In my last post, I went on about the benefits of using ChatGPT when used, at least in my view, correctly.
Now I want to talk about AI video.
Before I go on, I should say I’m writing this one without assistance—or collaboration, or whatever you want to call it—with ChatGPT. I suspect I’ll end up running it through Chat once I’m done, just for “polish.” Then again, maybe it’s better left unpolished.
So, back to the matter at hand. I’m testing out a bunch of AI video tools. I’ve tried Runway, Kling, the older version of Sora, and even spent a few months earlier this year using NeuralFrames to create neo-psychedelic visuals for The Garden Of Light, an album of gently rhythmic, dreamlike music I call Melodic Psychedelica.
As I write, I’m trying out the “unlimited” video generation offered by Envato Elements. Or more precisely: I’m waiting. And waiting. And waiting. In fact, I’ve been politely bumped off the server queue as a message tells me I should just keep trying or wait until a time when traffic is less. (FYI, I had that same issue with Sora about an hour ago. And note that I’m paying for both these services.)
Because that’s what AI video creation is, no matter which platform you use. You’re always waiting. Maybe if you’re on the top tier, you wait a little less. But you still wait.
And even when the render times are “short,” say, under a minute, e.g,, the creative flow is broken. The experience feels the opposite of what I enjoy about ChatGPT––that fast, generative back-and-forth, the spark of ideas building on themselves in real time.
Not so with video. There’s a stop-start rhythm to it that kills momentum. And as every creative person knows, flow is everything. That’s what makes the work feel alive. It’s what people really mean when they say, “It’s about the journey, not the destination.”
I’m sure one can create a workflow to accommodate all this waiting. And in time, I’m sure they’ll solve this. The tools will get faster, more responsive, more in sync with the rhythm of thought. And I’ll be working with it joyfully and praising it as I did with ChatGPT.
But for now it’ll just have to wait.
And maybe that’s its own kind of story. Just not the one we want to tell.
fyi: I did run this one time through ChatGPT telling it to keep it as written, keep the voice, but make it “better.” Chat seemed to understand what I meant. It did make a few very slight adjustments. Some were helpful and were included in what you just read. A couple weren’t and were obviously tossed away.