For Day 4 of The 12 Days of AI, the 20 minute task is to examine how AI can create videos and how they could be useful in your own practice.
To complete today’s task I need to use HourOne is a AI platform to create a video on any Christmas, Chanukah or winter holiday/seasonal related topics.
Synthsia, Simplified and HeyGen are also some alternatives to HourOne that may be worth exploring.
Asking ChatGPt to create a voiceover script and Hour One to create the video
Thinking about how different AI tools might be used together, I entered a prompt “Create a voiceover script written in first person. There needs to be three parts. Each part cannot be greater than 500 characters. Part one is about the family of four driving in their car along the coast in the Australian summer. Part two is about the native fauna and flora and how great it looks. Part three is about the family’s expectation to get to their destination safely and to have fun” into ChatGPT which created the Australian Coastal Adventure voiceover script.
Then, I plugged each part into a corresponding scene in HourOne, chose a scene, added some content, changed the voice and selected some music. And then, selected Create video, which resulted in https://player.hourone.ai/557ca6a6ac9a4f948183b5e63598b9dd
Reflecting on the Day 4 task
Was the task useful? Of course. Learning about new tools, practising prompt writing and combining tool use to produce a finished product is always great to do.
How easy was it to create the video with HourOne? It was pretty straightforward to create the simple video, and using ChatGPT to create the voiceover script helped as well.
What are some advantages and disadvantages of using HourOne with its virtual characters to create video? Advantages are that you never have to worry about appearing in front of the camera on a bad hair day, setting up your recording environment and all other things related to producing your own videos. Using an AI tool like HourOne (in combination with ChatGPT, for example) means you can focus on the messaging and teaching and learning. Other advantages is that you could delegate the mass production of the videos to a team of others, pending your “upgrade” of course. Disadvantages are that your learners never get to see the “real” you, if that’s of importance in a setting where you’re engaging with them offline or outside of the context where the videos are being watch. This isn’t a showstopper by any means and could be mitigated by not showing an avatar and only using a voiceover with background images and text, for example.
How could these videos be used in a teaching? It’s limitless, much like how non AI generated videos are being used now. So, they could be used as content delivery type explainers, introductions, hype/promotional or even feedback and summary style videos based on learning interaction in the course/unit. The videos could also be used as a teaching tool where they’re critiqued by learners as part of their studies, much like students study film production might review and analyse “classic cinema”, and more.
How else could you use these AI generated videos? Keeping within the theme, I asked ChatGPT and it responded with “AI-generated videos can enhance the learning experience by offering innovative, interactive, and tailored educational content” along with a list of nine other reasons, which isn’t horrible.
What are some possible dangers of creating AI generated videos? Like anything farming out your production entirely to AI generated tools without checking or quality assurance would be dangerous, particularly in a teaching context where accuracy, impartiality, authenticity, academic integrity, evidence etc are crucial.
Optional reading
On Day 4, they’ve listed The Dangers of AI In Video Production (Medium – free account required) as a recommended optional reading.
