Podcast Summary: How I AI — Using Veo 3 to Create AI-Generated Music Videos (Tiny Desk Concert with Notorious B.I.G. and Kurt Cobain)

Host: Claire Vo
Guest: Anish Atraya (General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, AI Consumer Investor)
Date: August 18, 2025
Episode Theme:
Exploring practical, creative, and accessible ways to use cutting-edge AI tools for personal projects, specifically focusing on generating music videos with AI and leveraging multimodal AI for cataloging collections.

Episode Overview

In this episode, Claire Vo and guest Anish Atraya dive deep into how AI has unlocked new avenues for creativity, centering on Anish’s process for recreating a “Tiny Desk Concert” music video with famous artists who could never appear together in real life, using AI tools like GPT-4o, Veo 3, Hydra, and multimodal models. They also explore practical consumer workflows, such as easily cataloging books or records with video and Gemini Flash, and discuss how AI is redefining creative constraints and expanding possibilities for everyone.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Remix Culture, Creativity, and AI in the Arts

• AI as a Creative Multiplier:

  • Anish discusses how remix culture–from mixtapes to hip-hop sampling–is the predecessor to today's AI-powered creativity. With modern AI, constraints are different, and creativity is amplified.
  • Quote:
    "Sampling was the foundation of hip-hop, and I think AI is just the next manifestation of sampling—it'll be as important for music as hip-hop was." — Anish, [05:02]

• AI Expanding Artistic Possibility:

  • Both Claire and Anish emphasize that, rather than diminishing creativity, AI gives creators more tools and expands the scope of what’s possible in art, music, and writing.
  • Quote:
    "It just gives me so much more tools, so much more breadth, so many more things I can play with and build. And so it really opens up this, like, creative artist side of me." — Claire, [04:32]

2. Workflow #1: Building an AI-Generated “Tiny Desk Concert” Video

a. The Project Concept and Motivation

• Anish is inspired by the NPR Tiny Desk format and envisions resurrecting or combining artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Kurt Cobain for fictional performances via AI.
• Uses current AI tools to achieve a respectful, creative result.

b. Step-by-Step Workflow Breakdown

| Step | Tool/Method | Insight or Quote | |----------|-----------------|---------------------| | Generate Images | GPT-4o for prompt engineering, 4.0 ImageGen | “I just ask it to generate an image of Kurt Cobain … playing a Tiny Desk concert.” — Anish [07:38] | | Find Audio | YouTube for live audio; 4K Video Downloader | "I actually found a Biggie cover band playing live in Brooklyn, pulled that down from YouTube and extracted the actual vocals from Notorious B.I.G." — Anish [11:27] | | Audio Processing | Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit Pro), Demux for stem separation | "Demux is this amazing technology that allows you to extract the vocals from any song." — Anish [15:36] | | Video & Lip Sync | Hydra ("upload a still and sync to audio"), alternatively Sync Labs | "Hydra is nice because it actually generates the video … and then also adds the audio." — Anish [09:35] | | Editing and Stitching | Capwing for video assembly | "Capwing is so easy and so useful. Highly recommend it." — Anish [23:40] |

• Prompting Technique:

  • Anish favors concise, open-ended prompts to let the AI explore creatively.
  • Quote:
    "You’ve got to give the AI the space as well. If you overly constrain it, it just really struggles." — Anish [17:27]

• Handling Technical Constraints:

  • Accepts current short clip limitations as creative constraints that inspire new forms of art.
  • Quote:
    “Once we actually got the technology to sample for more time, we actually got less creativity, I would argue. So I sort of love the constraints that the technology gives us today.” — Anish [14:31]

c. Demo & Reaction

• Claire is emotionally moved by the quality and specificity of the generated video.
  • Quote:
    “Something like this makes me almost want to cry… It always felt so inaccessible to get these amazing ideas that I had in my head into a thing.” — Claire [24:57]
• Discussion on artifacts and limitations (e.g., AI-rendered cigarettes, duplicated characters), leading to unexpected, often delightful results.

3. Workflow #2: Cataloging Books and Records with Gemini Flash

a. Consumer-Focused Use Case

• Video Instead of Images:
  • Anish builds an app using Google AI Studio and Gemini Flash that catalogues his record and book collections by having users flip through their shelves on video.
  • Quote:
    "I would have actually, I thought you were going to show us like you took a picture of it and you cataloged it. But this idea of a video and then extracting the frames, I just haven't changed my mental model to match these multimodal models..." — Claire [30:20]

b. Workflow Steps

1. Record a video flipping through a collection.
2. Use a prompt in Gemini Flash to extract and catalog book/album covers, author/artist names, and titles frame-by-frame.
3. Deploy the app via Cloud Run and shareable links.

• Speed and Accessibility:
  • Takes "15 minutes for a working demo" but requires more time for public deployment.
  • Quote:
    "The era of personal software is upon us…” — Anish [33:22]

c. Applications & Vision

• Enables regular users to build personal, hyper-custom tools.
• Potential for expansion: kid’s book cataloging, fan fiction creation, educational content.

4. Bonus: Consumer AI Tools & Financial Planning with Comet

• Comet Browser from Perplexity (AI-Powered Browser):

  • Anish highlights Comet's ability to automate browsing and analyze personal finance dashboards.
  • "The assistant feature in Comet makes every website dramatically more useful and it's been a big unlock for me." — Anish [37:04]

• Personalized & Accessible AI for All:

  • Discussion on how AI tools are becoming accessible to non-tech audiences (e.g., parents), and children’s intuitive use of AI for interactive learning and play.
  • "You can just play with the technology instead of just being broadcast to from technology, which is really new.” — Anish [38:01]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Sampling was the foundation of hip hop, and I think AI is just the next manifestation of sampling." — Anish [05:02]
• "We become so attuned to what’s possible, we forget that this would be… witchcraft three years ago." — Anish [09:04]
• "Give the AI the space as well…if you give it less constraints, sometimes it has unexpected results, but often they're unexpected, you know, delightful." — Anish [17:27]
• "Something like this makes me almost want to cry… It always felt so inaccessible to get these amazing ideas that I had in my head into a thing." — Claire [24:57]
• "The era of personal software is upon us." — Anish [33:22]
• "My children form my consumer AI theses for me… my 6-year-old… put [Meta AI glasses] on his face and asked this personal AI a question." — Claire [39:49]
• "Now everything kind of is [possible]." — Anish [40:56]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:42] – Why Anish got into AI for music and creativity
• [06:09] – The Tiny Desk inspiration and working with AI-generated video
• [09:35] – The key workflow: turning still frames and audio into video with Hydra & Sync Labs
• [14:31] – The power of constraints in creative AI workflows
• [19:00] – Using emotion and gesture in AI video generation
• [23:40] – Using Capwing for video editing
• [24:57] – Claire’s emotional reaction to the AI-generated music video
• [27:56] – Workflow #2: Using Gemini Flash for video-based cataloguing
• [37:04] – How Comet AI browser boosts personal finance management
• [38:01] – Ways AI will transform the consumer world and children’s creativity

Closing Thoughts

This episode showcases how practical, approachable, and inspiring today’s AI tools can be—not only for tech professionals but for anyone with a creative itch or organizational need. Both fun and functional workflows are deconstructed, and the ongoing shift from "what AI can do" to "what can I do with AI?" is center stage. Constraints aren’t a hindrance but a wellspring of new art, and the era of deeply personal, customizable software is unmistakably here.

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