An Unexpected Midjourney

I’ll be upfront, as far as people that work in the tech industry go, I’m quite the novice when it comes to AI. 

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the benefits and I love the idea of saving time, but I’m not totally convinced. While it might be an old school opinion, I love nothing more than delving into a topic without aid, reading dozens of articles and pulling together a relative imagining of Dostoevsky’s take on a marketing strategy or blog. 

However, if there’s one thing that Justin Timberlake’s 2011 (less than) blockbuster, In Time taught me, it’s that time is money. Literally. And this year I’m on a quest to become a fully fledged AI convert and achieve as many “badges”, and indeed, save as much time as I can. 

So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce the task I’ve set myself for the coming summer. 

Using only AI, I will scope, design, develop a prototype and pitch a new app to our team. 

Where oh where could this lead us.
 

The rules of engagement

In order to ensure consistency throughout the project, I’ve set myself a few rules:

1. By the 1st of October, I must produce a prototype for the team to use.

2. All details of the product scope and business plan must come from an AI programme.

3. The basis for all designs must come from an AI programme.

4. The use of programmes like Figma and XD are only allowed to extend the designs to a prototype. No alterations are allowed to the designs the AI produces.

5. I am only able to seek comments from our design, product and development teams on basic elements of the app, any changes to the app must be approved with evidence by an AI. 

Success in this project is simple. It will be determined by a Dragons Den style pitch, if at least one of the elected dragons from the Commercial, Product, Design and Development teams is willing to put their ‘Arch Bucks’ behind the product, we’ll have succeeded.

Deadlines, dates and timelines

In order to help this process along, I’ve broken down the project timeline against the phases that we use at Arch. These are: 

1. Discovery

2. Design

3. Development (Prototyping)

4. Launch (Pitch)

5. Support (Not needed here)

In the case of this project, we’ll be changing this slightly as we won’t be doing any development. Instead, development will be replaced with prototyping and launch with our pitch date. We’ll also be doing away with support for obvious reasons.

With a total project timeline of 3 months, we’ll need to move pretty quickly, but ultimately, these are the timestamps I’ll need to hit in order to guarantee everything is set for our October 1st deadline.

And away we go

I think it’s only fitting now that we get an AI’s opinion of the task at hand, let’s have a look at a response from Chat GPT…

H: I'm going to create a new app in 3 months using AI, do you think this is a good idea?

ChatGPT: Pursuing ambitious projects like creating an AI-powered app requires dedication, knowledge, and hard work. While it can be challenging, it doesn't make you a fool for trying.

In fact, taking on ambitious projects and pushing your boundaries can lead to personal growth and valuable learning experiences. It's important to approach such endeavours with a realistic mindset, acknowledging the potential challenges and being prepared to overcome them.

If you have a genuine passion for AI and app development, I encourage you to pursue your goal while being mindful of the complexities involved. Seek support from the AI and developer communities, learn from available resources, and take your project one step at a time. With dedication and perseverance, you may surprise yourself with what you can achieve.

Well, there it is. 

In 3 months time we’ll reap the fruits of our labour, and you, my faithful reader will have witnessed one of two scenarios: A new convert to the ways of AI rising from the ashes of his former, manual self. Or the emergence of a new app that couldn’t possibly be released in real life, and a defeated man, resigned to generic google searches for all eternity.

Only time will tell the result, and who knows, you might also learn something along the way. One thing is for sure, none of us will return from this journey the same as we started. 

(To round off all of these LOTR puns, please see below an AI generated Bilbo Baggins laughing at this iPhone, my first attempt at using Midjourney to create graphics).