Author: Evan Renfro
In Class Exercise: Business Plan
Le Olfactique
Executive Summary
Business Idea: We harness cutting-edge AI technology to offer personalized fragrances crafted to reflect individual emotions, preferences, and personality traits through a seamless online interface.
Mission Statement: Our mission is to empower individuals to express their unique selves through the art of scent, using AI to bridge the gap between personal identity and fragrance.
Product/Service: Customized fragrances developed using an AI algorithm that interprets emotional and psychological inputs from users to create perfectly tailored scent profiles.
Target Market: Primarily targeting tech-savvy young adults aged 18-40 who value individuality and are looking for unique luxury items in the global online marketplace.
Financial Highlights: Initial investment aimed at establishing a robust AI platform and setting up a state-of-the-art fragrance mixing and distribution center, targeting breakeven within 24 months through direct-to-consumer sales and exclusive offers.
Company Description
What the Business Does: We provide a unique service where customers interact with an AI assistant to design their own fragrance. This AI uses natural language processing to understand user preferences and a sophisticated algorithm to suggest scents based on emotional resonance and personality insights.
Objectives: To disrupt the traditional fragrance market by introducing a highly personalized product line and to expand our technological capabilities to enhance user experience continuously.
Differentiation: Our AI-driven approach not only crafts individualized scents but also educates users on fragrance notes and their emotional impacts, setting us apart from conventional fragrance companies.
Market Analysis
Industry Overview: The fragrance industry is ripe for innovation, particularly with the increasing demand for bespoke products driven by advancements in technology and shifts in consumer behavior towards personalization.
Market Size and Growth Expectations: With a robust growth trajectory in the personalized beauty products sector, our AI-driven custom fragrances are positioned to capture a significant market share.
Target Demographic: Emphasis on digital natives who are enthusiastic about combining technology with traditional products like fragrances, focusing on markets with high online engagement and spending power.
Organization and Management
Business Structure: Structured as an LLC to provide flexibility and protect personal liability, with a clear path for scaling operations globally.
Ownership: Equitable distribution among founders with planned stakes for early investors and employee stock options to incentivize performance and innovation.
Management Team: Includes experts in AI, perfumery, supply chain management, and online retail, ensuring a comprehensive approach to product development and market penetration.
Products or Services
Product Details: Each fragrance is mixed using an automated system that interprets AI-generated formulas. These machines precisely measure and combine essential oils and other ingredients to create a unique fragrance batch that matches the AI’s design.
Benefits: Customers receive a product that is not only personalized but also crafted with high precision and consistency, enhancing the overall sensory experience.
Product Lifecycle: Regular updates to AI algorithms allow for ongoing improvement in scent accuracy and customer satisfaction, while limited-time offers and seasonal scents encourage repeat purchases.
Marketing and Sales Strategy
Marketing Tactics: Digital-first approach, utilizing data analytics for targeted advertising, creating interactive and immersive online experiences that allow customers to explore scent-building through AI insights.
Sales Tactics: Online storefront supplemented by pop-up experiences in high-traffic urban areas to increase brand visibility and allow firsthand interaction with the product.
Funding Request
Funding Needs: Detailed allocation includes investments in AI development, machinery for automated fragrance mixing, initial inventory, and strategic marketing campaigns.
Usage Plans: Emphasizing the setup of a fully automated production line which includes procurement of high-precision dispensing and mixing technology to ensure product quality and consistency.
Future Financial Strategies: Include scaling production capabilities and expanding AI features to support new product lines and international markets.
Financial Projections
Forecasts: Detailed income and cash flow projections underscore the scalability of the AI-driven approach, with efficiency gains lowering production costs over time.
Break-Even Analysis: Focused on achieving a quick turnaround by leveraging direct sales and reducing dependencies on intermediaries.
Appendix
Supplementary Information: Technical documentation on AI algorithms, operational blueprints for fragrance mixing processes, and partnerships with technology providers.
This enhanced business plan now better reflects the integration of AI technology with the physical production of custom fragrances, providing a comprehensive roadmap for potential investors and partners.
Visual #2
Post Horizon Visual #2
Final Project Inspiration
For my project, I want to bring together elements that we’ve worked on throughout the semester. I definitely want to include video, images, and music. I’ve struggled with getting some precise results from AI, and may want to focus on how to get better and better at prompting as part of my project.
I may want to make a music video. I haven’t pushed the boundaries enough on music and video, and would like to explore those channels more.
My essay will probably follow that same sort of guiding light, focusing on how AI music and videos are getting better and how to use them more efficiently in a workflow.
AI Tower Defense Game
I worked with Joeseph and Vincent for this project.
I contributed the tower designs and the map!
Questions for Toby Roberts
In the 10 years you’ve been President and COO of Happy Finish, how has the process of integrating AI into the company’s overall workflow gone? I would imagine it didn’t all happen at once.
How do you establish your company in this somewhat new field of really leaning into AI? How has your company grown to work with some of the biggest brands in the world?
HTML World Exhibit
Dive into the digital realm of Post Horizon, a website that unveils a future where humanity intertwines with artificial intelligence in a dance of survival and symbiosis. Through illustrations inspired by the enigmatic Codex Seraphinianus, explore the lush Reclaimed Zones, the gritty coder underground, and the faces that shape this neo-feudal world. From AI-crafted delicacies to the dualities of faith in a digital age, Post Horizon is more than a dystopian showcase; it’s a thought-provoking journey into what might lie beyond our current horizon. Join us in exploring a speculative future where technology and human spirit forge a new path forward, with every element of the site inviting you to ponder the possibilities of tomorrow.
AI Game Dev
I would love to work on a game that involves some aspects of exploration, discovery, and visual storytelling. Perhaps with some puzzle elements thrown in as well. Ideally, I would be a designer for things like game assets and backgrounds.
Though reading through the other posts for today, tower defense also rocks. I did love me some Bloons Tower Defense as a kid. I’m happy to work in a pool of different styles and genres.
AI Generative Websites
Interest in Generated Art
Blog Prompt: Read the article by Amy Goodchild and discuss some of the techniques that interests you. In class we will play with both generative visual art as well as generative literature or language art. Both require the use of JavaScript.
That article was really interesting to me! I was especially captivated by her interactive p5.js Web Editor where you can play with pixels.
I like that Goodchild opened up the definition of ‘generative art’. Going into this article, I certainly had an expectation of what it would cover. Bringing in things like the natural process of petri dish growth and algorithms based on real life made the idea of what generative art is truly shift for me.
Her work with simulated ecosystems also intrigued me. I definitely associate the idea of generative art with the sometimes-interesting line/node based art. But it’s so much more than that. The idea of introducing some human elements (like following instructions) was also pretty cool.
Exploring these techniques, especially the blending of natural processes with computational methods, opens up a wide spectrum of possibilities for both visual and language arts. The concept of using randomness and procedural generation can significantly enhance what people are able to produce. For language arts, implementing algorithms that mimic natural systems or utilize rule-based constructs can produce fascinating narratives or poems that resonate with the unpredictability and complexity of real life. Engaging with JavaScript to bring these ideas to life in class will not only be educational but also deeply enriching, allowing us to bridge the gap between technology and art in innovative ways.
Website Blog
I feel like this is the most specificity needed for an AI output so far. It’s tough to get exactly what you want, or anything with more style or creativity. I didn’t get very far with my exercise because of roadblocks.
But that’s just me. I am excited to see where this goes in the hands of people who love web development. Being able to wrangle in ChatGPT to do what you want is its own skill, undoubtedly. I see concerns, like with any use of AI, when it directly produces the end result without and human touch or creativity.
Post Horizon (AI Project)
Creating this was interesting! There wasn’t much of a struggle with ChatGPT for stylization. It mostly got that right. The difficulty came with getting the content of images right. Especially with the last image in the video (the hands). Getting decent-looking hands wasn’t the problem, but instead creating a clear distinction between the two sides of the image. It got color and content flipped several times. The narration audio definitely needed some enhancement wit reverb. I’d love to see more tools like echo, reverb, and distortion included in voice generation in the future.
Celestial Echoes
~ with Tiffany Duran and Toby Chambers ~
‘Post Horizon’ Video
Blog Prompt: Post a paragraph summary description of your story/moment that you will turn into a series of shots and then compile into a video sequence. Write another paragraph that describes the visual style and what you imagine the soundtrack to include: voices, sound effects, music.
I want to work on creating the two distinct styles I have going in my world. The vibrant, shiny, technological world of the AI overlords and their wealthy keepers is one. Below them are the coders, kept in dingy dens with warm orange lighting and computers. I don’t know if there’s a specific moment I want to capture, but I certainly want to showcase these disparate ways of life. I believe I’ll want to show them off in an ‘every other’ sequence to showcase their differences.
I’ve injected my gpt with a small stylistic guide. Included in that is the directorial style of the Safdie Brothers (directors of Good Time and Uncut Gems). I believe their elements of colorful lighting and character close ups will help tell my story. The soundtracks will definitely include music. I think the music should be a bit sparse and atmospheric. Neither of these places have a lot of energy going on. The sound effects for the coders will probably be more old-world technology focused, whirring and typing and the like. The sfx for the keepers will be more futuristic sounding, with things like soft dings and whooshes.
The AI Landscape of Cinema
Blog Prompt: What are your thoughts on the risks and opportunities of AI Cinema? What do these tools mean for the future of Hollywood entertainment and for independent artists working in the industry?
The article from The Conversation caused some concern for the future here, for sure. It raised questions of AI replacement for human workers and systems, as well as the similarly hot-button issue of using the likeness of dead celebrities.
That’s pretty scary. As a whole, the article spells a potential dystopian future for the movie industry. This is a focused approach to the concept of AI like we’ve seen in the past. And it works. Nobody wants a future where humans are out of work in an entire industry in favor of computers.
We should approach AI like any other tool. It isn’t the end result, but it can be a springboard or collaborator.
Pulling from The Guardian, Keanu Reeves was smart to get ahead of the curve and ask for untouched performances in his contracts. People who have died did not get that liberty, like Bourdain, Warhol, and Regina.
The hypothetical uncanny Casablanca sequel is also a cause for pause. We’re already seeing a lesser version of this in the current film landscape. The nostalgia-fueled sequel land we’re living in is the perfect source for AI, because movies already feel like uninspired bait for reliving the good old days. Especially ‘live-action remakes’.
Celestial Echoes
Announcing Celestial Echoes‘ debut album:
Between the Binary Stars
Track Listing:
“Stellar Genesis“: An opening track that sets the cosmic journey’s tone, blending ambient ice melodies with the rhythmic pulse of mechanical beats to evoke the birth of stars.
“Echoes from the Ruin“: A haunting melody that tells the story of discovering beauty in abandoned places, where nature reclaims what was once consumed by industrial progress. It’s a thoughtful blend of melancholic chords and hopeful harmonies.
“Rust and Resonance“: A song that finds music in the unlikely harmony between the rusting relics of the old world and the resonant frequencies of the new, blending gritty mechanical sounds with clear, resonant tones.
“Binary Heartbeat“: At the album’s core, this track delves into the duality of existence, contrasting the steady beat of a heart with the binary code that underpins digital life, creating an intimate yet expansive sound.
“Solar Flare Serenade“: A love song to the unpredictable beauty of solar flares and the passionate forces that drive us, blending warm, vibrant melodies with the coolness of ambient spaces to evoke deep emotional landscapes.
“The Alchemy of Dawn“: As the first light of dawn bridges night and day, this track symbolizes new beginnings and the fusion of opposites. Combining the warmth of sunrise with the coolness of the night, it’s an ode to the magic found in transitions, featuring a blend of acoustic and synthesized sounds.
“Loom of the Last Horizon“: This song stretches to the edges of imagination, where the fabric of the universe frays and new worlds are woven from the threads of the old. It’s an epic composition that uses sweeping musical landscapes to convey a sense of adventure and the unknown, with intricate melodies interlacing like the gears of a cosmic loom.