AI Hustle: News on Open AI, ChatGPT, Midjourney, NVIDIA, Anthropic, Open Source LLMs: AI Yearbook Photo App EPIK Tops App Store Charts!

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So the big headlines here is that Epic, which is an AI image generator, is going absolutely

viral right now.

And it's essentially for this feature that people are obsessed with they like, which

is it creates nostalgic AI yearbook photos.

So I think really kind of riding on the, you know, the viral wave that has captivated the

world with this whole image generator, right?

We had one last December that kind of went viral for the same thing.

Or for, you know, AI generated images.

This is kind of a new angle on this, but Epic is an innovative AI photo editing application

and it's leading the nostalgia train right now.

They're embracing a 90s inspired theme and it offers users a kind of funny yearbook photo

templates of them, a bunch of different options there.

But essentially within moments, Epic, you know, takes you back in time, recreates your

yearbook looks from your golden era.

It's kind of funny too when you, when you have these kind of things because I think

it is really nostalgic for a lot of people.

But at the same time, maybe a lot of, you know, kids nowadays think it'd be funny to

see what they look like back then as well.

So it's, it kind of appeals to everyone.

This is actually originating from South Korea's Snow Corporation.

It's a subsidiary of NAVER, but Epic is essentially another new little startup in for this company

has that they, it also kind of gives you this whole AI profile app.

So they have a whole bunch of influencers globally who have kind of, I think, helped

Epic to rise so fast in the ranks here.

All of them are kind of showing off their AI generated photos.

And I think they're pretty effectively, you know, doing a pretty good social media trend

campaign.

I've seen a bunch of people in my own circles posting on social media, you know, what their

yearbook photos are.

So it's kind of funny.

And really, I think the reason these apps are so successful, right, like getting to

the top of Apple becoming number one, you're passing out a lot of people, right?

You're passing out Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and like all these other kind of

viral apps.

And the reason that these ones are so successful and are able to do that is because really

they're kind of like appealing to people's like a viral impact where people see these

photos that make them look good, right?

That's the first thing is these photos are going to make you look better or look good.

And then you're going to want to share them because everyone wants to share when they

look good.

And it's kind of funny and quirky and like, I don't know, it encapsulates that whole

social aspect, which I think not a lot of.

It's been kind of hard to do the network effect and to do the organic growth.

It reminds me a lot of the businesses, these like quiz businesses that popped up and some

of them are made multi-multi-million dollars, but it's like, what kind of dog are you?

Like, what Hogwarts team are you in?

Like when Facebook first came out, there was so many of these like silly quizzes and people

would share them because they thought it was like, it kind of like played to their vanity

in a way, like, look, I'm this or that, it kind of makes you feel good.

Anything that makes a consumer feel good or special about themselves.

Of course, we know this makeup, perfume, clothing, everything we buy really is to try to make

ourselves feel better about ourselves.

I think in a large way, that's just kind of the psychology of buying.

But I think that these apps have kind of been able to capitalize on this in a way that not

a lot of other products have, right?

You get a bunch of photos that make you look cool and different.

You're going to want to share them to show everyone also makes you feel good that you

look good, right?

So it's kind of, it's kind of, I think the reason why they're being successful.

So as of now, the US App Store sees Epic as number one.

Google Play is, I think, still has Epic around spot number 37.

And I've actually seen this play out.

I have both iOS and Android apps out there.

And it's kind of interesting because they definitely are both a little bit different

and they kind of appeal to different audiences.

So yeah, it is interesting.

I think in the United States, the App Store is you're going to get a lot more of those

kind of users where Android is a little bit more international.

So if it was, you know, American influencers posting this and helping this thing go viral

in America, specifically, it's not going to necessarily translate to an international

audience, which is where you're going to see perhaps more of the Google Play.

Although this is probably geographic specific anyway.

So maybe that's not super relevant.

But there definitely is different audiences on the two platforms.

And maybe that is like there's in-app purchases or something in order to unlock

some of this stuff on there.

And iOS is a lot more likely to actually pay for stuff than Google Play.

So that's just my, my own insights, what I've seen with my apps.

I definitely have a lot more people subscribing and actually paying

money on Apple versus Google.

So Apptopia's recent market analysis reveals that Epic's journey since August 2021,

that's when it first came out, has 92 million installs globally and I think 4.7

million downloads in the US.

So essentially they've kind of traced back Epic's initial traction to September 19th,

which was followed by a significant leap just 10 days later.

So on the other hand, data.ai suggests slightly lower figures, 82 million

lifetime downloads, around $7 million on iOS alone.

Now, all of these apps, and when you get these kind of like they have X million

downloads or X million amount of money that they've made, it's not exact.

A lot of them are, a lot of them are like kind of estimating.

Now, it's kind of really interesting how these companies get this data.

And this is a whole nother thing, but I've looked into it a lot, right?

Because I have apps and I'm looking for this kind of data, looking at doing

competitive analysis.

What I've come to the conclusion on that's kind of crazy is like essentially a

lot of this data that's gathered where they're like they have 82 million downloads.

Okay, you know how they get this data?

It's honestly like spyware.

A lot of these apps are a lot of these companies.

Well, they pretty much, okay, if you go ask them like App Radar is one of the big

ones that will give you analytics on apps.

App Radar is like our, you know, the way we gather data is kind of like

proprietary and secret, but it's like fairly accurate, right?

They won't like tell you.

But if you go look them up, there's been like some, I'm not sure if it was

lawsuits, but there was, I actually think it was lawsuits.

But essentially what they found out that App Radar was doing is they made a bunch

of different apps like free VPN apps or free note taking apps or like different

things like that.

And I think they may have even acquired a few that essentially were tracking what

apps were on the phone and then they can kind of extrapolate based off of that.

So it's very, very interesting.

But like, I think the, I think these analytics are not far off.

So when they're saying like 92 or 80 million downloads of Epic, they're

probably fairly accurate.

It's just kind of crazy to think that how they get that data is kind of like spy

wear on your phone that you probably didn't know some random app you downloaded

is keeping track of like how much, how many downloads are on and, you know, how

much money you're spending on stuff.

It's kind of crazy.

In any case, India has the largest download numbers for Epic right now.

So the US has, I think it's like sixth place on it, but I think surprisingly,

this is the first time that Epic has hit the top overall apps in the US.

Snow Corp, unfortunately, has not said anything about the like authenticated

these statistics, right?

If they really do have 98 or 80 million downloads on this.

What's interesting about that?

And like, first off, I think companies just don't want to give out free

information to people usually, but the number one reason why they don't that I've

actually found talking with entrepreneurs and stuff is that sometimes people

will overinflate their success and the company doesn't want to be like the one

that's like a downer and is like, no, we don't have 80 million downloads.

It's only like 15 or it's only like 20 million downloads.

It just like doesn't make them sound good.

So they're just like, no comment.

I've also seen this, you'll see this exact same thing play out when software

companies like do an acquisition and it's like, you know, like the terms of the

deal are like under non-disclosure agreement, but it's estimated to have

sold for 20 million dollars.

And then like, I've heard these same entrepreneurs be like, yeah, no, it was

nowhere near 20 million dollars.

Someone in our internal company leaked that to the press or to someone I don't

know why, but like it was definitely not 20 million dollars.

It was like, you know, like a million dollars or something.

So, but they're like, but it was like NDA.

So I didn't want to like correct them on it.

And also, you know, I didn't want to say it anyways.

So it's kind of funny.

Sometimes those numbers are really inflated.

And yeah, the company doesn't want to comment on it because it would just

make them not look as good in any case.

I think in a world right now where, you know, we have Instagram and a lot of

these other social media platforms that can help stuff go viral.

That's actually where I've seen people posting it is like on Instagram.

They'll do like a reel with like kind of like a slide show of all their

different epic yearbook photo shoots or whatever.

But I think there's a whole bunch of different renowned figures, including

a bunch of including, I think, Samantha Blanthos, Bretman Rock, a whole

bunch of different people.

I don't know how I'm going to go name a bunch all the random people, but

there's a bunch of them that have all kind of like posted these pictures.

And I think that's kind of making it go viral.

So I think diving into the mechanics, Epic's yearbook has, it's going to give

you some photos based off of like eight to 12 selfies, right?

So you take eight to 12 selfies, upload them, and then it processes all of that.

And it's going to give you 60 different images based off of this.

This is actually very interesting for those that know, I have a friend

named Matt, he's been on the podcast before, and he's actually currently

working on a company similar to this, that is kind of going to do something

that's going to give you niche AI images.

So maybe I'll have him on again to talk about when he launches that company.

But definitely an area that's very interesting, especially when people find

something like this that kind of has mass appeal.

I think they do say like, hey, warning, you know, you might get some unsatisfactory outcomes,

you know, extra fingers or things being a little distorted, whatever.

That's just normal with these image generating apps.

I think people understand how that works.

But essentially the app gives you a distinct upsell, which is you can opt

for expedited delivery, right?

So instead of having to wait 24 hours in order to get your photos back,

you can get it done like express in two hours for six dollars.

And I think, I think actually the standard 24 hour thing isn't for free.

They're still going to charge you like four bucks, which you can spend a

little bit more and get it done faster, which is kind of interesting that

that's a really interesting model, right?

Normally, I think, I don't think this is going to be a business model

that's viable in the next year or two.

But right now, when everything's new, they'll be like, yeah, I don't

have to worry waiting 24 hours.

Like in reality, nobody's going to be waiting more than like five minutes

for something like this in the future.

Because if they have to, they'll just go to a different app or something.

But what is all new and novel, I think they can get away with this kind of stuff.

I think that right now the demand for Epic is actually so high that a bunch

of people are like posting on Twitter and stuff that they're getting a like a sold

out notification when they open it up saying that like due to like so many people joining,

their servers are kind of overloaded.

I think while they're kind of getting the line line right now, I would say like just

based off of other apps, I've seen doing similar stuff to be cautiously optimistic

in this. A lot of other people like Lenza and Remini got a whole bunch of attention,

had their AI driven features like push them all the way to the top of the charts.

And then they kind of fizzled out a little bit afterwards.

So they kind of get a sharp drop.

So right now they're in, you know, all I'd say is Epic like enjoy the enjoy the time

in the limelight. This is kind of fun.

Everyone wants their yearbook photo so they might make a bunch of money during this.

But once this kind of like wave is over and everyone's kind of done with their

yearbook photo thing, Epic's probably, I don't know, unless they re-invent themselves

and re-invest the money and do something really cool, it probably will become obscure

again like a lot of others. In any case, time will tell.

I might be completely wrong on that.

And I really do wish the team at Epic like all the success in the world as I do with

Lenza and Remini and like all the others as well.

But, you know, sometimes these viral things are come and go and they have a little bit

harder time making a solid business that sticks around for a long time versus just

being kind of like an exciting one time thing that comes and goes.

But in any case, I think it really definitely does show that people are still into all of

this AI, you know, photo stuff.

I think they're really into a lot of these AI features that the novelty has not worn

off consumers are still evidently paying for this, downloading it, using it.

So it's a lot of fun.

And I think that we're going to continue seeing that trend.

AI is going to pull our fray into everything and people really, really like this stuff.

So definitely very, very interesting and a story will continue to follow.

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Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.