Reflecting on my experience using GenAI

1

November

2024

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Generative AI has since it introduction with the first chatGPT and the early image generation tools always peaked my interest, these first few public tools were, tbh, not great. Early AI chat tools like chatGPT suffered from severe hallucinations where they pretty much just filled in whatever agreed with your prompt no matter how ridicoulous. And for the image generators your imagination as to interpret the generated image was doing more work than the AI.

However, since then genAI has come a long way to the point I use it frequently and even for some university assignments, since more and more courses have adopted an open-minded approach to the use of genAI tools. The new spaces where AI has been introduced are also especially helpfull, for example in coding. Using Cursor AI which is a program build on visual studio offering a similar experience but with AI tools weaved troughout the user experience, I managed to create a very decent prototype of a note taking app that I wanted to use on my laptop. Altough the initial output came together in a couple of minutes the outcome was less usefull than I imagined so I scrapped the idea.

Another field which has been quick to adopt AI is the image editing software Photoshop. As a hobby I will make phone backgrounds or online profiles to share or sell online, AI tools in photoshop have become a life-saver to quickly edit images, remove items from them or easily add in new items. In Photoshop these AI tools really take alot of the cumbersome repetitive clone-stamping out of the picture allowing users like me to focus on the more fun part of creating.

I’m excited about the future of genAI since it’s already been progressing so rapidly, in the last couple of years it has transformed from a gimmick to a technology worth taking a second look at.

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Digital disruption in the Dutch supermarket space

1

November

2024

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Digital disruption is really affecting the Dutch supermarket sector. Big players like Albert Heijn and Jumbo are expanding on their existing markets with new digital tools such as Albert Heijns app and the digital self-checkout. The latter of which is becoming more and more prevelant and controversial with mistakes leading to pretty nasty consequences for innocent customers. (Van Kampen, 2024)

New digital entrants are showing up to the scene like Picnic and Flink, these companies are competing with these big chains with a completely new business model existing only trough their platform where customers can interact with the supermarkets. They offer a mobile-only experience with a focus on sustainability and creating a streamlined time-saving experience for customers. Flink focusses mainly on quick last-minute groceries while Picnic focus shifts more towards weekly groceries for young families as seen in their latest ad campaign. (Picnic, 2024)

These new players have leveraged their digital business models by cutting the physical stores out of their supply chain and as such are reducing the cost of providing groceries to people. As these new platforms continue to affect customer expectations of what a supermarket can be this change illustrates the need for flexibility of the current players. This can be seen in the response from Albert Heijn which has chosen to reply by copying the same strategy that these new entrants have shown, providing online delivery trough their existing app.

I think it’s interesting to see how this space is affected by using existing digital technology but adapting it to create a new business model in a long existing space. Do you think that we will see further growth of the new players or will the current players envelop these new ideas into their platforms even further and win the competition using their existing resources?

Van Kampen, J. (2024, 18 oktober). Marianne (63) uren in de cel na foutje bij zelfscankassa. RTL Nieuws & Entertainment. https://www.rtl.nl/nieuws/economie/artikel/5475701/marianne-uren-de-cel-na-foutje-bij-zelfscankassa

Picnic. (2024, 4 oktober). Heb jij onze nieuwe Weekplanner al gezien? 🍝👀 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kw05xoVXfc

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