As a maker, you’re always happy when you discover new tools because they inspire and create creative spaces to explore. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT, Midjourney and Co. are not safe from maker hands. Eventually, they get better and better at imitating human skills. Therefore, it is only too exciting to experiment with them, to include them in your own projects and to explore the limits of their and your own creativity. This time in Make 2/23 we have two articles on the subject of AI.
Can an AI design furniture?
Our video editor Johannes Börnsen tried out how well the image AI can design midjourney furniture. In his know-how article in the magazine, he shows in a beginner-friendly way how to operate the AI and how to take it by the hand. Guided in the right direction, the result is visually impressive bedside table designs that could have come from a catalogue. In the meantime, Börnsen is adapting their form step by step, changing the design style and modifying details. Midjourney’s ease of use and the ability to depict ideas in a photo-realistic way has a certain potential for design tasks and is fun, but it also has its limitations, for example when you ask the AI for suitable construction plans. The article in Make 2/23 tells you what challenges you have to reckon with and what you can expect from the AI. There is also a video on our YouTube channel in which Börnsen recreates the generated bedside table in his workshop.
ChatGPT on the typewriter
Anyone who would like to chat with ChatGPT after work, but no longer wants to sit in front of a screen, can now do so on an old typewriter. Our author Dirk Wahl has one for that erika 3004 from the 80s and explains in Make 2/23 how anyone can copy it. Just six soldered cable connections are sufficient to connect an ESP32 to the writing instrument’s serial port. It used to be possible to print via this interface. Now the microcontroller connects to the chat AI web API via WiFi. The entered text will be printed on the paper, sent to the server and after a short moment the typewriter will start typing ChatGPT’s answer.
There is more on the subject in issue 2/23 of Make.
The current make: available at newsstands and online
Issue 2/23 is available online and at newsstands. With one of our subscriptions, the magazine was already in the mailbox. You can also conveniently order Make as a print version or PDF from the Heise Shop. If you prefer to read Make digitally, you can in our apps for iOS and Android. You can also find the table of contents of Make 2/23 online.
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