Software Developers Have Declared War on AI. They're Winning... — Transcript

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1. 0:00It looks like the companies that have
2. 0:01spent so much time, money, and effort
3. 0:03trying to figure out ways to replace
4. 0:05workers with AI might have messed up a
5. 0:08little bit by promoting AI so heavily
6. 0:10and forcing so many people to use it. It
7. 0:12appears that they actually accidentally
8. 0:14gave their users the tools to replace
9. 0:16the companies themselves. And there is
10. 0:18no better example than this right here.
11. 0:20This is Photocraft, a piece of software
12. 0:23that was released just a couple of weeks
13. 0:24ago and has gone turbo viral. It's an
14. 0:27open source photo editor that looks,
15. 0:29feels, and works just like Adobe
16. 0:31Photoshop. The creator has released
17. 0:33clones of the entire Adobe Creative
18. 0:35Cloud suite. He's released a reverse
19. 0:37engineered version of Premiere Pro, the
20. 0:39video editor, of Adobe Illustrator, and
21. 0:41In Design, and he's turned his sights on
22. 0:44Microsoft Office next, trying to create
23. 0:46a free open- source version of that,
24. 0:48too. Other indie devs have taken aim at
25. 0:50other AI giants like Sony, and have
26. 0:53begun reverse engineering their
27. 0:54products, too, using AI. And it's safe
28. 0:56to say that they are quite scared.
29. 0:58Instead of AI being used to replace
30. 1:00workers like these companies dreamed,
31. 1:02it's being used to replace the companies
32. 1:04themselves in a way that they seemingly
33. 1:06didn't predict. I've been using some of
34. 1:08these tools and I think that I'm uh
35. 1:11pretty impressed by the quality and I
36. 1:13want to tell you how we got here because
37. 1:15it's a big deal and AI companies did not
38. 1:17predict that they would potentially be
39. 1:19replaced by the very same tools that
40. 1:21they spend so much time promoting. So,
41. 1:24let's get into it. In the case of
42. 1:26PhotoCraft, if you've never used Adobe
43. 1:28products, it can be a little difficult
44. 1:30to understand why they're so hated but
45. 1:32so popular at the same time. And it
46. 1:34comes down to the fact that for the most
47. 1:36part, Adobe products basically work
48. 1:38decently well. And over the last few
49. 1:40decades, they've spent a lot of time and
50. 1:42effort building up this monopoly over
51. 1:44the creative software industry. There's
52. 1:46a huge ecosystem of tutorials and guides
53. 1:48and how-tos for all of the Adobe
54. 1:51software, and it's become just like the
55. 1:53industry standard. That doesn't mean
56. 1:54that people like the company though. The
57. 1:57company has a very different reputation
58. 1:59to the software because over the last
59. 2:01two decades, it has increasingly
60. 2:03squeezed users for every last dime and
61. 2:06not really provided a quality service in
62. 2:09return for that money. At one point in
63. 2:11time, you would just buy the Adobe Suite
64. 2:13as a one-off payment. You'd get a CD
65. 2:15that you could install into your
66. 2:16computer and it was yours forever.
67. 2:18However, about a decade ago, they
68. 2:19switched over to a subscription model
69. 2:21and forced their users to pay monthly
70. 2:23for the rest of their lives.
71. 2:24Effectively, going from buying this
72. 2:26piece of software to renting it till the
73. 2:28day you die. If you have an older
74. 2:30version that you bought outright, Adobe
75. 2:32started deactivating those and started
76. 2:34basically saying that people who' paid
77. 2:36for the older version were committing
78. 2:38piracy by still using it. But
79. 2:39unfortunately, a lot of those customers
80. 2:41for the longest time basically didn't
81. 2:43have any option if they wanted to work
82. 2:44professionally in video editing, graphic
83. 2:47design, or anything that involves
84. 2:49digital creativity. For the users that
85. 2:51were on board with the subscription
86. 2:52program, Adobe like snuck in tons of
87. 2:55hidden fees if you wanted to cancel and
88. 2:57actually recently had to pay out a $150
89. 3:00million settlement because they were
90. 3:01sneaking cancellation fees deep into the
91. 3:03terms and conditions. Over the last few
92. 3:05years, they've added more and more AI
93. 3:07features and pushed people to use AI
94. 3:09image generation and AI video generation
95. 3:12over actually making things the
96. 3:14old-fashioned way. And that's where this
97. 3:16guy comes in, Brandon Thomas. He's a
98. 3:18software developer of 15 years who's
99. 3:21particularly experienced in a language
100. 3:22called Rust. and he decided that he
101. 3:24would use Rust in combination with AI
102. 3:26coding tools to basically recreate a
103. 3:29free version of all of this software and
104. 3:31save people from having to pay upwards
105. 3:33of 90 or $100 a month to use the Adobe
106. 3:36Creative Cloud. I actually used
107. 3:38Photocraft, his version of Photoshop, to
108. 3:40make the thumbnails for this video. And
109. 3:42it works pretty similarly to Photoshop.
110. 3:44It's still in early alpha, so there's
111. 3:46some like bugs here and there, but by
112. 3:47and large it's really similar. And for
113. 3:5080% of the things that I would do in
114. 3:51Photoshop, it seems like a suitable
115. 3:53substitute. And it's worth understanding
116. 3:55how this guy actually did this cuz odds
117. 3:57are we're going to see this happening
118. 3:58more and more with paid software that
119. 4:01has become like too egregious and that
120. 4:03has started to abuse its users. If
121. 4:05you've been on the internet in the last
122. 4:06few weeks, you might have seen people
123. 4:08using AI to reverse engineer video games
124. 4:10as well. So there's been like Call of
125. 4:12Duty in Minecraft or Halo Combat Evolve
126. 4:15in the web browser. And all of these
127. 4:17different pieces of software use
128. 4:19slightly different techniques in order
129. 4:21to create this reverse engineered end
130. 4:23product. For some of the video games,
131. 4:25they basically just like run two games
132. 4:27in parallel and use the software layer
133. 4:29to merge them on top of each other.
134. 4:31However, that's the less interesting
135. 4:33version. The more interesting version
136. 4:35are the people who have been reverse
137. 4:37engineering the code from scratch
138. 4:39because all of these products rely on
139. 4:41running code locally on your device. And
140. 4:43that code is usually given to the user
141. 4:45in a form that's really easy for the
142. 4:47computer to read but really difficult
143. 4:48for humans to read. And before AI, the
144. 4:51process was pretty manual. You could
145. 4:53reverse engineer these instructions, but
146. 4:55you basically had to go through this
147. 4:57long process of guessing and checking
148. 4:59whether your code did the same thing as
149. 5:01the translated code. With AI, they've
150. 5:04been able to speed up this process
151. 5:05significantly and go through the process
152. 5:07of guessing and checking correct code
153. 5:09snippets without spending tons and tons
154. 5:11of time manually doing it. That on its
155. 5:13own is already pretty crazy and it's
156. 5:15given us some like wild examples like
157. 5:18this, but that's not what these guys
158. 5:19did. The big downfall of that strategy
159. 5:22of like reverse engineering the code is
160. 5:24that code like this is often considered
161. 5:26proprietary. And so you can't just steal
162. 5:28someone's code without opening yourself
163. 5:30up to lawsuits. So the Photoshop guys,
164. 5:33they did something a fair bit smarter.
165. 5:35Instead of reverse engineering the exact
166. 5:37code that Adobe uses, they went through
167. 5:39every single menu, every single setting
168. 5:41one by one and effectively recreated
169. 5:43every single feature one at a time using
170. 5:46AI. The guy who was in charge of the
171. 5:47project as well was like a longtime
172. 5:49software dev and so he actually had the
173. 5:51skills to verify what the AI was doing
174. 5:53and correct the places where it
175. 5:55naturally made mistakes. However, this
176. 5:56has given them a completely independent
177. 5:58code base that doesn't use any Adobe
178. 6:01code, but reproduces the same
179. 6:03functionality with new code, and it
180. 6:06makes them a lot more resistant to
181. 6:07lawsuits. Although, I would be surprised
182. 6:09if Adobe didn't try to sue them. I think
183. 6:12it's especially ironic that Adobe has
184. 6:15been the target because the group that's
185. 6:17been most affected professionally by AI
186. 6:20has been creative professionals and
187. 6:22software engineers, right? I'm sure
188. 6:23you've all seen these AI restaurant
189. 6:25posters when you go down a high street
190. 6:27and it's just like fake food and like
191. 6:29they all look exactly the same. It's
192. 6:31it's horrible. If you go watch like a
193. 6:33game at a bar or whatever and you pay
194. 6:34attention to the adverts in between,
195. 6:36you'll see that there's more and more AI
196. 6:38advertising. AI has like totally taken
197. 6:41over the world of advertising. And
198. 6:42clearly Adobe didn't mind when it was
199. 6:45individuals who were being hurt by it.
200. 6:47However, I wouldn't be surprised if
201. 6:48after this whole saga, they suddenly
202. 6:50have much stronger opinions on AI
203. 6:52ethics. You know, even though this
204. 6:54particular example is quite funny, like
205. 6:56that a company that's so pro AI like
206. 6:58Adobe or Microsoft has found itself on
207. 7:01the back foot, I think the long-term
208. 7:03future of software is pretty interesting
209. 7:06cuz it's going to affect basically
210. 7:07anyone who uses any kind of software. I
211. 7:10think the case of Adobe is especially
212. 7:12interesting because one of the reasons
213. 7:13they've been such a strong monopoly over
214. 7:15the years is because of the relatively
215. 7:18high switching cost of going from the
216. 7:20Adobe suite to a different set of
217. 7:22software. It takes like years to get
218. 7:24good at using most of these pieces of
219. 7:26software. And once you've gotten good at
220. 7:27them and you've built a career, the
221. 7:29effort that you need to switch to
222. 7:31another one is quite high and it might
223. 7:33not even reward you with more employment
224. 7:36since most companies were using Adobe
225. 7:38anyways. That aspect is one of the
226. 7:40biggest competitive advantages they've
227. 7:42had for years now. And it's actually one
228. 7:44of the aspects that's the most damaged
229. 7:46by the the release of this reverse
230. 7:48engineered open-source software. When I
231. 7:50first opened Photograph, this new
232. 7:52version, it literally asked if I wanted
233. 7:54to import all of my shortcuts directly
234. 7:56from Photoshop. It supports the same
235. 7:58file formats natively. And it's hard to
236. 8:01justify paying tens or sometimes
237. 8:03hundreds of dollars a month for the
238. 8:05official version when you can build up
239. 8:06your skills on a free version. In recent
240. 8:09years, when there was actual
241. 8:10competition, like Figma for example, a
242. 8:12design software which competed with
243. 8:14Adobe's version, Adobe would just use
244. 8:16their huge financial power to try and
245. 8:18buy them out and basically just like
246. 8:20conquer anyone who was actually doing
247. 8:22anything innovative. However, if it
248. 8:24takes like a couple of weeks and a
249. 8:26decent level of software understanding
250. 8:28to create your own version, I struggle
251. 8:29to see how Adobe would be able to keep
252. 8:32using this strategy and shutting down
253. 8:34the competition again and again and
254. 8:35again. we might actually end up in a
255. 8:37space where there is some competition in
256. 8:39this world of creative software and
257. 8:41people aren't just like oneshotted by
258. 8:43Adobe when they're 16 and forced to use
259. 8:45it for the rest of their life. I don't
260. 8:46think Adobe's going to go bankrupt
261. 8:48overnight or anything cuz like
262. 8:49corporations are really resistant to
263. 8:51change and they need things like 24-hour
264. 8:54customer service which obviously an open
265. 8:56source project isn't going to provide at
266. 8:58this stage. But I do think that the
267. 8:59biggest challenge for them is this idea
268. 9:01that younger people will stop using
269. 9:03Adobe as their default and they won't
270. 9:05get hooked on the software at a young
271. 9:07age and effectively become committed to
272. 9:09it for the rest of their life. They
273. 9:10might actually have the option to use
274. 9:12different things. We've actually seen
275. 9:14this with other pieces of software. So
276. 9:15in the 3D modeling world, there are a
277. 9:17handful of pieces of software that have
278. 9:19effectively controlled the entire
279. 9:20market. And yet steadily over the last
280. 9:22decade or so, Blender has become a free
281. 9:25open-source alternative that is actually
282. 9:26challenging some of these paid versions.
283. 9:28And younger 3D designers are learning on
284. 9:31Blender to Star and bringing that
285. 9:33knowledge into the corporation. It's not
286. 9:36like replaced any of the old major
287. 9:38software yet, but it's created this like
288. 9:40slow shift where for smaller jobs and
289. 9:42for jobs that are less time-sensitive,
290. 9:453D modelers have the option of using
291. 9:46Blender at companies like Epic Games or
292. 9:49Ubisoft. And that is starting to create
293. 9:51like this little this little tidal wave
294. 9:54away from the really expensive, really
295. 9:56limited and not very innovative software
296. 9:59towards one that's free and easily
297. 10:02accessible to to people. And for these
298. 10:04legacy companies, the only way they can
299. 10:06really respond is either by making their
300. 10:08software even more restrictive so that
301. 10:11people can't easily access the code or
302. 10:13by offering something that's actually
303. 10:15useful and actually sets them apart. And
304. 10:17I think if they go down that way, they
305. 10:19might have a chance. You know, on the
306. 10:21creative software side of things, Adobe
307. 10:22hasn't actually officially said anything
308. 10:24about these clones or filed any kind of
309. 10:26cease and desist. So, it seems like
310. 10:28they're still figuring out quite how to
311. 10:29respond. But on the gaming side, we've
312. 10:31seen a few different responses. For
313. 10:33example, over at Xbox, they announced
314. 10:35that they would create a little
315. 10:36division, a little team of people who
316. 10:38would work on integrating some of the
317. 10:40best ideas that people have created
318. 10:41using AI reverse engineering and seeing
319. 10:44if there was any way they could make
320. 10:45them official. Basically, they know that
321. 10:47if they don't provide the products that
322. 10:48people want, they'll find a way to make
323. 10:50it themselves, which was never an option
324. 10:52before. And I don't know how all of this
325. 10:54is going to pan out, but I think having
326. 10:56more options in the software world is
327. 10:58objectively a good thing, especially as
328. 11:00software has gotten so so expensive and
329. 11:02prohibitively expensive for anyone who's
330. 11:04not already at a major corporation and
331. 11:07doesn't have like a business license. It
332. 11:09is particularly ironic, especially
333. 11:11because for so long so many people
334. 11:13who've been displaced by AI have tried
335. 11:15to raise the alarm on how basically all
336. 11:18AI functions off of plagiarism. And that
337. 11:20argument has been completely shut down
338. 11:22by the corporations who thought that
339. 11:24they would benefit from it. I imagine
340. 11:25they're going to change their tune on
341. 11:26that pretty soon. And I wouldn't be
342. 11:28surprised if Adobe tried to accuse these
343. 11:31guys of plagiarizing their software or
344. 11:33if Sony and Microsoft accused these AI
345. 11:36reverse engineered software developers
346. 11:38of plagiarizing their software. But
347. 11:40yeah, I thought this was an interesting
348. 11:41story. It's something that I want to
349. 11:42keep my eye on. It's quite rare that we
350. 11:44see AI being used for good and not just
351. 11:47being used to like screw people over.
352. 11:49So, I thought I'd share a little bit of
353. 11:50positivity. Thank you for watching and
354. 11:52as always, I wanted to shout out all of
355. 11:54my supporters on Patreon. I really
356. 11:56appreciate anyone who chooses to donate.
357. 11:58Patreon is much more generous than
358. 11:59YouTube and gives a much bigger share of
359. 12:01donations. So, if you're interested in
360. 12:02supporting the channel, the link is in
361. 12:04the description. However, I'm going to
362. 12:06wish you a lovely rest of your day. Make
363. 12:08sure you get outside, get a walk, get
364. 12:10some sunshine, and we'll speak again
365. 12:11soon. Okay. Bye-bye.