Real-time AI-powered design with Krea CEO Victor Perez | E1850

This Week in Startups
17 Nov 202354:56

TLDRThe transcript discusses the rapid advancements in AI-powered creative tools, highlighting a new startup called kore.ai that has developed a real-time AI creative tool set. The tool allows users to transform simple doodles into realistic images and even control the animation in real-time. The CEO of kore.ai, Victor Perez, explains how their tool works and its potential applications in various industries, emphasizing the democratization of creativity and the efficiency it brings to the design process. The conversation also touches on the challenges of scaling up the technology and the company's current status, including its waiting list of over 200,000 people.

Takeaways

  • 🚀 The startup kore.ai is developing a real-time AI powered creative tool set that works in the browser, aiming to bridge the gap from concept to finished product efficiently.
  • 🎨 The tool utilizes AI to transform simple doodles or prompts into realistic images, allowing users to interact with and control the AI visually in real-time.
  • 💡 The technology behind kore.ai's tool is a version of stable diffusion, enhanced with a new technology called 'consistency', enabling rapid image generation.
  • 🌐 The tool went viral upon its release and has attracted a waiting list of over 200,000 people, showing a high level of interest from the creative community.
  • 📈 The startup has raised its seed round and is currently focusing on a consumer product, targeting a wide range of creatives including filmmakers, graphic designers, and 3D artists.
  • 💻 The tool's infrastructure can support real-time image generation for multiple users, with plans to scale up and improve accessibility as technology advances.
  • 🤖 AI is becoming increasingly integrated into the software development process, from code generation to quality assurance testing, enhancing efficiency and reducing the need for manual labor.
  • 🔧 The future of software testing may involve AI agents that can perform tests autonomously, based on plain English descriptions of how a system should function.
  • 🌟 The potential of AI in software development is vast, with the possibility of completely transforming how developers and dev teams operate, potentially reducing hours significantly.
  • 🌐 The startup Test Rigor is an example of AI's impact on quality assurance, allowing non-technical users to describe how a system should work and executing those instructions without the need for coding.
  • 🔄 The open-source community has played a significant role in the rapid improvement of AI models like stable diffusion, showcasing the power of collaborative work in advancing technology.

Q & A

  • What is the main goal of the startup kore.ai?

    -The main goal of kore.ai is to create a real-time AI-powered creative toolset that works in the browser, allowing users to seamlessly transform their ideas and doodles into finished products with high-quality, realistic images.

  • How does the AI model in kore.ai work?

    -The AI model in kore.ai works by using a version of stable diffusion that is distilled with a new technology called consistency. This allows the model to run a single image in 40 milliseconds, enabling real-time interaction and control over the generated images.

  • What is the significance of the AI's ability to work in real-time?

    -The significance of the AI's real-time capabilities is that it provides a new dimension for prompting and controlling the output, allowing users to see immediate changes and adjustments to the generated images as they interact with the tool.

  • How much compute power is required to run the AI model?

    -The AI model requires significant compute power, with the use of A100 GPUs mentioned in the transcript. A single A100 GPU can support around 4 to 10 users simultaneously, depending on the workload.

  • What are some potential applications of kore.ai's technology?

    -Potential applications of kore.ai's technology include graphic design, filmmaking, 3D art creation, and journalism. It can be used to create illustrations, visual concepts for mood boards, and even personalized workouts for fitness apps.

  • How does the open-source nature of stable diffusion impact the development of AI tools like kore.ai?

    -The open-source nature of stable diffusion allows for a collaborative effort among developers and researchers worldwide. This community-driven approach leads to rapid improvements and innovations, as well as the creation of new startups and applications based on the technology.

  • What are the challenges faced by the team at kore.ai in terms of scaling their product?

    -The main challenge faced by the kore.ai team is scaling their product to handle the growing user base. They have a waiting list of over 200,000 people and are gradually rolling out invites while monitoring the performance of their GPU cluster to ensure a smooth user experience.

  • How does the CEO of kore.ai, Victor Perez, envision the future of AI in creative processes?

    -Victor Perez envisions AI becoming an integral part of the creative process, allowing individuals to go from an initial idea or doodle to a finished, high-resolution product with ease. He believes that AI will become more efficient and the quality of output will improve significantly in the near future.

  • What is the significance of the partnership with Squarespace mentioned in the transcript?

    -The partnership with Squarespace is significant as it highlights the potential use of AI-powered creative tools like kore.ai in web design and development. Squarespace users can benefit from these tools to create visually appealing and engaging websites, enhancing their online presence and business potential.

  • How does the technology developed by kore.ai address the issue of copyright and creative originality?

    -The technology developed by kore.ai allows users to create original content by transforming simple inputs into detailed, realistic images. While it is trained on data that may include copyrighted images, the output is a new creation that is not a direct copy of any existing work, thus addressing copyright concerns while fostering creativity.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Introduction to AI-Powered Creative Tools

The paragraph discusses the emergence of AI-powered creative tools that are revolutionizing the way creatives work. It highlights the transition from initial ideas and doodles to finished products, facilitated by AI. The conversation involves a startup called kore.ai, which has developed a real-time AI-powered creative tool set that operates in the browser. The tool was built in a week and has gone viral, leading to an exclusive interview with the CEO, Victor Perez, who demonstrates its capabilities.

05:00

🌟 Real-Time AI Creative Tool Demonstration

This paragraph features a live demonstration of the AI creative tool by Victor Perez. He explains how the tool can transform a simple image into a realistic one in real-time. The tool uses a version of stable diffusion, a technology that has been distilled with a new technique called consistency, allowing for rapid image generation. The demonstration shows how users can visually prompt the AI model by moving shapes on the screen, leading to dynamic changes in the output image.

10:01

💡 The Future of AI in Creative Industries

The discussion in this paragraph revolves around the potential applications of AI in various creative industries. It emphasizes the tool's ability to assist professionals like film directors, graphic designers, and 3D artists. The conversation also touches on the impact of AI on journalism, where journalists could use the tool to create illustrations for their stories. The potential for AI to replace traditional stock photography is also mentioned, as well as the tool's pricing and customer base.

15:02

🌐 Global Reach and Impact of AI Tools

This paragraph delves into the global impact of AI tools, particularly in the context of documentation and journalism. It describes how the AI tool can be used to create illustrations for documentaries, offering a cost-effective alternative to traditional animation. The conversation also explores the potential of AI in product photography, advertising, and gaming, suggesting that AI will become increasingly prevalent in these fields.

20:03

🎨 The Journey of AI in Art and Animation

Victor Perez shares his personal journey into AI, from his early interest in music and art to his eventual fascination with AI's potential as a creative medium. He discusses his academic background and how he transitioned from working at Nvidia to founding kore.ai. The paragraph also touches on the open-source nature of stable diffusion and the collaborative efforts of the community in improving the technology.

25:03

📈 The Power of Open Source in AI Development

The paragraph discusses the significance of open-source projects like stable diffusion in the AI field. It explains how the open-source community has contributed to the rapid improvement of AI models, highlighting the collaborative spirit that drives innovation. The conversation also addresses the challenges of using copyrighted images in training data and the ongoing legal discussions surrounding this issue.

30:04

🌟 The Role of AI in the Art World

This paragraph explores the impact of AI on the art world, particularly in the context of stock images and the potential for artists to create new styles by combining elements from different artists. The conversation also touches on the importance of protecting artists' copyrights and the challenges that the industry faces in adapting to AI technologies.

35:06

📊 The Startup Scene in Barcelona

The paragraph discusses the startup scene in Barcelona, highlighting the challenges faced by entrepreneurs due to economic and legal hurdles. Despite these challenges, there is a wealth of talent in the city. The conversation also touches on the potential benefits of moving a startup to a more business-friendly jurisdiction and the importance of fundraising in the current economic climate.

40:07

🍽️ The Impact of Diet on Startup Performance

The conversation turns to the impact of diet on the performance of a startup. The team at kore.ai has adopted a specific diet regimen, which they believe has contributed to the success of their startup. The discussion also includes a brief mention of a data-driven workout app called fitbot, which uses machine learning to create personalized workout programs.

45:08

🧠 AI's Role in Software Quality Assurance

Artum Goiv, the CEO of testrig, discusses the role of AI in software quality assurance and testing. He explains how traditional manual testing is time-consuming and how testrig's tool allows non-technical users to describe how a system should function in plain English, which the AI can then execute. The conversation also touches on the potential for AI to completely replace human engineers in certain tasks in the future.

50:09

🤖 AI's Impact on Software Development and Testing

The paragraph explores the current and future impact of AI on software development and testing. It discusses how AI is already making developers more efficient and predicts a future where AI agents perform tasks without the need for human engineering. The conversation includes a live demonstration of testrig's tool, which generates and executes test cases based on plain English descriptions.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡AI powered creative tools

AI powered creative tools refer to software applications that utilize artificial intelligence to assist in various creative processes, such as graphic design, content creation, and more. In the context of the video, these tools are designed to help users generate content faster and more efficiently, with examples like Canva, Open AI, Adobe, and others mentioned. These platforms operate by using prompts to produce images or collections of images, which can then be refined further by users.

💡Real-time AI

Real-time AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that can process data and provide outputs instantaneously, as events unfold. In the video, real-time AI is used to describe a new startup's tool that allows for immediate adjustments and generation of creative content, such as images, based on user input. This capability is a significant advancement in the field, as it provides a dynamic and interactive experience for users.

💡Stable Diffusion

Stable Diffusion is an AI model known for its ability to generate high-quality images from textual descriptions. It is an open-source product developed by Stability AI, and it has become a foundational tool for many startups and creatives due to its ability to produce detailed and evocative images. The model is trained on a large dataset and can be used to create illustrations, concept art, and other visual content.

💡Image to image

Image to image is a technique used in AI where an initial image is transformed into another image based on certain prompts or parameters. This technique is commonly used in AI-powered creative tools to generate new images from simple inputs or to modify existing ones. The process involves the AI understanding the initial image and then generating a new image that aligns with the user's instructions.

💡Consistency

In the context of AI, consistency refers to the ability of a model to produce outputs that are coherent and maintain a certain level of quality across different inputs or iterations. It is crucial for AI-powered creative tools to ensure that the generated content is not only realistic but also aligns with the intended style or theme.

💡AI model

An AI model is a system designed to process input data, learn from it, and generate outputs or make predictions based on patterns it has identified during training. These models are the backbone of many AI applications and can be used for a wide range of tasks, from image recognition to natural language processing.

💡Creatives

Creatives refers to individuals who engage in creative work, such as artists, designers, writers, and other professionals involved in the creation of new content or media. In the context of the video, creatives are the target users of the AI-powered tool, utilizing it to enhance their creative processes and produce innovative work.

💡Open source

Open source refers to a type of software licensing where the source code is made publicly available, allowing anyone to view, use, modify, and distribute the software freely. This collaborative approach fosters community involvement and rapid innovation, as seen with projects like Stable Diffusion.

💡Quality assurance (QA) testing

Quality assurance (QA) testing is the process of evaluating a product or service to ensure it meets specified requirements and is free of defects or faults. In software development, QA testing is crucial to confirm that the application functions correctly and provides the intended user experience.

💡Stock photography

Stock photography refers to a collection of ready-made photos that can be licensed for various uses, typically in advertising, marketing, or media projects. These images are pre-produced and made available for purchase, allowing customers to find images that fit their needs without the cost and time of hiring a professional photographer.

Highlights

AI powered creative tools are increasingly accessible, allowing for real-time generation and manipulation of images based on user prompts.

The new startup called Kore.ai is working on a real-time AI powered creative toolset that operates in the browser and went viral recently.

Kore.ai was developed in a week, demonstrating the rapid innovation and adaptation in the AI space.

The tool created by Kore.ai allows users to control and manipulate images interactively, providing a new dimension for creative prompting.

The AI model used by Kore.ai is a version of Stable Diffusion, which has been enhanced with a new technology called consistency.

Kore.ai's technology can run a single image in 40 milliseconds, showcasing the significant advancements in computational speed.

The startup scene in Barcelona is thriving with talent, despite facing economic challenges and legal hurdles.

Test Rigor is a startup that aims to streamline the process of software validation or quality assurance testing, making it more efficient and cost-effective.

Test Rigor enables non-technical users to create test automation scripts using plain English, which the system then executes.

AI is playing a significant role in the development and testing of software, with tools like Test Rigor and GitHub's AI copilot increasing developer efficiency.

The future of software testing may involve AI agents that can perform tasks without the need for human engineering input.

AI is changing the software development landscape by assisting in areas such as onboarding new developers and understanding codebases.

The open-source community has played a crucial role in the rapid advancements of AI technologies like Stable Diffusion.

The use of AI in creative processes is revolutionizing industries by enabling faster and more efficient generation of content.

The potential of AI in the future includes the possibility of running demos on personal computers and laptops, making high-level creative tools widely accessible.

AI's role in the artistic process is to execute ideas, offering a new creative medium for artists and designers.

The startup ecosystem is buzzing with creativity and innovative ideas, as seen with the development of AI powered tools like those from Kore.ai and Test Rigor.

AI's impact on software development is not just about efficiency but also about democratizing access to advanced tools, which was previously only available to large corporations or research institutions.