Welcome to the Out of The Box Series — where I test how far curiosity and AI can take you in 30, 60, or 90 minutes using today’s best no-code and low-code tools. No studio. No production team. Just exploration — right out of the box. 🎬 This Episode: ElevenLabs – Professional Voice Clone 🕒 Time Limit: 60 Minutes 📂 Category: AI Voice + Video Workflow 💡 The Starting Point: I had two full hours of recorded video and audio from a event. I brought that into CapCut and did a very rough edit to remove anything that was not my voice. What I Built in 60 Minutes: 🎙️ Used Professional Voice Clone in ElevenLabs to generate polished narration ✂️ Created a rough cut video in CapCut 🎛️ Ran the ElevenLabs audio through a light cleanup filter in Audacity 🎧 Exported the cleaned audio 🎬 Dropped the refined narration back into CapCut and aligned it with the visuals 🔧 What Is Professional Voice Clone? Professional Voice Clone creates a high-fidelity digital version of your voice using longer, clean recordings. It’s designed for more stable, production-quality narration — especially for long-form content. This isn’t a quick novelty clone. It’s built for repeatable workflows. See the rough draft of the video below. This stack — ElevenLabs + Audacity + CapCut — is worth testing. That’s Out of The Box in 60. Have a blessed and creative AI day 🙏 @Michael Wacht

🌀 You don’t need to binge AI — you need to practice it. ✨ Why This Quip Matters Many people treat AI like a crash diet or bootcamp — intense for a day or two, then gone. The real power of AI isn’t in the big sprint; it’s in consistent, daily use. Small experiments, brief daily reps, and intentional practice build fluency over time. One better prompt. One practical use case. One improvement a day. That’s what turns AI from a tool into a capability. Consistent habits beat frantic pushes every time. 📹 Real Story of the Week — Video Insight 👉 https://youtu.be/c7zp3w-QX9U Advice for Programming Beginners: How to Get Started with AI Agents — a video by Lex Freidman and Peter Steinberger (creator of OpenClaw) on YouTube. In this video, Peter breaks down how beginners should approach AI: not by trying to master everything fast, but by building foundational habits first — start small, learn a bit each day, and integrate AI agents gradually into your workflows. Rather than aiming for perfection, the video emphasizes experimentation, iteration, and practical application as the keys to progress. Pro Tip: Consistent daily practice matters more than occasional deep dives.

Today, we would like to recognize @Matthew Sutherland for his contributions inside the AI Bits & Pieces community. Matthew has been a great sounding board, and has also spent time reviewing Claude Code–related content and providing specific, actionable suggestions. His feedback has focused on structure, clarity, and how ideas translate into practical use. His comments are thoughtful and grounded in hands-on experience. They tend to clarify intent, tighten explanations, and make the material easier to apply for others working through the same topics. Outside the community, Matthew is the founder of Byteflow AI, where he builds and runs AI systems that automate real operational work. His focus is on workflows, agents, and integrations that run in production and support day-to-day business execution. His work follows a clear framework — Scope. Shoot. Solve. — emphasizing problem definition, working deliverables, documentation, and clean handoff. Engagements range from operational assessments and system builds to incident response and targeted briefings. With more than 25 years of experience across technology, operations, and business development, Matthew brings a practical, execution-first perspective to applied AI and automation. We appreciate the time and care Matthew puts into strengthening shared work and contributing to the quality of the conversation. Thank you, Matthew, for the role you play in helping this community learn and improve together. Follow Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewsutherland/ For a highlight of Matt's Post: https://www.skool.com/ai-bits-and-pieces/classroom/5bebee2e?md=13b025f0574742bca30bc136b78d0d7e

Welcome to the Out of The Box Series — where I test how far curiosity and AI can take me in 30, 60, or 90 minutes, using today’s best no-code and low-code tools. No setup. No training. Just pure exploration — right out of the box. 🎬 This Episode: ElevenLabs 🕒 Time Limit: 30 Minutes 📂 Category: AI Voice & Audio Creation What Is ElevenLabs? ElevenLabs is a tool that reads written text out loud using realistic-sounding AI voices. It’s often used to turn scripts, notes, or explanations into audio so people can hear information instead of just reading it. For this test, I had ChatGPT generate a short draft script for a brand-new video I am creating that is focused on an emerging shift many people are just starting to notice; the move from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to AEO (Answer Engine Optimization). I started by testing two sort scripts, just to see how things work: - 🎙️ Audio Test #1: ElevenLabs default voice: Click to hear it - 🎧 Audio Test #2: ElevenLabs IVC (Instant Voice Cloning): Click to hear it Then I created a draft script for the video using ChatGPT: - 🎧 Audio Test #3: ElevenLabs IVC (Instant Voice Cloning): Click to hear it - Note: IVC required 10 seconds of my voice being recorded to provide the audio in a close representation of my voice. For this session there was no major editing tricks, no audio engineering - Just exploration. 🚀 Within 30 minutes, I created: - A complete video script written by ChatGPT - Three audio recordings using two different voice approaches (demo, and IVC) - The first draft of the audio for an upcoming video. Voice plays a big role, as most people realize. Thanks to ElevenLabs it is now accessible to the AI enthusiast and professional.

If you’ve ever stood in a petting room — surrounded by wagging tails and hopeful eyes — you already understand this. Because selecting a dog or LLM as a companion isn’t really about specs, scores, or comparison charts. It’s more like that moment when a dog finally chooses you. ❤️ We spend so much time obsessing over characteristics. Speed. Size. Capabilities. But for most of us, that’s just noise. These companions have become so endlessly adaptable. Whether we’re talking about abilities or temperament, what actually drives our choice isn’t a technical spreadsheet. It’s a feeling. Style. Comfort. An intuitive sense that this one fits. 🐶 Pedigree vs. Personality On paper, pedigree matters. Performance matters. But in real life, you don’t fall in love with lineage — you fall in love with temperament. One companion might be “smarter” on a leaderboard, but if its tone feels robotic, or it misses your humor, the connection breaks down. We gravitate toward the personality that matches our rhythm, our thinking style, and the way we work. ❤️ The Instant Connection There’s a moment when a dog rests its head on your knee — and you just know. With an LLM companion, that moment often happens within the first few interactions. It anticipates your next thought. Formats things exactly the way your brain wants to see them. Responds in a way that makes you pause and think, oh… this works. That’s the difference between something you have to manage and a companion that simply gets the assignment. 🐕 Growing Together The best companions learn your routines without a word being said. They know the difference between work mood and walking mood. With a LLM, over time, it learns your shorthand. Your preferences. Your voice. Eventually, switching your LLM starts to feel less like a software upgrade and more like starting over with a brand-new puppy. Exciting, yes. But also — a little heartbreaking. 🐾 Care and Feeding In the end, it’s simple. My companion gets me. Both my dog and my LLM.