The Generator: A New Medium Publication on Generative AI

News, analysis, and real-world uses of the tech

A handful of times each century, an innovation comes along that changes everything.

Electrification, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, television, the transistor, the internet, and the cellphone — those are a handful of the life-changing innovations that have profoundly altered (and disrupted) our world over the last century or so.

What innovation will have the most profound impact over the next century or more? Artificial intelligence, and specifically the rapidly-emerging field of generative AI.

Before, computers were relegated to the role of mere number-crunchers — organizing and presenting our data, but never really building upon it. In a flash, that has changed. ChatGPT launched in December 2022, and reached 100 million users in two months — the fastest-growing app in history.

Google and Microsoft — long the staid, plain-vanilla behemoths of the tech industry — are suddenly locked in a “code red,” life-and-death brawl over the future of search and thus of the information economy that has shaped our lives (and led to much of the world’s economic growth) over the last three decades.

Meanwhile, seemingly every day, we hear about another generative AI startup launching, another task that AI can not only take on but excel at. Generative AI can now diagnose diseases, pass the bar exam, write your college essays, paint a painting, and fall in love with you.

What does all this mean for us — the practitioners, creators, and ordinary people living in a world AI is altering faster than we can keep up?

Specifically, which industries will generative AI disrupt, and how? How can humans avoid being sucked under, or better yet, find ways to partner with these new technologies to improve their creativity and productivity?

What’s happening in generative AI now, and what’s coming down the line? Which new technologies are real, and which are hype? And what are the legal and ethical implications of all this change?

Introducing the Generator

The Generator, a new Medium-partnered publication on generative AI, will delve deeply into these questions, providing you with generative AI news, insights, and actionable strategies to understand generative AI and apply it to your own life and work.

Here are some of the topics we’ll cover:

• Generative AI news: Breakthroughs, new announcements, and the business side of generative AI
• Deep analysis from experts: Generative AI can be confusing. We’ll explain the tech and its implications, and will bring in industry experts to explore your generative AI questions.
• Real-World Experiments: How well do new AI-powered tools perform? Can they help creators improve their workflows, create new kinds of content, or create more? We’ll find out through real-world experiments and tests of the latest AI tools, with a specific focus on practical applications. We’ll also see how AI writing, AI images and more perform in the real world.
• Tool Reviews: In the same vein, we’ll round up, test, and review the tools you keep hearing about on social media but with a critical, expert eye.
• Technical Stories: Generative AI is backed by some amazing, groundbreaking new tech. We’ll cover generative AI, no-code development and prompt engineering from a deeply technical perspective. Don’t worry; if you’re not a techie, you can skip these stories.
• AI Culture: Generative AI is built on the work of humans, was created by humans, and is used by humans. That means it both reflects human culture and creates a culture of its own. We’ll explore the culture built into AI, and the cultures and communities it helps to create.
• Legal and Ethical Implications: Generative AI raises profound ethical and legal questions around disruption, human endeavor, bias, copyright and much else. We’ll explore these deep legal and ethical questions, with help and guidance from experts.
• History of AI: Generative AI feels totally new, but in reality many of the field’s technologies have existed for 70+ years, and many of its fundamental questions go back millennia. We’ll explore this important history and context.

In everything we do at The Generator, we’ll prioritize information from real practitioners, practical examples, and helpful stories that leave you with steps you can take to actually apply generative AI to your work and your life.

Who Are We?

My name is Thomas Smith, and I’ve worked in the AI field for 10+ years as the Co-Founder of AI-driven visual media company Gado Images. I also hold a degree in Cognitive Science from Johns Hopkins University, which means I was studying this stuff when it was still mostly pencil diagrams on paper!

I’ve been an OpenAI Beta tester for three years, and the New York Times called me a “veteran programmer” for my work testing OpenAI’s Codex. I’m on the board of the Digital Media Licensing Association, which is on the forefront of generative AI’s business, legal and financial side.

I’m also a journalist with bylines in IEEE Spectrum, SFGate, OneZero, and more. I run the Synthetic Engineers blog about generative AI prompt engineering, and I’ve written here on Medium since 2019.

Although I’ll be writing a lot about generative AI here in The Generator, I see my role more as a curator and guide.

Our main priority is to highlight and share the work of practitioners — industry leaders, creators, and the community of writers here on Medium that are covering generative AI with thoughtful, in-depth articles and stories.

That’s where you come in.

Get Involved

Are you a Medium writer who covers ChatGPT, DALL-E, Midjourney, generative AI marketing, AI-driven creator tools, the ethics of generative AI, or similar topics? If so, we’d love to work with you and to publish your stories in The Generator.

We’re a Medium-partnered publication and are tied into outside networks of generative AI practitioners and enthusiasts, which provides powerful opportunities for promotion of your stories.

We’re also one of the publications eligible to nominate stories for Medium’s new Boost feature. That means if you write for us, we’ll recommend your stories to Medium for a Boost. If they’re approved, you’ll generally get at least 500 additional views. We’ve seen Boosted stories quickly reach thousands or even tens of thousands of views.

Suffice it to say, between Boost and our own external promotional efforts, we’ll work hard to ensure your work is seen!

Email [email protected] or leave a Response on this story if you’re interested in writing for us.

Also, don’t worry — if you’re writing great content about generative AI on Medium, we’ll be seeking you out directly!

Don’t have a Medium writer account, but have something to say about generative AI? No worries — we can help you create one and publish a story here, or we can share options for an interview or YouTube video highlighting your expertise.

Follow Along

Excited about what we’re doing, and want to get on board?

• Follow The Generator to get updates on our latest stories
• Join my email list on Medium to see all my generative AI stories and other writing
• Share this story or one of our generative AI stories on social media to help us spread the word

We look forward to exploring every aspect of generative AI here with you in The Generator on Medium!