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Josh Knox

Just Joshin' #113 (Prompts)

Published 3 months ago • 3 min read

1 Family Photo:
Color Prompt

I used to use Google image search to find and print coloring pages for Calvin.

Then I realized I could generate more personalized images with ChatGPT. Then I realized generating images with ChatGPT is so easy Calvin could do it himself.

So now we have 15-minute blocks of "computer time". Calvin tells me what he wants: "Make a freight train...actually make it a Union Pacific train hauling tank cars." I type it in the chatbox: "Generate a coloring book image of a union pacific freight train hauling tank cars." ChatGPT sends a message to the GPT-4o image model: "A black and white outline drawing suitable for a child to color in. The image features a Union Pacific diesel freight train hauling tank cars..."

Calvin prompts me, I prompt ChatGPT, ChatGPT prompts the image generation. We evaluate the results, revise them, and print the ones we like for coloring.

"This one's silly Dad! There's an Amtrak logo on the tank car! And in this one, the train's not even going through the tunnel!"

It's remarkable to me how unremarkable this is to him. But why would it be any other way? "The Internet" has always existed to him. He can conjure almost any train video imaginable through the YouTube searchbox. Why shouldn't he be able to say, "add a river and make a bridge," and it be so?

I just hope that as things get easier, my sons still develop a persistence and willingness to do things that are hard. Watching Calvin's efforts and attention to detail training AI-generated coloring book page gives me hope.

1 Dad Joke:
Dinner Prompt

Highlights:
Prompt Injection

​Gandalf | Lakera - Prompt Injection​

Prompt injection is a technique where a user creates inputs for a language model designed to subvert it's controls. An example is a language model might be designed to censor and not output certain explicit words, so the user might ask for an output containing those explicit words in a foreign language.

This is a fun game to think about how language model controls and AI safety.
​
​On limitations that hide in your blindspot by Henrik Karlsson​

If you want to grow, it is important to think about what kind of energy you project when asking for feedback, so that people feel comfortable giving care in a demanding way, and so they know at what level you want to be seen. Most people will default to giving praise and pointing out surface-level details. It is up to you to prompt them to reveal deeper problems.

​Kinda Nice by Damola Morenikeji​

A kind person will help you understand reality as it is, prompt you to reflect, and nudge you to fine-tune your position till you get to a place where your resolution is helpful for you. A nice person will tell you what feels good - and often what you think you want to hear at that time - even if it doesn’t help you move past that situation.
​
A kind person supports you as you adapt, grow, and evolve. They remind you that evolving as a human being isn’t something to be ashamed of. That everything evolves, and that’s life’s greatest accomplishment and reward. A nice person likes the version of you they know and wants you to keep that version, even at the risk of losing your place in the future. They are trying to shield you from the pain that comes from evolving - the experience of failing, learning, and improving into something new.
--
If you have to choose between being nice and kind, the latter is a better option. The ultimate responsibility we all have is to be kind.

​Situational Awareness by Leopold Aschenbrenner (June 2024)​

Here’s Prof. Bryan Caplan losing his first-ever public bet (after previously famously having a perfect public betting track record). In January 2023, after GPT-3.5 got a D on his economics midterm, Prof. Caplan bet Matthew Barnett that no AI would get an A on his economics midterms by 2029. Just two months later, when GPT-4 came out, it promptly scored an A on his midterm (and it would have been one of the highest scores in his class).

iamJoshKnox Highlight:
Reflection Prompt

In a newsletter 2 years ago, I did an experiment with DALL-E:

I took two pieces of sports writing (​Roger Federer as Religious Experience by David Foster Wallace and ​Inside the Cultish Dreamworld of Augusta National by Nick Paumgarten) and generate AI images personifying them.

The results were, well, not spectacular:

​

Out of curiosity, this week I tried recreating these images in ChatGPT using GPT-4o:

​

Is this what progress looks like?

Feedback Prompt:

Grab some time on my calendar to share a story from this week:

​Let's Chat!​

Book some time even if you don't know what you want to talk about:
​https://calendly.com/iamjoshknox​

Until next week,
​iamJoshKnox​​

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Josh Knox

Hi! I am Josh Knox. Read more of me here: 👇

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