BY STEPHEN KEY for Inc.
Coming up with an idea and bringing it to life is truly magical. Every inventor has specific tools they rely on. When I first started trying to license my ideas for new products, I used a sketch pad and crayons to get down my initial concept. When I wanted to refine my work, I had to hire a graphic artist to complete my vision. Times have changed. Today, with the help of AI, creative people have many more ways of producing a visual of their ideas themselves.
To learn about the best AI tools for product developers who are licensing their ideas, I interviewed Courtney Laschkewitsch, host of The Serial Inventing Podcast. Laschkewitsch has licensed numerous ideas onto the market and, full-disclosure, is an inventRight coach. Using AI helps her pitch more ideas faster.
Product developers can benefit from AI tools in all sorts of ways, she says, including by generating images, recording voiceovers for promo videos, copywriting, solving problems, and practicing cold calls. While AI programs that generate 3D models exist, the technology is still in the early stages, she notes.
“These are creative tools that you can use as a creative. AI is not replacing you,” she clarifies.
Craiyon
This is an AI image generator that you can use for free without logging in. It only takes about a minute to generate nine different images from a simple prompt. This is the easiest way to begin using and playing around with AI that I have discovered, says Laschkewitsch. It’s a very basic, simple program; there’s no fuss.
You can use this AI tool to not only help you think creatively about what your product idea could look like, but also spur color ideas for your product and its packaging, as well as background images for your marketing material. Using Craiyon again and again is a great way to preliminarily get your creativity percolating!
Lexica.art
Looking for higher-quality images? Use Lexica.art, which is also free and fast, producing four images from a single prompt. You get so many free credits to use each month, and it is phenomenal how artistic, detailed, and creative these images are, Laschkewitsch says.
These images are so high-quality, you can use them on your marketing material. This is also the best database she has found to search for AI-generated images that someone else has already created.
ChatGPT
Laschkewitsch really enjoys making toys and games using this text-to-text AI tool because the responses it’s capable of coming up with are so extensive.
Here’s an example of how specific she gets with her prompts.
“Give me very descriptive how-to-play instructions for a new award-winning board game involving skateboards and cats, including how many players, play time, type of game, name of game, and exact in-depth game mechanics. Think about why this would not be a great game to play, and off of those answers, revise the gameplay to make it solve those problems.”
ChatGPT is one of many similar programs. Laschkewitsch appreciates that it remembers conversations — meaning it can draw on prior data to refine its responses during later queries. It can help you become a more efficient product developer by assisting you with copywriting tasks, like generating or improving a script for your marketing video or describing the benefits of your product succinctly.
The Limitations Of These AI Tools
Fundamentally, you get in what you put out when it comes to AI tools. Meaning, the responses generated by ChatGPT — as well as text-to-image AI tools like Craiyon and Lexica.art — are only as relevant and desirable as what you originally feed into it, which is why prompt engineering has become such a profitable skill. Put another way: If you have bad input, you will receive bad output. It’s best to write as if you are speaking to an actual person and ask open-ended questions.
Always do your due diligence when using an AI tool. Read the terms of service so you are aware of the AI’s limitations and know how the company operates. Some AI tools distort faces, like Craiyon. ChatGPT hallucinates facts and has reasoning errors.
You can think of these tools like creative buddies, Laschkewitsch says. Remember, the responses that AI tools generate are only as useful as the quality of the input you share! So, focus on crafting great input. That requires getting clear about what you want to accomplish first. Don’t be afraid to experiment, she adds: Trial and error is required, and so is critical thinking.
