Well That Was Insane, Yesterdays Story On AI Provokes Conversation. mmmmm?
Why did I put in those windows? The paparazzi showed up later in the afternoon while shooting another segment
Well, I feel alive again. Poking the bear from time to time is fun, painful, and fun. The Classic Boat passion can get stale to be honest. Okay it’s actually all about staying in one place. This crowd does NOT like change. I love it though, maybe because thats my professional experience. And maybe that’s where the line is? For us in the work force, its critical to learn and master, to others annoying. I get that, in fact I lean towards using it behind the scenes, not the scene its self. Which is a huge line in the sand.
Mr B and AI Chris had a short conversation about the 16ft Racer
To be fare, Chris Smith, Gar and Lori don’t deserve this. But they are relevant agin in a bizarre way, I did spell their names right…right? Anyway, this is all a test, a test to see how it works out there, AND for myself to start something I too have been chicken to start. It’s not easy, looks easy, but isn’t.
MR B takes his reviews seriously
The other trick is how fast one can generate all these videos. My goal is 10 or so and see what sort of traction it gets. It may get silly or boring, But gotta try. You all get to be the peanut gallery and final say. I am tracking the feedback. Here is from Yesterday from.. Yup Chat GBT, So ai is reading, and you can see it agrees with you. Well it agresss with everything. To the point I want to slap it sometimes. Anyway, part of the fun of this is learning.
It got ugly on the other side of the railway as well
The arguments in favor
| Opinion | Who expresses it | Their reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| It’s entertaining and worth exploring. | Dan Overbeek, Greg Lewandowski, Cliff, Troy, tparsons56, Brock and others | Short videos, historical characters and Mr. B create fresh ways to enjoy familiar subjects. |
| It could introduce more people to classic boats. | Allen, Shannon K, Dick Dow and you | Approachable videos could carry the hobby beyond its existing audience, particularly through social media. That is a possibility to test, rather than an established result. |
| AI can make production more practical. | Shannon, with a related perspective from Chuck Crosby | Tools can save time and organize information, provided experienced people verify the results. |
| Experimentation belongs at WoodyBoater. | Troy, Shannon, Dick and others | Your curiosity, humor and willingness to try things are part of the site’s appeal. |
The arguments against—or conditions for proceeding
| Concern | Who expresses it | Their reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Readers come for the real Matt. | Bob Kays; Allen also emphasizes this | Your personality, imperfections and lived experiences are central to the relationship. An avatar could dilute that connection. |
| A recreated person can appear to endorse words they never said. | Mike Green, supported by Brian Robinson | Putting invented dialogue into Chris Smith’s mouth raises questions of historical fidelity and respect. Mike’s family connection makes that concern particularly personal. |
| Confident presentation can disguise incorrect history. | Mike Green, Karl Hoffman, Dan | Physical evidence and restoration experience contain details that generic AI answers can miss. The mixed screw types reported on particular boats illustrate why a neat transition date may mislead. |
| People need to recognize what is artificial. | Mr. D, with related concerns from Randy | Realistic fabrication makes it harder to distinguish evidence from entertainment. Mr. D’s later comment explicitly allows room for clearly identified AI. |
| Adoption should remain a choice. | briant; Joseph Morrison signals rejection without explaining why | briant challenges the idea that technological inevitability is sufficient justification and emphasizes human connection and accountability. |
All of these positions come from the post and its comment thread.
The most useful connection is between Shannon’s and Mike’s arguments. Shannon’s support depends on trustworthy underlying knowledge. Mike explains where that knowledge comes from: people, boats, records and painstaking research. Together, they suggest a workable editorial approach.
I would move forward this way:
- Keep the daily human experience at the center. Continue your writing, real photographs, visits, discoveries and reader conversations. Give experimental videos a recognizable series name so readers know what they’re opening.
- Verify the history before producing the performance. For technical episodes, have a knowledgeable person review the script. Credit that person and link the supporting material. A disclosure identifies AI; it does not establish accuracy.
- Treat recreated historical figures as dramatizations. Put that explanation inside each video, where it travels with social shares. Distinguish documented quotations from dialogue written for the episode. For sensitive portrayals, involving knowledgeable family members would improve both judgment and credibility.
- Let Mr. B provide the familiar humor. His presence can make the format feel unmistakably WoodyBoater. He doesn’t need to speak to do that, and his charm doesn’t remove the need for clear labeling.
- Run a small pilot before expanding. Make three to five verified episodes. Assess whether viewers finish them, visit the site, ask useful questions or contribute knowledge. Heated comments alone won’t tell you whether the format is helping.
- Turn corrections into lasting resources. The screw discussion could become a useful illustrated article documenting the reported examples, sources and remaining uncertainty. That gives both enthusiasts and careful restorers something valuable.
My reading is that the strongest path is human expertise presented with creative tools, clear attribution and your editorial judgment. That gives the experiment a purpose readers can evaluate: does it help more people discover, understand and enjoy classic boats?
Now, here is the next episode. Mr B and Chris Smith discuss The 16ft Racer, hey we have your attention after all
I think the Michigan gang just wants to keep boating!
Wow, cruiser love. Thanks for posting Greg.
Me too, I didn’t sleep all last night. I wrote this story late last night. My brain is way over stimulated. It was fun.. to learn. And I am glad to have an understanding of it, kinda, but Mike Green is right on so many levels. And then again, Yesterdays story was the biggest story in YEARS! Engagement through the roof. Forbidden Love? And yes the Christmas party will be insane this year. Well, I am gonna go analog today to reboot myself. UGH, I am typing on…oh this just so sucks. Conflicted? Yes. As Mike mayer texted me “’m loving the AI theme. And hating it at the same time!!”
Yup…messing around in boats! You are the man Matt! Keep up the endeavor to improve the WB community! Thanks for poking the bear(s)!
I am more lighthearted about this AI theme. I find it entertaining. I think Matt is trying to use this technology for fun, entertainment, education and is trying to do it responsibly which is how we want this technology used. I enjoy Mr B field reporter. I think it can add to the interest of the history of wooden boats and may add a “cool factor” to kids and young adults to pull them into this hobby. I also think there’s room for boat ownership at all levels just like with classic cars. There’s the perfectly restored basically trailer queens that are amazing. There are the near perfect restored, preserved wooden boats that are used occasionally. Also amazing to see. There are the daily used but not perfect ones to enjoy and not sweat about, there’s the ones that the owner wants to modify and put their own stamp of creativity on, and everything in between. If we want this hobby and these boats to continue to survive and thrive, if people think they shouldn’t even consider buying a wood boat unless they have the skills and/or the money to perfectly restore every one of them, then fewer people will purchase them and these boats will struggle to survive. It saddens me when I look on various sites and see the same awesome boats still for sale after months, a year, a couple years.
Thanks Brock, I am at war with my Laptop today! HA
Also getting pissed at the AI, it keeps changing my cups, and logo. And in there lies the issue. Small details that are missed. Back to Mike greens comment.
I used AI to convert photographs into coloring book images and it turned one of the guys driving the boat into a woman. ha ha.
Do NOT put Chris in MY CHAIR at the railway…some things, even in the AI world, must remain sacred! : “yawn”….John in Va
I love it. Hold your ground John!
Missed most of the fireworks yesterday. Bluebird day here in the Finger Lakes and too nice to be inside until it was time for the Bills game. I glanced at yesterdays WB but didn’t really spend the time to pay much attention. OK-semi Luddite mode here: AI has it’s uses, but we’ve all seen pics of “Chris-Crafts”, ’50’s cars etc. that aren’t even close to real and correct. Like others have said, once this information gets out there it becomes harder for the uniformed to separate what’s actually real and what is fictionalized but appears to be real.
All I’m asking is for anything developed by AI be clearly identified as coming from AI. Idont want to spend time trying to figure out what is real and what was created by AI. A year or so ago Matt you ran an article on bezzaro boats that looked real but not quite. If I remember correctly there were people who wrote in questioning the reality of the photos. And that is my point. AI may be great and creative when talking about screws, etc but becomes problematic when talking about events that never happened. How do we as a society react to a news announcement that aliens have landed in New York and will take over the world. That actually happened less than a century ago. I know, we are all responsible for what we believe but when AI becomes so convincing that the general populous has no simple way to determine fact from fiction what happens? So my bottom line is that manufactured facts need to be obvious. A dog talking may take it further than needed but I would rather making it obvious than requiring people to have to google to make sure it is not made up.
Matt your creativity is welcomed by one and all and makes WB what it is. Bring AI on but identify it as such. Today’s post lists activities you plan on using on this site but you did not follow those rules as you explained them. I had to read the 6 items a couple of times and I still wonder who (what?) do you mean when you write “I would move forward this way:” I wonder if AI wrote that because there are no misspelled words in the list. Your second item is paramount in my opinion. Thanks for allowing me to present my opinion.
Because of short focus and learning disabilities, much of learning has shifted to videos. AI has a definite place, but it’s use carries a responsibility. When we (most of us anyway) went to the movies, we knew that it was fictional. As long as there is a clearly defined reminder, this could be an entertaining tool. It also allows the ability to recreate/re-enact significant factual events that might otherwise be unavailable.
Carry on! Just don’t forget the goofy lighthearted reasons your carefully curated audience has remained steadfastly loyal over all these years.
Some of those folks that are characterized as not liking change, may be more concerned with trust issues. People who use AI may have good intentions like they did using the Internet, but then you have the nefarious characters who use it to scam people and that’s what I’m concerned with myself. Having been a systems programmer, programmer analyst, project leader, and project manager for the “gov mint” I wrote code to catch these kinds of things back in the 90s. We seem to be missing that with all this fraud going on.
We like it!
And to those who don’t: how does this differ from animated cartoons?
Or, don’t you like those either?
As I commented yesterday, the difference between cartoons and AI is that cartoons are obviously cartons while the goal of AI is to create artificial facts. The key word is artificial.
Maybe the facts are not artificial, just the method of presentation….
Is there even such a thing as “artificial facts”…?
Was this commented on yesterday, too ?
As usual, Floyd’s wisdom hit that nail on the head. Trust. Or the lack thereof. It is all over the comments yesterday and today. The seeds of mistrust with Ai videos was planted years ago and they are flourishing. No going back.
I grew up with Jaques Cousteau showing me the vast ocean and its creatures. I watched NOVA on PBS and learned about Ancient Egypt and space. I listened to Cronkite and Jennings tell me about the news of the day. I trusted these sources and thus trusted the info. Real people. Real info.
If Mike Mayer pops up in a video and shows me Barnwood, and then says in order to get the same beautiful results you gotta do this and that, I am gonna do this and that for damn sure. He knows what the hell he is doing. Show me Mr B varnishing a boat and I am not going to even bother, regardless of the source or disclaimers. (in fact, the mere labeling of a video as Ai generated implies that what you are about to see is pure pig slop. That is where we are.)
So sorry Matt, you wasted your time with the Chris and Mr B video above, Didn’t bother.
Now, show me Mr B varnishing a boat, and then a chicken walk over his freshly varnished bit, and then cut to Mr. B nibbling on some fried chicken, yep, like the roadrunner and coyote, Imma gonna watch that for sure.
Wow… I came to the party late yesterday, but enjoyed every minute of it! The comments were fantastic, it’s good to know my fellow WB’ers are not only tinkerers, but thinkers too! I agree with Brock today, well said!
Here is our poster from Mahogany and Merlot boat show that we just finished, did Ai do it? BTW, I did my second Hydroplane ride there in Miss Bardahl, only 130 MPH, steering on the straight stretches! What would happen if I used Chris’s comments and ran them on screen at the Seattle Boat Show?
Interesting and fun posts the past couple of days. However, I feel that before the world goes all in on Artificial Intelligence, it needs to fix all the Real Stupidity.