How to design secure, scalable, and engaging generative AI photo activations for live events.
Key takeaways:
- Optimize for speed to avoid long render times at live events
- Treat privacy as a foundational design principle
- Plan for unstable networks and peak traffic surges
- Keep user flow simple and intuitive
- Avoid generic outputs that may turn the user off
- Use proactive scaling and load balancing
- Track analytics to improve future activations
We’re in a very exciting time of technology today, specifically with the many advances in the adoption and use of AI. The live entertainment industry has transformed as well, with many shows now using generative AI photo activations more and more. When people see an AI generated version of themselves for the first time, they light up, they laugh, and they share it with others.
But there’s a lot more that goes on behind those magical moments.
There’s a ton of engineering involved, and if you’ve ever tried deploying AI tools in a real-world setting - especially one filled with unpredictable Wi-Fi and thousands of people - you’re familiar with how much planning goes into it.
Before bringing generative AI to a live event, we feel these 7 practices are worth thinking about before the day of launch.
1. Design for Speed Before Style
Most live events will have hundreds, if not thousands, of people in attendance. If even a small portion of them, say 30%, decide that they want to participate, then you’re looking at long wait times. Rather than aiming for the best possible output, consider optimizing your product for a 5-10 second turnaround.
Guests are going to remember and share the experience of a live generative AI photo forever. If you prioritize getting the highest resolution possible, everyone ends up losing out, and it becomes counterproductive.
2. Privacy Matters Just as Much as the Experience
Remember that when capturing faces, you take on the responsibility of protecting privacy. Just as much as technology has grown, so has the need for user data and privacy protection. It’s important to make sure that your generative AI tech stack utilizes on-device processing or a secure cloud environment for user data protection.
3. Plan For Potential Issues With the Wi-Fi Network
Conference centers, outdoor festivals, and stadiums all promise to provide the bandwidth, but it’s not a 100% guarantee. Things happen, and no wireless network can promise consistency in performance. If your activation relies entirely on cloud inference, then you’re taking a major risk. You need a fallback option, such as edge processing, local caching, or some sort of hybrid approach, to keep things running if the network takes a dip.
4. Design a Simple and Steady User Flow
One of the most important things to keep in mind is not to over-engineer the experience. In a developer audience, having adjustable sliders, style toggles, and prompt customization is fantastic. For a live event? Not so much.
It’s best to keep the process simple with a capture and generate flow. There may be fewer options, but for a live event, you want to maximize participants and reduce needless issues. Most discussions around AI usability generally agree that the most successful deployments are the most intuitive, not necessarily the most complex.
5. Steer Away from Generic Modeling
Nearly everyone has a smartphone, and with it, they already have access to AI filters. If your activation feels like something that someone can get out of the app market, then you risk a product that doesn’t stand out.
Instead, think about context. Is the event at a tech summit? A gaming convention? A sustainability expo, perhaps?
Innovative photo activation concepts work best when the output reflects the event itself. Make the image represent the theme of the occasion. A cybernetic portrait at a robotics conference makes all the sense in the world. A stylized historical rendering at a Renaissance festival helps to tell a story. People are more likely to share something that makes others want to be a part of it over something ordinary.
6. Expect Peak Traffic and Plan for It
Every event has moments when traffic spikes. It’ll happen after a keynote speaker concludes their speech or when there’s a major announcement on a product. If you don’t make sure that your system can handle the traffic, you’re likely going to run into delays or a system crash.
If there’s any area where you should go over and above in the research and planning, it would be protections and load balancing. Use proactive scaling to reduce latency when under a heavy load.
7. Record All Analytics
This one isn’t so much about the actual product itself, but more about recording data to measure important information for quality. Create a list of questions to ask yourself and strategically engage your audience. For example:
- How many images were shared throughout the event?
- How long did the guests engage?
- What was the return rate of guests seeking another variation?
- Were the images useful in sparking conversation amongst the guests?
- How many attendees inquired about generative AI photos, and what were the most common drivers?
By recording this data, it will help you to determine what works and what isn’t working, so that you’re able to optimize the next experience. Next time, the activation will generate much more than quality images.
It’ll generate memorable moments.
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