In this episode of the Redefining Society podcast, host Marco Ciappelli delves into the fascinating world of generative AI with guest James G. Maynard, exploring how this revolutionary technology is transforming filmmaking, education, and society at large.
Guest: ✨ James Maynard, Creator / Producer, The Cosmic Companion
On LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-g-maynard
Website | https://thecosmiccompanion.net
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Host: Marco Ciappelli, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining Society Podcast
On ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/marco-ciappelli
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Episode Introduction
Welcome to Another Episode!
All right, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Redefining Society podcast, where we talk about the intersection of society and technology. This time around, our focus is on generative AI and its impact on creativity, filmmaking, and society. I'm Marco Ciappelli, and I'm thrilled to be joined today by James G. Maynard. James is a creator, a science communicator, and someone with a profound interest in how technology shapes our world.
James grew up close to the space program, with his father working on the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. This environment fostered his dual passions for science and the arts, which he has successfully merged throughout his career. With degrees in physics and chemistry, experience in running star parties, and a treasure trove of books to his name, James combines these elements in his work, using art and storytelling to make science accessible and engaging.
Generative AI: A Game Changer
During our fascinating conversation, James referred to generative AI as the "greatest tool for the democratization of filmmaking since the invention of the movie camera." He highlighted how AI is cutting down the colossal budgets typically associated with filmmaking, empowering independent filmmakers to create high-quality content without needing enormous financial backing. According to James, this is a revolution, democratizing not just the tools of filmmaking but also the opportunities to create.
The Evolution of Filmmaking: Navigating Traditional and Modern Tools
James discussed how generative AI transforms various aspects of the creative process. He noted that traditional methods of filmmaking were often restricted by heavy financial investments, which in many cases led to films being produced solely to make money for investors. This often resulted in a loss of artistic value. However, with AI, we are witnessing a resurgence of creativity and a proliferation of new stylistic approaches in filmmaking.
James described himself as an "app smasher," someone who doesn't rely on a single application but uses a suite of tools to bring his visions to life. From MidJourney for still images to Runway for videos, and from Suno for music to Eleven Labs for voice synthesis, his approach exemplifies the endless possibilities that technology offers to modern filmmakers.
Marco and James shared a lively discussion on the balance between innovation and the inevitable pushback against new technologies. They drew comparisons with historical shifts in other industries, such as the move from vacuum tubes to transistors in computing. James emphasized that while AI might reshape certain jobs, it opens vast new fields of creativity and opportunity.
Upcoming Projects
James also shared insights into his current projects. From his weekly science comedy interview show, "The Cosmic Companion," to short films like "Moon Beans" and feature-length films, he is always striving to educate and entertain. His upcoming films, "Gaia Rising," a future history on climate change, and "The Wizard and the Scholar," a historical adventure situated in 12th-century England, epitomize his commitment to blending education and storytelling.
The Future of Creativity
Throughout the episode, it's clear that both Marco and James see AI not as a threat but as an enabler of creativity. James compared today's generative AI to early photography or the initial skepticism of CGI, pointing out that every technological revolution faces resistance before being widely adopted and appreciated.
The discussion with James G. Maynard sheds light on the exciting potential of generative AI in redefining storytelling, filmmaking, and education. By democratizing access to powerful creative tools, AI is not just transforming how stories are told but also who gets to tell them. As James's projects show, we are on the cusp of a new era where creativity and technology intertwine in unprecedented ways.
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The Generative AI Creative Renaissance: Breathing New Life in the art of Filmmaking and in our Society | A conversation with James G. Maynard | Redefining Society with Marco Ciappelli
Please note that this transcript was created using AI technology and may contain inaccuracies or deviations from the original audio file. The transcript is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for the original recording, as errors may exist. At this time, we provide it “as it is,” and we hope it can be helpful for our audience.
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00:00:00] Marco Ciappelli: All right, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Redefining Society podcast, where we talk about society and technology and technology and society, which goes in a circle and then goes the other way around. And lately, more and more, I make this joke that If I don't have at least an episode about generative AI every two I get in trouble with the law because The law is now to talk about that and I truly enjoy it Um, i'm not the tech kind of guy, but you know, I like to look at how is affecting society creativity The way we live and the way we produce content, which I'm kind of going that direction because today we're going to talk about that I am super excited about having James Maynard here on the show with me.
Um, He is a Creator himself. He's a science communicator. We're going to talk probably touch on science and uh, And the cosmos and all the things that he does and uh, i'm I have high expectations. So no pressure
No, seriously, uh, this is video and audio so the person you list you heard, uh laughing is james How about, uh, you do a quick introduction about yourself so people are sure that I'm not making it up. You're really here.
[00:01:29] James G. Maynard: Sure. My name is Charlie Periwinkle, and I'm from North Carolina.
[00:01:35] Marco Ciappelli: I got the guess wrong again.
That's what I did. Damn it.
[00:01:40] James G. Maynard: Yeah, uh, let's see. My name is James Mayard, and I, um, I grew up around, around the space program. My dad, uh, designed electronics for first the Apollo and then the space shuttle programs, and, um, but I also always had a passion for art and. Uh, film and music and, um, other forms of creativity.
And, um, so, you know, when I was a kid, I put out a, um, a homemade magazine that my mother would, you know, I'd write up a paragraph about the, or two about the latest science stories I heard, and I'd draw up a cover for it and hand it to my, uh, Motherhood go and Xerox it off for me to go peddling it around the neighborhood, you know, probably made about 2 and 50 cents a week, you know,
[00:02:38] Marco Ciappelli: as a kid, it was not too bad.
[00:02:40] James G. Maynard: That was not too bad. Right. Right. And, uh, and so now I'm pretty much, uh, so I've done all sorts of things, got a degree in physics and chemistry and run hundreds of star parties and written several books and yada, yada, yada. Um, But now, uh, uh, but what my goal is still to, um, blend together science, really great science with.
With art, with film, with literature, um, and with the amazing, incredible power of storytelling. It's, um, I think that, um, the best way to bring more science education into the world is to make people fall in love with science again. And the best way to do that is through the power of storytelling and art.
[00:03:36] Marco Ciappelli: Absolutely. I agree. And that's why we, we, I was in between going on audio signals, which is one of the podcasts that talk about stories and storytelling and ratifying society. But because we, we had this plan, maybe we'll do another episode to talk about that. But I think the point is. What you just said it's You can't detach one from the other you you can't teach Unless you have stories and you know as some writers say if you have a good story to tell You know, you're you're pretty good, but you also need to know how to tell it and have maybe the tools so today we we said we were going to focus not much on the xerox process of back in the days But the the incredible power that come with the Generative AI.
So I know you've been experimenting quite a bit with that for your shows. So, um, Are you one of those that and I mean, I'm sure you're embracing it because you're using it You're not just say, yep, forget about this. But how do you feel is affecting the creators in general? It's uh, uh,
[00:04:46] James G. Maynard: you know, I think the best way to think of it is that uh generative AI is the greatest tool for the democratization of filmmaking since the invention of the movie camera.
All right. The, you know, when you look at these films, and I'm not going to pick on one particular film here, but I could name the title. I don't want to hear from their lawyers, but they went in. All right. But they went to film at an airport. And the director said, Oh, no, no, no, you know, I, I, I don't want this airport tower to be this color.
I want it to be a different color. So they built an entirely new fake tower, just so this thing could look slightly differently than the one that was already there. And it was hundreds of thousands of dollars in the early 70s.
All
right. And, uh, and so these humongous budgets have, have had a couple of problems.
And one of them is that too many movies now are being made, uh, for this really, for the sole purpose of, of making money for the investors. And when that happens, I feel like we lose a lot of the art and the storytelling and the magic that is great filmmaking. And nowadays, you know, I'm spending a lot of time on the film circuits with a lot of, you know, independent filmmakers and the energy and the artistry that's coming out from people around the world.
It's just truly revolutionary. It's, it's, it's astounding and it's It's allowing people who could never before make more than the most basic movie and giving them the power and the resources of major movie studios. It's reduced the cost of filmmaking by probably two magazines by 99%.
[00:07:12] Marco Ciappelli: So I like the democratization.
I'm a big fan of that. I mean, we've seen it in social media. We've seen it with influencers. We've seen it with people who are able to create content, able to write. Uh, you know, the blog and don't have to go through somebody that is your agent and and it's over and I mean you you can put content out there now.
Somebody like me coming from before internet, which has become like, you know, a time in, uh, in our era and Studying mass media, you know, one of the things that you can make a point is okay democratization is great. But do you lose? Quality like that filter. I mean that barrier Is it is a good thing or a bad thing in the long run?
Like everybody can make movies everybody can write But is that all Good or verified in term of like, I don't know, information and so on. So,
[00:08:17] James G. Maynard: yeah, I think if you're, I think there's probably a couple of different ways to take that question and. One is, um, is the quality as good as, you know, if I want to shoot a scene, you know, and use AI for backgrounds and what have you, is that as good as flying a whole film crew out to, you know, Montreal, and I'm in Arizona, um, you know, and paying all sorts of people and running up hotel bills and, you know.
Can you do things better the old fashioned way? Right now, yes, if you're looking to get something highly realistic. But, but the um, but I think first of all, um, the technology of AI is of course growing by leaps and bounds. I mean, 15, 18 months ago when we were all first playing with Dolly, And the first, you know, variation of, uh, first public variation of, of CHAT GPT, you know, we thought that was really cool then, and it was, but that is primitive compared to, you know, what we're seeing and able to do today, and five years down the line, it may be on par with, you know, Doing a multi million dollar shot.
But what's really, really, really, really, really, really cool to me is that there are um, that the limitations imposed on filmmakers and creators by where AI is now. Is helping people and especially to create new styles
To
create new ways of doing things new ways of shooting. Um, you know, and you know We're able to take advantage of old ways of doing things as well.
Oh, I can't get this, you know person's face to look quite right while they're talking. Okay, great. I'll spin the whole thing around and do it. You know, do an over the shoulder shot. So you're only seeing the back of the person's head problem solved. And, and I just love the new styles that people are coming up with now and the way this technology allows.
It allows people to form new, new ways of doing things and new, new, new styles. I just, I just adore it.
[00:10:55] Marco Ciappelli: Yeah, no, I'm with you. And I actually, I get what you said. Like there's two ways to respond. Because quality may be the quality of, you know, as you outlined, the quality of the product or the quality of the creative input.
Um. You know, not just the output, but the story itself. I mean, you still need that creativity. Oh, absolutely. So, um, tell me the way that you, you use it. Right. So you talk about the first version of DALI and I agree. I'm like, ah, can I actually use this even to make a cover for, you know, but, but it was fascinating.
It's still right. We added something from DALI. My input my prompt so, you know, it was already cool. But yeah, this is 18 years ago And now we are a completely different level. So how did you grow? In in the way that you were using that and applying to your content that you do Hmm.
[00:11:55] James G. Maynard: Yeah. Um, and that's a great question.
And I am what is called an app smasher. I don't use just one app for anything. I will create, you know, use, you know, this to set up the basic scene. Use that, other things. Completely different system to do the sound, put music on with a third, you know, move this all around, pan and zoom with another app, you know.
And so, um, but generally speaking, I find there are four and, um, four systems that are really, really incredible right now, um, to me, which are Big Journey, which excels at creating really good still images. Um, and then there's Runway, which does a similar thing with videos, uh, except to me, I think MidJourney does better to start with, uh, and then Runway is able to take over the video from there.
Um, there's Suno, which has just made the last version of it, I think it's version 3. It's just made leaps and bounds in its creation, its ability to create music. Um, and, uh, then there's 11 labs. Which creates, um, voices, you know, allows you to do dialogue. So typical thing for me might be, you know, say create a character, um, in, in big journey and create a background for them separately, um, bring the character into runway and make it.
Move a little bit naturally and then add a voice using Suno, but that has to be put in through Runway so you can make the lip sync. And that comes, uh, over to, um, uh, Suno, excuse me, from the music. Eleven Labs is the voice. And, um, And then that all gets mixed in a typical digital audio workstation type thing where you see, you know, this video clip, that video clip, this audio clip and that move them all any which way you want.
So that's, and so I've talked with several, um, filmmakers around the world who have, who are doing, uh, AI powered films and educational materials. And that's, that's a pretty, that's getting to be a pretty standard combination for people, those four pretty powerful together.
[00:14:45] Marco Ciappelli: So here's the vision that I had in my mind when you're showing me this, this visual of a storyboard where you use four different, Or more probably apps and yeah, and then you have one process, one process.
I just recently read a biography of Walt Disney and he made me think about, you know, the power of animation in creating, you know, the impossible, that the thing that you couldn't create in real life, you go into animation and you can actually create kind of what you want. So it, it make the vision. So less, uh, constrict in a way.
I don't know. I mean, do you see that? It's kind of like that's Sci-fi is becoming reality. And then what is sci-fi any, any longer?
[00:15:41] James G. Maynard: Right. And speaking of sci-Fi, um, perfect example of this is Star Trek. You know, long before the days of AI or even anything we would call CGI or , pretty much anything we call special effects , um, these people, you know, gene Roddenberry and, um, and their crew were trying to.
Put on a really, really cool sci fi show, which had never really been done before. Um, on building, building models. Every time you want to show a spaceship. You had to build a model of it and, you know, fly it along a string in front of a, in front of a, uh, you know, star, a, you know, piece of star chart. And, um, but, and so the, um, studio, I was not to say the network deciding that, you know, this was far too expensive to pay people to, you know, make all these models and dress people up.
Up in, you know, silly, silly costumes and paint them green, uh, you know, just started cutting their budget over and over again. So then we, you know, we get to the third season of the original Star Trek and, you know, we're having, you know, basically one shot shows of episodes of, you know, space hippies. And, um, so, um, so those herberts really took, took down Star Trek by starving it of minds.
And now we no longer need to build these, build these sets. We no longer need to dye people green. We can do that all in front of a green screen, like the one behind me, and post production. And using AI, you can get a really, really powerful suite of things for, you know, let's say a few hundred bucks a month.
The people, filmmakers are no longer held hostage to the, to the financiers. And I think that's. It's going to be pretty, pretty amazing for, for bringing science back for educational materials and entertainment.
[00:18:04] Marco Ciappelli: Now, when you talk about these things, I mean, you're mixing kind of the, the big budget that then eventually become less budget.
As you said about Star Trek, as you're describing that, I'm thinking like the lighting and magic from George Lucas and how that, Entire system was also about inventing, you know, in the lab, the physical aspect of filming. Computer came in, CGI came in, they all, they got smaller and smaller, the people hammering on stuff, and bigger and bigger, the people typing on stuff.
Little tiny hammers. A little tiny camera that goes through the canyon and all of that. And, and so, many people now are like, well, they're taking jobs away. Well, it's taking jobs away, but it's kind of redistributing the jobs. So to the people that are against generative AI because it allows to do things with smaller budget without involving certain kind of knowledge, I mean, what, what is your reaction to that?
Because they're definitely on the side of welcoming. This clearly I don't think I misread you Um, so to the people that are a little bit more on the conservative side What's your answer?
[00:19:23] James G. Maynard: Yeah, um, you know things, you know industries and technologies Change over time and you know, that's a great thing. You know the first The first computers, um, you know, like ENIAC, were built with these vacuum tubes.
And there were just tens of thousands of vacuum tubes in each box and, you know, boxes filling up warehouses. And, you know, I'm willing to bet that the vacuum tube industry was Was quite the thing back in 40s, 50s, but then you get the invention of the transistor that put the You know back into people out of business pretty quickly but the amount of jobs created in electronics and computer engineering and computer science skyrocketed and and so I think I think that, you know, nobody is a monoculture, you know, people who are working at these huge.
Industries can actually probably, um, reposition skills in other ways, either filling up, you know, creating their own film houses, um, or creating their own new ways of doing things. 3D films, there's so much technology and so, so much space to open up new ways of doing things. I think that, um, that this really is going to change things and, but I think all in all, when you look at it for the, over the big picture, there's, there's some amazing opportunities out there and, and I just want to see these tens of millions of other people who no longer can do, who currently cannot do anything being, being given this huge amount of access.
I think it's a good thing.
[00:21:45] Marco Ciappelli: Now that definitely for the creators. I agree with you. And, and, you know, let's talk about this. I mean, you look back, you told me at the beginning, one of your other beginning before we start recording one of your first book was actually looking at the Roman Empire and your background is chemistry and physics.
And so now you now we're talking about moviemaking and in a way, you know, we like to wear different hats. I think when you when you find me.
I'm not saying go everybody go and learn something new, but don't sit on a knowledge that nowadays is going to change industry like cyber security. You've never finished learning industry like computer science. And now, obviously, we're not using the same camera we did the Wizard of Oz. Right. Right.
Exactly. I've seen it. It's really big. And that was, anyway, the first color movie. And probably people were like, what the hell? Color? Who needs color? But my point is, change. If we didn't change, we will be still, I don't know, in caves. Somebody has to disrupt something.
[00:23:04] James G. Maynard: Yeah, I There was a time not long ago, 50, 75 years ago, when many people were still arguing about whether or not photography should be considered art, you know, and now through all the amazing, you know, photographers and Ansel Adams and Annie Leibovitz and, you know, we see, there's no way of denying Right.
That, that is art. And, um, but you know, I re but there was a time when people were saying, Oh, all you do is just point the camera and snap, you know, and it's, uh, and it's just so much more to that. I mean, I've taken an online video course with Annie and she's just depth of what is possible with photography is just.
Astonishing. It really is. And, you know, there are a lot of people now say, Oh, well, all you do with AI is just. Tell it to give you a picture of a pumpkin in space wearing a top hat. And that's pretty cool. Well, that's kind of where you start and, you know, and then you run it through iterations and go through different versions and yada, yada, yada, yada, yada.
Um, but I think, I think this type of thing that we're seeing this backlash that's coming from about AI now. It's just another form of what we've seen many, many, many times before. There was outrage about the invention of the bicycle.
And now that just seems so, yeah.
[00:24:58] Marco Ciappelli: People losing job because they were using the horses. Well, right. Another perfect example. Yeah. But I love the photo one because, uh, the, the, the photographer one, my, my uncle was a photographer. I remember he was teaching in school. Um, and, uh, and, and I had fun as a kid going in his, in his, uh, in his lab and developing a film.
Oh, I love that. Yeah. Yeah. And hanging it and. And the magic of seeing the You know on white paper the image materialized, right? I mean,
[00:25:33] James G. Maynard: so I love the smell of fixer in the morning
[00:25:38] Marco Ciappelli: I don't know how good it was for our health, but anyway, that that was kind of fun. And and then you were shooting Uh, like, I don't know, in fashion and, and you had a finite number of shot in the, in the film and sure you had to be good because you weren't just shooting 600, 000 shot on a digital camera.
Right, right, right.
That progression has always been there. So the people that were against photography at the beginning, it was an art. Then when the digital camera come out, it's like, Oh my God. Now that it was art until digital now is not now is in your phone But still I can see if if something is a good picture or not I don't it's not the tool is the people that use that tool the vision that they have
right Right, right, and people don't understand that with the eye
[00:26:31] James G. Maynard: Yes.
Yes, absolutely Um, and you know and like something, you know, I mean There are,
I just, I know I've said this before, but it's just the new styles of filmmaking that are coming about now, partly because of the limitations. of what we're currently able to do with AI are just another, are another, um, could be another new age of, of filmmaking. You know, painting went through all sorts of different ages, Ponticellism, Impressionism, um, Post Realism, whatever.
And film is much, much younger, but we still have, you know, the early Age of, you know, uh, Edison's films and, you know, the great Golden Age in the 30s and 40s, Wizard of Oz, the film noir, um, era, uh, through all sorts of psychedelic era of the late 60s. Do I really need to watch the monkeys in head again?
Mmmmmmmm, maybe?
Through the ultra realism of the 70s sci fi Star Wars moment. And so just like, you know, You know, painting went through all these ages. So, so does filmmaking and the tech, and that is driven partly by technology, black and white cameras, color cameras, you know, really good microphones. Um, and everything interacts.
with one another. And the way that generative AI is affecting, um, film and education now, I think has, has huge, huge potential.
[00:28:35] Marco Ciappelli: I love that. You know, another thing that people, you're kind of going there too. It's like contextualizing what, what you see. If I watch Casablanca and I look at the way they use the lighting, the shadow on the, on the wall and what they do, right?
I can't say that's better than or worse than a Marvel movie now. It's just different. Is there a difference? Quality. There is something I like. I need to contextualize in what they had at the time. If I look at Ansel Adams photo, you may not be as well defined as a 4K, you know, image right now, but that's not the point.
The point is, what were these people doing with the tech given to them at that time? And now it's what you're saying is like the things that we can do now, we couldn't even think about it, but the thing you can't think about this two years ago, so it's actually an exciting moment, I think, to, to be alive.
I would like to know what ET, the extraterrestrial would have been with AI, right? Am I going to make it or the original the bike?
[00:29:54] James G. Maynard: Right? Right. There you go. Or go back further. The original Wizard of Oz. Imagine that all being done with AI. And actually, you know, speaking of which in another classic that would come to mind, um, would have been Willy Wonka, but the newest version of Willy Wonka is actually pretty good.
I don't know if you've seen it, but, um, um, and, um, so I think. You know that as we go on, you know, this technology is going to drive art and education and storytelling in ways that we, we can't imagine now.
[00:30:42] Marco Ciappelli: Yeah, it's a new, new version of something. You just, another good example you just made. It's how many Willy Wonka been remade? How many other movies been remade just because now you can do something different? It's not, again, not better than the first one. But different. It's a different vision given by the new technology that you have.
And maybe you come up with something completely unpredictable. And that's, that's art, right? That's, that's cool. So talking about unpredictability, what, what do you have in your, uh, In your near future in terms of creation, I mean, I this last five minutes, you know, what's uh, What's up in James? To do this
[00:31:35] James G. Maynard: Excuse me Um, of course I have a weekly science comedy interview show uh, the cosmic companion and uh, just search for the cosmic companion you'll find me on whatever You Whatever outlet you're on.
Um, and I also create, uh, little short films, uh, every now and again. Uh, one, one most recent one was, uh, it's called Moon Beans. About, uh, two women living on the moon who decide to build the moon's first, uh, coffee shop. Called Moon Beans. Um, and, uh, so, and now I'm actually working on two, uh, feature lengths.
Films powered by AI. The first of them is called Gaia Rising and it's a future history of climate change. It's a cli fi story about three very different people from around the world who need to come together to, um, offset, uh, some, some of the worst climatic changes happening. In the world at their time.
And the second, uh, is called, um, The Wizard and the Scholar or A Rapscallion Runs Amok in Rye. And, uh, this film, which I'm wearing the T the first t shirt. Thank you very much. Um, it's actually set in the year 1156 in Rye, England, um, when two women, both of whom are. On their own search for Home and Truth need to come together with the most famous thief in history, Robinhood, uh, to solve a terrific a, uh, tragic murder and save the town of rye from, uh, even darker threats and so and so in.
I'm hoping to have. Um, the wizard and the scholar out at the, uh, Halloween weekend. I have penciled in Halloween weekend this year and sometime probably spring for Gaia rising. Um, and so in each of those films, I try my best to spread knowledge using entertainment. Uh, Gaia rising, of course, talks a lot about these climatic changes that could happen, how people might react to them, uh, how government might react to them.
Uh, you'll notice I separated government from people, uh, that was
not a mistake.
And, uh, and, uh, of course, uh, The Wizard and the Scholar takes, even though the, the main characters are fictional and Robin Hood was legendary. Based on a few different people, uh, all the events happening around them are actual history that was going on around that era.
So I hope to teach a little bit about history, science, and um, uh, and what was like to, what was like to live in the middle of the 12th century.
[00:35:02] Marco Ciappelli: I like it. Two, two very different topics. So you can experiment with different things and at the same time, it's, uh, interesting. It's kind of like what you, I mean, it, it, it, can you confirm that?
Everything you do, as always, some kind of educational, scientific, or historical. I try. Driven vision, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's my goal. You don't want to do something completely off the hook. You want to have a goal, an educational goal.
[00:35:35] James G. Maynard: Yes, but I don't want to be obvious about it.
[00:35:39] Marco Ciappelli: I don't think you are. And I think that's what makes you special and I think that also the reason why people like you are really welcome this new technology and, and, and fill that need of experimenting with, uh, with things.
Um, so I, I think is important and I think that I hope that people that listen to this, now they go out there, they take one of the app that you just mentioned and they start playing with it. And maybe even people that didn't want to touch it with a fishing pole. Before you critique, just give it a go.
It's, you're going to be amazed for sure.
[00:36:18] James G. Maynard: I was going to say, actually, the wizard and the scholar, I co wrote with Pi, which is another language model. And it was like working with a right human writing partner. You know, Pi produced about literally about 200 pages of notes and script ideas and story ideas dialogue and It was, it was amazing.
It's like having a writing partner that I could talk to at one in the morning. And I'm like, wait a minute, I figured out the ship has to go this way in order to, Oh, you're right. We should do this. And yeah, it's, it's amazing.
[00:36:53] Marco Ciappelli: Yeah. I had, uh, I had a few conversation driving with, uh, And say, what if we do this?
And, you know, on the app, on the phone and having a conversation until it says, you exhausted all your credit for that.
[00:37:10] James G. Maynard: You're like, get those messages daily. Buy another four bucks.
[00:37:20] Marco Ciappelli: It's like playing video games. I almost broke the record. Let me put another coin in there and see what, well, James, a lot of fun. I think a lot of interesting conversation and point. And, uh, I hope people will enjoy you. I will have all the links to your, to your LinkedIn, social media, uh, website and the Cosmic Companion and all of that in the notes.
And I hope that they will stay tuned. Hopefully, you'll come back and we'll talk about other things about the storytelling. This was the Defining Society podcast. James, thank you again for being with us. And thank you to all the listeners. I hope they enjoyed and they also Check your show because, uh, um, this is about helping each other as well when you, when you do this, it's a, it's a good thing.
Thank you again.
[00:38:14] James G. Maynard: All right. Thank you, Marco. All right. Thanks everyone. Bye bye.