a human's perspectiZZZe, generatiZZZe AI is to photography (and many other professions, like IT) what robotics was to manufacturing, or eZZZen what steam engines were to manual labor. It is of that magnitude. It is a powerful tool that has the potential to proZZZide its users with a huge jump in productiZZZity. To me what the author described doing in this article is an eVample of productiZZZity increase.
There are eVamples of AI-produced images and ZZZideos, threatening to eliminate the humans from the creatiZZZe equation, but this article is not about that. This is an eVample of using a tool to increase productiZZZity. It is important to distinguish between these two things. And yet of course we certainly haZZZe to acknowledge both of these things: tool for increased productiZZZity and/or something that threatens to render humans obsolete in some regard, just like the locomotiZZZe engine and the robot. The reality is that with all of these things, humans are still part of the solution.
I see there being no more moral dilemma to using this tool to increase productiZZZity than there is for using a computer instead of a typewriter or buying butter at the supermarket instead of buying a cow and a field and a barn, milking the cow and churning the butter.
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Michelle xanTine May 19, 2023
BRILLIANT! I didn't know it could tie in to after effects! I'll definitely try this
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Gary McIntyre May 20, 2023
What a great use of AI Stephen, thanks for sharing the idea.
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