Have you ever wondered, “What is AIGC?” when you hear people call ChatGPT an “AIGC tool”, along with other names like LLM, virtual assistant, NLP model, or advanced chatbot? You might already know that “AIGC” stands for Artificial Intelligence Generated Content, but do you know what that really means?
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What is AIGC?
As the name suggests, AIGC refers to content created entirely or partially by AI models—although some may argue that content partially created by AI and partially by humans should be termed “AI-assisted content,” but that’s a separate discussion we won’t dive into it here.
AIGC takes many forms, and not only text and images. From videos, music, and code, to the lesser-known and more professional content like 3D models, speech synthesis, and interior designs, AIGC is rapidly changing the way we produce and interact with content.
Most AIGC tools are specialized, meaning that, for example, AI image generators like MidJourney focus solely on creating images. This specialization allows developers to refine the tool for high-quality output in a specific area. However, some AIGC tools can generate multiple types of content. Our favorite ChatGPT is a great example. It’s not just a text generator but also capable of producing images and writing programming code.
How AIGC Works
AIGC is powered by advanced AI technologies, such as Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative models. These models are trained on massive amounts of data, such as books, articles, websites, images, soundtracks, video, code documentations… and more—depending on the specific needs of the tools.
The AI will pick up patterns, structures, and complex relationships within the provided materials. The goal is to refine the AI’s capability to generate outputs that are coherent and contextually relevant to user prompts.
When responding to user prompts or instructions, AIGC tools analyze the input, recognize patterns, and generate content that aligns with the user’s requirements, creating outputs that are contextually appropriate. It’s worth mentioning that the AI doesn’t really ‘understand’ user prompts (in a human sense). Their responses are solely based on pattern recognition.
Types of AI-Generated Content
AI-generated content spans various content types, each supported by different AI tools. For example:
Text
Text generation is the most popular form of AIGC. AI text generators can write emails, generate articles, summarize text, answer questions, and much more. They are a versatile tool that offers free access for basic use, making it ideal for anyone looking to automate writing tasks or get creative ideas.
Example: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude AI
Images
Image generation is another popular form of AIGC. AI-generated images are created using models that can turn text prompts into visual art. Like text-generating tools, there are many image generators on the market.
While the former may feel the same to uninitiated users (at least in terms of interaction style—just input commands in a conversational manner), there can be distinctive differences among image generators, most notably in their levels of detail, ease of mastering their prompts, customization and control, and speed.
Example: MidJourney, Ideogram, DaVinci
Videos
Prior to the AI era, creating a movie or an animation was a complex and resource-intensive matter—even for a short one-minute movie with the simplest setup. But now with AI, all it takes might be a descriptive prompt and a powerful AIGC tool (although to produce high-quality works, it still often requires skill, refinement, and sometimes human oversight).
To illustrate, let’s look at how Pika Labs works. The users can simply describe what they want in text-based prompts, with as many helpful details as possible, and let the AI tool take it away to generate a captivating video. Users can upload images as the basis of their videos too. Various parameters, such as camera angles and motion effects, can be adjusted to refine their videos.
Advanced features like lip syncing and AI-generated voice are available for certain video generators these days, making the whole process more robust.
Examples: Pika Labs, Runway, Synthesia
Music
AI music generators create original music compositions based on user inputs. They are capable of creating music of various genres and styles, and allow users to specify their preferences like moods, themes, or instruments. All these make producing unique audio content without any formal music training possible (and easy!)
Furthermore, the music generated by many AI music generators are royalty-free. This is especially beneficial for content creators like YouTubers.
Examples: Suno AI, Loudly, AIVA (Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist)
Programming Code
Most AIGC tools that are capable of text generation are also capable of generating programming code. They support common programming languages like Python, C/C++, JavaScript, Java, Ruby, PHP, etc.
There are specialized AI tools focused on code generation that offer advanced features, such as error detection and fixing, autocompletion, and interactive code completion. These tools go beyond general-purpose text generators, and provide enhanced capabilities made specifically for coding tasks.
Example: GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, Codeium
Limitations and Challenges of AIGC
Despite its benefits, AIGC comes with its own set of challenges:
- Quality of Output: AI-generated content may lack the human touch needed for high-quality outputs. Language nuances and artistic subtleties, for example, are often what humans seek in creative products, but AI might not fully capture these. It often requires human review and editing to ensure it meets desired standards.
- Ethical and Legal Considerations: Issues like plagiarism, copyright infringement, and misuse of AI-generated content are ongoing concerns. Users must be mindful of the legal and ethical implications when using AI to create content, especially if the content is commercialized.
- Biases and Misinformation: AIGC tools can reflect biases present in their training data, leading to prejudiced or inappropriate outputs. There’s also the risk of generating misinformation, especially when used for factual content.
Conclusion
AIGC is doing what AI does best: It has revolutionized the way we work, and will continue to do so.
It has transformed how we create and interact with content, making opportunities available to everyone that were previously reserved for a select few—be it in work, artistic expression, generating extra income, or gaining access to help in artistic creation.
But this comes with legal and ethical considerations, we must stress. Like many other things with AI, it’s all about the due diligence on the part of the users.
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