Things are different now.

For months I’ve been sideline watching Che-Wei incorporate AI into his workflow. The two of us are usually at opposite ends of the adopting new tools spectrum. Che-Wei has, what to me seems, uncanny courage in the face of new tools and technology. They don’t scare him. And unlike me, they don’t pose an irrational threat to a creative practice that can at times feel sacred and in need of protection. I love technology, but not so much when it is new.

But last week I decided to use AI properly. Not just to copy and paste snippets of code here and there, but to build a full piece of software.

After a few false starts, (old model, what is all this hype about?) I paid Claude for a monthly subscription to use the newest model, put it into a fresh directory on my computer and settled onto the couch next to Che-Wei. (I wanted him close so I could say things to him like, “see it doesn’t work for me”.) Then, watching closely, I ran my prompt.

Things are different now.

Compared to what is usually frustrating days of spaghetti-ing through nonsense just to set up dependencies, right versions of this and that, echo-ing paths and setting up virtual environments just to run hello world, this was like butter. No, better than butter. In less than 2 minutes hello world just happened. All those barriers that usually stop me from starting, gone.

Things are different now.

I kept watching. Soon realizing my throat was tightening. I'm thinking back 19 years when CW and I first met at ITP. It was very obvious we lived in a world where some people had access to technological tools, and others just didn't. That power discrepancy very real. And not necessarily fair or correlated with the strength of ideas. Power we fought both to acquire and level.

Things are different now.

I supervised as Claude logically and meticulously went through the steps to build my program. Within 10 minutes it was done.

Things are different now.

I looked over at Che-Wei to get out something like, "This is fucking miraculous ..." At this point I'm completely overwhelmed with emotion. Sitting there crying. He's laughing at me, "I told you!".

When I was a teenager my Dad told me about the time he first saw Michaelangelo's David. It was hard for him to find words to describe the occasion, but it filled him with awe in a way that was completely outside of anything he had previously experienced. He couldn't say why or how or pinpoint exactly what made it like this, but knew something was far from usual. When he told me I was probably like yeah yeah, sure whatever. Years later when I saw it myself for the first time, I immediately understood what he attempted to describe. The enormity. And even with warning, I felt utterly unprepared for this indistinct newness. My world shifted.

Things are different now.

You could dismiss me as an overly reactive or sensitive idiot. Sure, my emotional response is embarrassing, but it is not unwarranted.

I have never felt as excited about possibilities as I do right now. Yes there will be problems. Yes there is a learning curve. And as always, the psychological and time commitment required to try something new often involves putting other things on hold and getting behind on usual tasks. It's a restructuring. It’s uncomfortable. But what humans built is miraculous. Awe inducing. The world we once knew is now different. I don’t think there is a more apt way to describe it.

What comes next is on us. Whoever wants to participate. So let's get on with the experiment.

The New School Talk.

Join us this Thursday evening February 26 from 5-6:30PM (EST). We'll be giving a short presentation and then be chatting with Hunter + Kevin from Craighill. We've been long overdue to talk shop with Craighill, so we're excited about this one. It's free but you need to RSVP.

Details + Registration here.

Style Dept POPUP.

We have an installation up at Style Department in Tokyo now until March 5. If you're in the area, you should check it out! It's a very cool store with hand picked menswear from around the world.

Thanks to Justine + Hiro for setting up the display. Image credits include Bryson Malone, Shane Singh, Dean Liaw, Shubhankar Singh and Oliver Yuan.

Spicy x Burlap + Barrel.

Some snaps from when our friend took a Spicy to LA to visit his brother who runs the spice company Burlap & Barrel. They had fun crushing stuff :)