Hello [Vorname] [Nachname]
Usually, my marketing team asks me a few days before they want to send out the newsletter: „We need a new editorial from you.“ I’m writing a few lines about things going on in German, and someone will take care of the translations into French, Italian, and English. This is efficient for me, as it doesn’t take too much time.
However, this time it’s different. I’m writing in all four languages myself, allowing only a common dictionary and the spell correction of LibreOffice. No DeepL, no artificial intelligence (AI). My Italian is rather limited (B1 they say), and my French is a bit better (B2) along with English. Why? Because you are not interested in generated marketing nonsense. You want to read what we really think. The true spirit of Init7.
Recently we made an experiment to see how far we are with AI. Last year I gave a little welcome speech at our #NerdsUnited gathering, in German, with a printed English translation. This year, we asked ChatGPT to do the speech and animated it with the AI app “HeyGen”. It requires some raw video material we recorded in front of a green screen.
Of course, ChatGPT generated a text full of platitudes. Like a politician's monologue, a lot of words without content. Nevertheless, it’s astonishing how far AI can go. My English—I've chosen an Australian accent—is much better than my real English with the terrible Swiss accent. Though a young man born and bred in Australia told me that the Australian accent is actually “upper class” and not like how ordinary Australians talk. On the other hand, someone told me that he always prefers the real Fredy, not his digital twin.
