Performing magic with an iPhone Duo that’s not even available yet?
As a digital magician, I obviously couldn’t wait for the official launch.
So I decided to 3D-print my own prototype of the new iPhone Duo. With the help of artificial intelligence, I added the missing screens – and suddenly, I could start experimenting with my first magical ideas and bring them to life in a video.
What might initially look like a simple tech trick actually opens up entirely new possibilities for creating digital illusions.
In the past, ideas had to be painstakingly programmed, animated, or physically built before I could even find out whether an effect would have the desired impact.
Today, AI allows me to visualize an idea in a matter of moments, experiment with different variations, and make changes almost instantly.
Does a movement look unnatural? Is the perspective off? Could a different effect be more surprising? Adjustments can now be made almost in real time.
Even the graphics for the actual, fully functional magic apps I use in my performances can now be created with AI.
For me, this represents an entirely new creative process: AI doesn’t replace the magical idea. It helps me develop it faster, experiment with it, and ultimately bring it to the stage.
As for whether I can really perform all these tricks live on stage – well, you’ll just have to take my word for it. 😉
After all, I have quite a long career as an iPad magician to back me up, including numerous television appearances from a time when generative AI wasn’t even a thing.
One example is this video from 2011, which helped lay the foundation for my international career:
Back then, it was a sensation to see digital images seemingly merge with the real world.
Today, I’m pretty sure the very same video wouldn’t attract nearly as much attention. After all, AI can now generate almost any impossible scene imaginable on a screen.
And that fundamentally changes the way we perceive magic.
It’s a subject I also explored in my TED AI talk. You can read more about it here: My TED AI Keynote in Vienna.
Perhaps the future of magic lies precisely in this distinction:
A video can show us something that looks impossible. Live magic lets us experience the impossible happening right before our eyes.
And there’s something I would never want to lose: that moment when an audience member is standing right in front of me, becomes part of the magic, and is left wondering how on earth that just happened.
I’m certainly looking forward to bringing my first iPhone Duo illusions not just to the screen, but to the stage – live!
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