Ep. 13 – Confessions of an AI Explorer

The Upgrade: Beyond the Hype

Wes Shields started his new venture, Synthminds, almost by accident. A rather obsessive interest with exploring AI inspired him to offer his knowledge as an AI consultant on Upwork. To his surprise, the company eventually promoted him on their platform as one of the world’s “top AI experts” – that’s Upwork’s words, not his. Shields went on to found the AI consulting company Synthminds, which helps organizations and individuals better understand AI. In this week’s episode of The Upgrade, Wes and Peter have an unhinged conversation about the latest developments in AI.

Show Notes:

(1:55) How Wes started a successful AI consulting business almost by accident

(5:28) Goda Go, the Queen of AI

(7:37) Like driving a car: How Wes approaches teaching clients about AI

(10:09) Wes describes the courses Synthminds offers

(13:28) The different consulting and AI development projects that Synthminds offers

(16:35) Wes explains what Auto-GPTs are

(18:35) What aspects of AI Wes thinks have been correctly hyped

(20:30) Why you should be wary of prompt lists

(21:24) The problem with universities betting that AI content detectors can detect plagiarism

(30:54) What voice actors have to gain from AI

(32:39) AI’s capability to create 3D

Where to find the folks at Synthminds:

https://www.synthminds.ai/

Connect with Synthminds on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/synthminds-ai/

For more on Synthminds, check out their Linktree:

https://linktr.ee/synthminds

The Goda Go YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@godago

Learn more about The Upgrade and our online courses

Connect on LinkedIn with Peter Bittner, The Upgrade’s founder and CEO

Special thanks to Mitch Walker for helping to design the podcast’s artwork