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In Module 1, we covered a fair bit of the theoretical underpinnings of the AI landscape. You even had the opportunity for a few hands-on experiences with prompting.
In this Module, we will now apply what you’ve learned in Module 1 by walking you through creating your own AI prototype on Wonda’s platform. By the end of this Module, you will have a prototype that is ready to share with the world!
By the end of this module, learners will be able to:
👉 use prompting techniques to generate 360 “skyboxes” in Blockade Labs
👉 create digital avatars using Ready Player Me
👉 use advanced prompt engineering techniques to infuse AI agents with personality
👉 deploy your AI experiences at scale by simply sharing a URL
If you already have a Wonda account you can jump to the next part, if you don’t you can create a free account. The Wonda Free Plan allows you to create up to 3 experiences, which is enough to complete this course until the end.
Now that you’ve logged in, we can get started with your own prototype!
From the examples in Module 1, you may be wondering how all this works under the hood. Do you need to be a game designer or developer? Do you need to code and 3D model? Do I need to be a creative designer?
If you are concerned about the technical side, this section will show you how easy it is to create an engaging immersive experience on Wonda.
If you are concerned that you are not a creative person, we’ll also show you that creating an AI prototype is as easy as cooking (and yes, this includes making a simple sandwich!).
Every meal is created from a recipe and ingredients. You follow steps, incorporate your necessary ingredients, and iterate and test by “tasting” your meal along the way.
We will follow these same principles through the remainder of this section. There are just 3 Key Ingredients for creating an AI Agent Prototype.
👩🍳 Ingredient 1: A 360 Degree Skybox
👩🍳 Ingredient 2: A Digital Avatar
👩🍳 Ingredient 3: Generative AI Character Settings
When using Wonda, you can add one or multiple AI Characters into a given experience. We’ll however stick to one in this course to focus on learning the basics.
Note: If you plan to add more than 3 characters within a single experience (like in the AI Showroom), it is highly recommended you use a 3D Environment. C.f. “Advanced” section of the How to Setup your Custom Environment article.
If this is your first time using Wonda, we recommend you read our Create and Edit an Experience article. Feel free to use our Official Documentation if you need any information.
Let’s move on to our first ingredient!
In Module 1, we covered how the deep learning revolution led to some incredible advancements in AI capabilities. ChatGPT is one familiar example that can take in text as input and generate text as an output.
But there are even AI tools that can take in text as an input and then output images!
For example, DALL·E 2, also created by OpenAI, can create original, realistic images and art from a text description.
If 2D AI tools exist, you can probably guess that 3D AI tools exist as well. These generative AI tools mean we do not need to know how to code or 3D model to rapidly prototype an immersive environment.
For our purposes, we’ll use Blockade Labs to generate 360° content to help us create immersive experiences. However if you need a free tool to generate 360° Skyboxes, you can follow the same steps and use CopernicAI instead. Before we get started, we need to define what a skybox is.
According to Blockade Labs, a skybox is:
👉 an image (yes, an image!) that is 360-wrapped around a 3D scene to provide background setting and lighting information when used in a 3D application.
👉 used to create the illusion of an expansive outdoor environment without having to model detailed geometry for distant objects such as mountains, clouds, or distant landscapes.
👉 used to enhance the overall visual quality and realism of a virtual environment.
Let’s look at an example of a skybox that encapsulates a 3D environment. In the image below, the fall foliage that you can see “outside” is the skybox:
When we create one of these skyboxes in Blockade Labs, we will get an equirectangular image, a type of projection of a 2D image onto a 3D sphere. Imagine printing out a map of the Earth, and then wrapping it around a globe, as in the image below:
Okay, that’s enough theory – let’s make our own 360 degree skybox and cover some tips and tricks!
In Module 1, we learned about the 1956 Dartmouth Workshop where the field of artificial intelligence was born. Let’s say we want to re-create or spice up that module’s content by allowing you to speak to one of the attendees of the workshop!
How might we re-create that historical environment using Blockade Labs?
👉 Open Blockade Labs in a private window: https://skybox.blockadelabs.com/
👉 Create descriptive prompts
👉 Iterate until you have something good enough
👉 Save your equirectangular file
You can follow along with me while you watch the guided video tutorial below:
Optional Advanced Blockade Techniques.
Those were just the basics of using Blockade Labs. If you want to try some more advanced techniques, you can check out the following infographic below from the Blockade Labs team.
🍲 Ingredient Check! By now you should have at least one 360 Skybox file saved to your desktop. It need not be exactly what we created here. Experiment and have fun!
By now you should have your first ingredient, the 360 skybox as an equirectangular image. Hold onto it for now.
Let’s move onto Ingredient 2, a custom avatar that you will create in Ready Player Me.
To show you how this tool works, I will create Ada Lovelace, one of the first programmers in the world. I want to create something where learners might learn more about Ada Lovelace’s contribution to the world of programming by situating her in the context of the 1956 Dartmouth Workshop.
👉 Open ReadyPlayerMe in your browser: https://readyplayer.me/avatar
👉 Create an account or sign-in (recommended but optional, it will bring you access to your character re-edition and the creation to other characters)
👉 Design your avatar in minutes using a ReadyPlayer.me’s browser-based tool
👉 Copy and save your avatar’s URL
🍲 Ingredient Check! By now you should now have at least one avatar created and its URL saved somewhere safe. If you lose the link, do not worry! All your avatars will still always be available to you in your Ready Player Me account.
Our final ingredient involves how we bring our avatar to life by animating it with generative-AI infused capabilities! If you followed along with our three examples in Module 1, you should already be a pro at this.
Before we do that, let’s first bring together our previous 2 ingredients to get a preview of what we are building.
👉 Go to your Wonda Space
👉 Select “Create a New Experience”
👉 Launch the “AI Sandbox” experience
👉 Add your 360 Skybox file
👉 Input your ReadyPlayerMe URL
You’re now ready for the 3rd ingredient!
Okay great, now we can explore a high-level overview of the AI Character Settings!
In Module 1, we discussed how there are three roles involved when prompting and we explored 3 examples of how we can incorporate prompting techniques into Wonda's platform.
If you have not watched the three example videos from Module 1, we strongly recommend you watch them now.
In the video below, we will provide a brief recap of the AI Character Settings
🍲 Ingredient Check! By now you should now have at least one avatar in a 360 skybox environment and with a basic prompt that you’ve edited from the AI Character Settings.
Great work!
In the following sections, you will have the opportunity to create your own prompt from scratch by following along with a Case Study.
Well, here we are!
It’s now time for you to dive into making your character come to life!
Now that you have a better understanding of the basics from the last section, let’s get even more focused on advanced prompting techniques by exploring case studies. Feel free to choose at least one of the case studies below.
Each case study will be structured around a learning problem and how we designed a solution to it using Wonda’s AI features. There will also be templates that you can immediately use to get started, as well as a guided video walkthrough where you can follow along while we build it from the ground up.
Here are the key ideas you need to keep in mind while prompting:
👉 Prompt your AI Character as if you were assigning a role to an actor or hypnotizing a person.
👉 Be precise and direct. For example, you can start by focusing on the elements that define your character, the location in which they are, the context, and the purpose of the discussion your character will have with their interlocutor.
👉 Use the Markdown format to structure your prompt. It will definitely help the model to understand the Role, Task and Steps of your character.
Learning Problem: A Spanish teacher needs to boost engagement by incorporating immersive classroom experiences that closely replicate interactions with native speakers for her students. She is in search of a solution that allows her to infuse opportunities for authentic language practice and the ability to effortlessly introduce new vocabulary words.
Solution: Using Wonda, the Spanish teacher can deploy AI-infused immersive learning experiences at scale by adding simple prompts to generate an infinite variety of language scenarios that target reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. She can conduct these interactions asynchronously and conveniently track message logs for each student in one place, streamlining the learning experience and providing valuable insights for individual progress and improvement. This visibility into her students' progress empowers the teacher to personalize and differentiate instruction effectively, catering to the unique needs of each student, thereby enhancing their language learning journey.
Developing a Language Cafe in Wonda
Please follow along with the detailed guided video walkthrough:
🧪It’s Your Turn To Experiment!
Hopefully you’ve learned a thing or two from the guided walkthrough above. Now it’s your turn to tinker with this example on your own in the recommended design challenges below.
Challenge 1 🦾: How could you modify this from Spanish to French (or any other language)? Even if you don’t speak a particular language, note that you can use ChatGPT to help you develop content (like vocabulary lists).
Challenge 2 🦾: How could you modify this from a typical cafe scenario to something more imaginative? Based on this new scenario, how could you get a new vocabulary list that makes sense for this scenario? How might you quickly prompt a new 360 skybox?
Learning Problem: Educators face a significant challenge in providing students with practical soft skills development, especially in cross-cultural international business contexts. It's often difficult to create opportunities for students to participate in such contexts due to the complex international nature of such contacts. Available case studies to address this gap are typically text-based and passively consumed by students, limiting their ability to actively engage in and interact with authentic scenarios where they might demonstrate their understanding of these competencies.
Solution: Using Wonda, educators can revolutionize soft skills development by deploying immersive simulations at scale that build upon traditional text-based readings. These AI-driven simulations can boost engagement by providing an interactive stimulus that infuses authentic role-playing scenarios into a learning environment. Deployed in a holistic fashion, such simulations strengthen academic readings, gives educators visibility into soft skills development, and are excellent for group reflections.
A Quick Interlude on Curriculum Design
Unlike Case Study 1, which was relatively straightforward, Case Study 2 is more complex and it’s worth taking a moment to mention how it might fit into a larger curriculum. We will discuss curriculum design more in Module 3, but for now let’s assume that there are a few different learning stimuli here:
So where will Wonda fit in?
The goal here is to augment, and not replace, these other learning stimuli. We want to design something in Wonda that will strengthen the connections between all of these disparate elements and thereby increase the efficacy of each one.
With that in mind, let’s turn to the solution.
Developing a Solution in Wonda
Follow along with the detailed guided video walkthrough:
🧪It’s Your Turn To Experiment!
Hopefully you’ve learned a thing or two from the guided walkthrough above. Now it’s your turn to tinker with this example on your own in the recommended design challenges below.
Challenge 1 🦾: Refine the prompt so that the entire conversation is about one specific aspect of miscommunication from the meeting. This singular aspect could be the entire focus of the entire conversation.
Challenge 2 🦾: Brainstorm another character you could create. Perhaps you are chatting with the founder of the startup in private to discuss what went well and what went wrong in the meeting before then chatting with your senior colleague on how to resolve the conflict.
Challenge 3 🦾: Brainstorm other cultures or cross-cultural contexts you could use. How might you refine the characters and the scenario? Would you need a new case study or could you adapt it to the existing one?
In the previous sections of this Module, you’ve learned everything you need to know to create your own prototype from scratch. Now is your opportunity to bring everything you’ve learned to rapidly iterate on an idea.
In your Wonda Space, you should find your very own experience named “AI Template” that you can use to modify and get started.
Once you’ve rapidly iterated on an idea, you can get ready to deploy it to a target group!
To share your experience with people around you, Click the "Share" button to open up "Sharing Options". It is available from both the Space view and from the Editor.
If you want to discover more about sharing settings, feel free to read the General Sharing Options article.
If you want more inspiration and discover other use cases, feel free to discover other Case Studies or directly test them by visiting the AI Showroom, where there are gathered characters made by finest universities in the World!