Latest posts by Martin Moodie (see all)
- Flying as high as Danaus Plexippus at World of Wines & Spirits by Changi Airport - October 15, 2024
- Embracing the Cannes-do spirit and a Dr. Seuss philosophy - October 6, 2024
- The manifestation of a thousand transitions - September 19, 2024
Asked if he was worried that artificial intelligence (AI) was taking over, the wonderful Ricky Gervais replied: “I’d love for any intelligence to take over.”
Given the state of our troubled world and the idiocy of some of the major players on its grand stage, I’m inclined to agree with the great British actor and comedian who has so brilliantly turned cynicism into a high art form. That being said, AI is here not only to stay but to exert increasing influence over whole swathes of human livelihood and society.
AI, as I have written before in this Blog (‘Assessing the great Olivetti vs ChatGPT showdown’) will have – nay, is having – a profound impact on the creative industries, whether they be media, marketing, corporate affairs, public relations, research, design and more.
Whenever I see an article without a byline now, I am wary of who – or what – wrote it. But whether you allow AI as a welcome or unwelcome guest into your house, it is going to take up residence anyway.
I was reminded of that fact as I prepared to hit the airways again last week, bound for Paris, London and the epicentre of The Moodie Davitt mini-empire, Ystradgynlais in South Wales. As has become my want, I donned my Flying Kiwi cap, my sartorial signature over recent years while travelling.
Before I departed, I picked up on a conversation about AI on our main inter-company Microsoft Teams chat loop. My colleague Matt Willey, our Development and Systems Operations Director, alerted us to an extraordinary new AI music platform called Suno.
He was reacting to the revelation on the group chat that our Hainan-based colleague Lara Netherlands would be out of the office for a while collecting her cat Truffles (as opposed to her cat’s truffles) from the vet (you can tell it was a slow news day).
After I suggested Elvis had written a song about that very feline (You looking for Truffles/You came to the right place), Matt chimed in by pointing out he had just asked Suno to write a song about Truffles. Suno had proceeded to do precisely that in, I kid you not, two seconds flat.
I shall not pain readers with the full and final result, except to say that Bob Dylan’s songwriting legacy is probably safe for now from any AI assault (Truffles my cat wagging her tail/Gonna pick her up, can’t ever fail/Get her from the vet she’s ready to roll/Truffles my friend, let’s rock and stroll) is not yet the stuff of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
However, one of the keys to using AI adroitly, is how you shape the information or the question/s you give it. What if I asked Suno to write a song about a travel retail publisher called Martin Moodie, known as Flying Kiwi in deference to his provenance and intensive travel schedule?
And so I did. In approximately the same time it took me to write the previous sentence, I had my song. ‘Flying Kiwi’.
It goes like this (even replete with a catchy tune and a Dua Lipa-esque – or is it AImee Winehouse-esque? – rendition):
Flying Kiwi
[Verse]
Martin Moodie takes the sky
Flying Kiwi soaring high
Travel stories he’ll unfold
Every tale in his hold
[Chorus]
Flying high flying free
Martin Moodie can’t you see
Publisher with wings so wide
Through the clouds he will glide
[Verse 2]
From the land of the long white cloud
To the bustling city crowd
Travel retail he knows best
With a passion none can test
[Chorus]
Flying high flying free
Martin Moodie can’t you see
Publisher with wings so wide
Through the clouds he will glide
[Bridge]
From duty-free to global trends
On his words the world depends
Catch his stories on the breeze
Flying Kiwi in the trees
[Chorus]
Flying high flying free
Martin Moodie can’t you see
Publisher with wings so wide
Through the clouds he will glide
Mmmm. Mr Tambourine Man it ain’t. But you have to admit it’s kinda catchy. And for me at least, highly appropriate. For here am I again in the UK, far from the Land of the Long White Cloud, having flown high (though not free) through both the real and AI-generated clouds. Me back in the airways, Flying Kiwi on the airwaves. ✈