Hello, everyone, I'm Randi Zuckerberg, host of Crypto Cafe with Randi Zuckerberg, where we embrace newcomers and experts alike to all things art, innovation and technology. Our new recurring theme of this weekly podcast is what you need to know this week in the conversation. I'm joined each week by my amazing teammates from Hug to break it all down for you. And if you're not familiar with Hug, our mission is to democratize access to art through technology and education. So if you're interested, you can check out tons of free resources we have available to help you become the best creative entrepreneur possible. Check out thehug .xyz. Alright, each week on Crypto Cafe, we provide what you need to know this week in all things AI, blockchain, tech disruption, basically anything that's changing the landscape and all of it in roughly 10 quick minutes. So let's jump in. I am joined this week in the Crypto Cafe by Hug contributors Debbie Soon, chief growth officer of Hug and Michael Littig, director of creator programming at Hug. Hi, Debbie. Hi, how are you doing Randi? Wonderful. Even better now that I get to talk to both of you and Debbie's all the way on the west coast. Michael, you're a little closer. You're just like across some water from me. How are you doing? I'm good. I'm feeling some back to school vibes as it's getting a little cooler here in New York and always like to break through the Slack channel and spend some time in a virtual room with you. So I'm excited to be here. Yes, I I'm wearing long sleeves today, which is crazy. Alright, well, let's get into what's on both of your minds. So let's start. Debbie, you I want to hear some highlights about Beeple, a leading artist this week, because I know that's what's on your mind. Yeah, I mean, I think most people should probably have heard of Beeple. You know, he definitely made headlines when he landed that record breaking sale. Like I think it's sixty nine million dollars, you know, a couple of years ago. That's probably honestly what set off the entire fascination of NFTs, because I think all of a sudden everyone was what is this NFT thing? Like how did this piece of art sell for sixty nine million dollars and wait is just a JPEG. So, you know, I think I've definitely credited people for kind of raising mainstream awareness amongst everyone about what digital art is, what digital art can be. But I think a lot of people forget that he's been around for a long time. Like I know actually one of the favorite things that I always hear you say is that people always mistake overnight successes for being an overnight success. But it is actually years in the making. So, you know, people is definitely someone to to watch. I think, you know, he's showing his work in Korea in the next couple of weeks. He's got his own studio. So definitely a lot to pay attention to. It's incredible. I actually had the opportunity to interview people on this show, I think about two years ago. And you're right. I mean, I was asking, I was like, OK, so what what was it about this piece that sold for all this money? And I mean, he worked on it every day for years. I mean, imagine if you worked on something every day for a decade or more of your life. You'd certainly want, you know, hope that that would be extremely valued also. And so you're right. This certainly isn't just a, you know, throw something on a computer and then sell it instantly. Michael, any any thoughts or your thoughts on people? Yeah, two things. One, this is something I've been thinking a lot about. I think any creator, entrepreneur, artist can really take away, which is I would call a vertical timeline. Like you just mentioned, people was working on this for five years. He was experimenting with these skills of making digital art as a daily practice and just so happened to meet the moment when technology caught up. And so I just got off a call with Christie's. We hosted a conversation with Christie's at Hug kind of around the art of curation. And Sebastian, who's the digital manager of sales there was saying something similar about stacking skills. This is something you've also taught me, Randy, is like, how important it is for individuals to continue stacking skills throughout their life. Because there comes a time when those skills become needed, when the culture catches up or technology catches up, and you actually meet the moment. So what I loved about people in this article that was posted was how people is really trying to capture the zeitgeist of the internet, which is like, how do you capture lightning in a bottle? And I think part of doing that is simply showing up daily to it and responding. So I think that's the thing I listeners should take away from this. Yeah, and I always feel like Michael is the one that reminds me about how important it is to have a daily practice, because sometimes I realize I have a daily practice to even without, you know, realizing it like having coffee, for example. But you know, I think even some of the most incredible artists like Picasso has created 100, close to 150 ,000 works throughout his entire lifetime. And there really is something about just showing up committing to something and really getting better over time. And you know, people does that in a really, really interesting way, too, because he sometimes really chronicles the day to day or is almost like a political commentary and social commentary and all the different things that we're seeing and on the internet. I completely agree. And speaking of crazy things on the internet, Michael, you brought a topic to the table this week about how Pink Floyd is using artificial intelligence in just a ridiculously cool way. So maybe you can dive into that a little more. 100%. So I'm really inspired. So Claire Silver was on this program about a few weeks ago. And Claire Silver is what she would like to call an AI artist collaborator. She uses AI as a collaborator. And I think this is interesting. So this study came out where this scientist trained AI on these individuals listening to Pink Floyd's album, right, but they trained it on brain scans. And what happened is the brain scans were actually able to reproduce the melody, the pitch, the tone of the music at a 43 % success rate, which is like that kind of blows my mind when it comes to the possibilities of AI as a collaborator, right? I think of this and another amazing scientist that I got to interview a few years ago named Lawrence Doyle, who's doing something similar with whale songs. And I think there will be a time when I think we're going to be able to understand a whole depth of language and communication in ways we never thought possible. And so I'm like, this is like blowing my mind of like, how can AI be a collaborator to me? And what else can I illuminate going back to that kind of vertical access? And it's it's just really, really, really amazing. Absolutely. Debbie, I'd love some of your thoughts here. Well, I mean, I think the whole thing about brainwaves, like I would, I wish there was a way for AI to kind of read, interpret my dreams, like if there was any kind of patterns that it would pick up on, like, I have this very strange recurring dream of losing my teeth or my teeth falling out. And I feel like my brain is trying to tell me something that that AI could eliminate for me. Are you an entrepreneur, Debbie? Is that why you're having anxious dreams? I hope not.