The New Muse: Hobbyists and AI

Hallway Chat

How would you design an AI product differently for a hobbyist vs prosumer vs professional? Using MidJourney as a case study in the passion economy, they delve into how AI tools can help build communities and support semi-professional creators. They explore how these tools can democratize creativity, the role of art vs craft, the role of grit in skill building, cheating vs copiloting, the missing middle of the creative markets, and more. They also touch on the broader implications of AI in different creative fields from music, writing and podcasts. It's an exploration of how AI can help users maintain creative flow and the underserved opportunity for AI to help unleash the hobbyist.

• Nabeel also spoke on Midjourney's unique growth loops on Unsolicited Feedback
• Le Jin has great writing on the passion economy and wrote about the creative middle class
• Linus has an excellent article on Epistemic calibration that touches on taste, that we didn't get in the episode but worth seeing.
• Simply Drawing - ai feedback meets art
• Robert Morris' the Power Broker, which touches briefly on the rise of the professionalized class
• a little more on why bees wiggle outside of near-term evolutionary needs

00:00 Intro

00:52 AI in Creative Endeavors

01:58 Market Expansion

03:01 The underexplored customer in AI

08:23 Finding other AI hobbiest opportunities

11:31 If they AI made it, are we building skill?

13:36 Difference between art and craft

14:40 Homework Helpers vs Writing Copilots

16:07 Hobbiests are not quite the creator economy

17:47 Product for hobbists

21:03 The missing middle of creative markets

26:42 AI's potential in the education of craft

• (00:00) - Intro
• (00:52) - AI in Creative Endeavors
• (02:00) - Market Expansion
• (03:02) - The underexplored customer in AI
• (08:25) - Finding other AI hobbiest opportunities
• (11:32) - If they AI made it, are we building skill?
• (13:38) - Difference between art and craft
• (14:42) - Homework Helpers vs Writing Copilots
• (16:09) - Hobbiests are not quite the creator economy
• (17:49) - Product for hobbists
• (21:04) - The missing middle of creative markets
• (26:44) - AI's potential in the education of craft