Simon Willison

It's not that bad. The lowest hanging fruit of podcast search is you subscribe to all of them, you run all of them through Whisper to get transcripts, you make the transcripts searchable. Presumably, people have started building those things already. It feels like you're sat there waiting for someone to do it.

It's not that bad. The lowest hanging fruit of podcast search is you subscribe to all of them, you run all of them through Whisper to get transcripts, you make the transcripts searchable. Presumably, people have started building those things already. It feels like you're sat there waiting for someone to do it.

I'm going to check in another... I'm going to check in a pricing observation. Again, Google Gemini 1.5 Flash 8B. These things all have the worst names. I transcribed... I used it just a straight-up transcription of an eight-minute-long audio clip, and it cost 0.08 cents. So less than 10%. Less than 10% to process eight minutes.

I'm going to check in another... I'm going to check in a pricing observation. Again, Google Gemini 1.5 Flash 8B. These things all have the worst names. I transcribed... I used it just a straight-up transcription of an eight-minute-long audio clip, and it cost 0.08 cents. So less than 10%. Less than 10% to process eight minutes.

And, like, that was just a transcription, but I could absolutely ask questions about, you know, give me the tags of the things they were talking about. The... Analyzing podcasts or audio is now so inexpensive.

And, like, that was just a transcription, but I could absolutely ask questions about, you know, give me the tags of the things they were talking about. The... Analyzing podcasts or audio is now so inexpensive.

Right. Give me a debate between credible professionals talking about subject X exploring these things. You can't do with full text search, but you can do with weird vibe based search.

Right. Give me a debate between credible professionals talking about subject X exploring these things. You can't do with full text search, but you can do with weird vibe based search.

I'll join you on that prediction. I'd be shocked if in three years' time we didn't have some form of really well-built...

I'll join you on that prediction. I'd be shocked if in three years' time we didn't have some form of really well-built...

I've got to put a shout out to Google's AI overviews for the most hilariously awful making shit up implementation I've ever seen. The other day I was talking to somebody about the plan for Half Moon Bay to have a gondola from Half Moon Bay over Highway 92 to the Caltrain station and they searched Google for Half Moon Bay gondola and it told them in the AI overview that it existed.

I've got to put a shout out to Google's AI overviews for the most hilariously awful making shit up implementation I've ever seen. The other day I was talking to somebody about the plan for Half Moon Bay to have a gondola from Half Moon Bay over Highway 92 to the Caltrain station and they searched Google for Half Moon Bay gondola and it told them in the AI overview that it existed.

And it doesn't exist. It summarized the story about the plan and turned that into, yes, Half Moon Bay has a gullible system running from Crystal Springs Reservoir. Wow.

And it doesn't exist. It summarized the story about the plan and turned that into, yes, Half Moon Bay has a gullible system running from Crystal Springs Reservoir. Wow.

Honestly, it feels like all of the technology is aligned right now that you could build a really good version of this. And that means inevitably several people are going to try. So we'll see which one bubbles to the top.

Honestly, it feels like all of the technology is aligned right now that you could build a really good version of this. And that means inevitably several people are going to try. So we'll see which one bubbles to the top.

I've got a utopian one and a dystopian one here. So utopian, I'm going to go with the art is going to be amazing. And this is basically generative. I have not seen a single piece of generative art, really, that's been actually interesting. So far, it's been mostly garbage, right?

I've got a utopian one and a dystopian one here. So utopian, I'm going to go with the art is going to be amazing. And this is basically generative. I have not seen a single piece of generative art, really, that's been actually interesting. So far, it's been mostly garbage, right?

But I feel like six years is long enough for the genuinely creative people to get over their initial hesitation of using this thing, to poke at it, for it to improve to the point that you can actually guide them. The problem with prompt-driven art right now is that it's rolling the dice and Lord only knows what you've got, what you'll get. You don't get much control over it.

But I feel like six years is long enough for the genuinely creative people to get over their initial hesitation of using this thing, to poke at it, for it to improve to the point that you can actually guide them. The problem with prompt-driven art right now is that it's rolling the dice and Lord only knows what you've got, what you'll get. You don't get much control over it.