Army vet Chris Pelkey was shot and killed in a road rage incident. In a courtroom first, his family used AI to recreate his voice and image — letting him speak to the man who took his life. His sister, Stacey Wales, joins us to explain why they did it and how it sparked a national conversation about tech and justice.
Take a trip back to your childhood home, no plane ticket required
Google Maps
That’s my childhood home above at 111 Washington Avenue, South Amboy, NJ. I was about 10 when I knocked out my front tooth on the swing set. There was also the day when I made the very bad decision to throw a snowball at a passing police car while the officer had his windows open. (Yes, I hit him. No, I don’t recommend it.)
I hadn’t looked at my old house in years, but seeing it on Google Maps took me straight back. Want to do it, too? It’s super easy and a little emotional.
🗺️ Find your childhood home
- Open the Google Maps app or go to maps.google.com.
- Type in and enter the address of the house or neighborhood.
- Select Street View, then tap the image.
- Tap (or click) the screen and then select “See more dates” (top left, web, or bottom, app) to go back in time.
If you’re lucky, Google may have snapshots of the home over the years. You can see when the fence was replaced, or if they finally painted the garage door, or if the tree you used to cry under is still standing.
🤖 Now add AI fun
Here’s a great use of AI that’s actually heartwarming. Upload a screenshot of your childhood home to ChatGPT (or another image AI tool) and say:
“This is the house I grew up in. Can you help me write a short story about a memory here?” If you use Midjourney, it can make an aerial view.
💡 Bonus idea: Jot down three childhood memories in your Notes app. The next time you’re with your kids or grandkids, show them the house and tell them the stories.
Trust me, they’ll remember the one about the snowball. Or the time your mom found you building a sandcastle and took Grandpa’s urn back. ⚱️
🛩️ Amelia Earhart mystery: Another team is trying to find out what ever happened to the famous pilot who disappeared 88 years ago. They’re heading to Nikumaroro, a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. Why now? A satellite image revealed something odd, called the “Taraia Object,” that could be part of her missing plane. Stay tuned.
1 million
New users on ChatGPT every hour since GPT-4o’s new image tool launched. Wow. No wonder Open AI CEO Sam Altman calls the demand “biblical.” The buzz hasn’t been this high since ChatGPT first launched. With 500 million total users and counting, it’s clearer than ever: AI is here to stay. Or people are just obsessed with making cartoon versions of themselves.
🧑🏼🎨 New AI image generator: Using ChatGPT’s 4o model, just type something like, “Draw a dog surfing a wave with sunglasses,” and boom, you’ve got an image in seconds. It’s rolling out to both free and paid users, so if you don’t see it yet, hang tight.
🖼️ Midjourney V7 is here: It’s the first big update for the image generator in nearly a year, and apparently the AI is much smarter at understanding text prompts, sharper and slightly less cursed when it comes to hands. FYI: It’s an early release, so features like upscaling and retexturing are still missing but should roll out in about two months.
Graphic designers, is this the end?
ChatGPT’s new image tool is so good, you don’t need any art skills. Just type what you want and it makes it.
How to use GPT-4o’s new image tool
Describe anything and ChatGPT will create artwork you can tweak, download, and use however you want. It’s amazing.
Microsoft is paywalling Notepad and Paint: If you don’t have a Microsoft 365 subscription ($9.99/month), in Notepad, options like Rewrite, Make shorter, Make longer, Change tone and Change format will be grayed out. Over in Paint, the Image Creator will be blocked. Seriously, who uses Notepad or Paint anyway?
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