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Creativity Squared: On A.I., Burning Man, and Consent

Dear Creativity Squared Collective —

Hope everyone who celebrated had a great Labor Day weekend — and for those at Burning Man, I hope it was an unforgettable burn!

For the long holiday weekend, I was in Tennessee this year, and not in Black Rock City, where the temporary city is built for the 70K+ festival-goers. But seeing all the Burning Man updates got me thinking about consent — specifically, what physical spaces that prioritize consent can teach us about protecting digital rights now and in the Imagination Age.

What do consenticorns and Burning Man have in common?

Spoiler alert: They both take consent very seriously!

Burning Man, with its radical principles of inclusion, expression, and decommodification, serves as a social experiment showing us alternative ways of being. This aligns perfectly with the Imagination Age's invitation to re-imagine our shared future through community, collaboration, and creativity — and when applicable, thoughtfully amplified with technology.

At Burning Man, consent isn't just encouraged; it's baked into the culture. Whether it's asking permission to photograph someone or respecting personal boundaries in a festival environment, consent forms the foundation of safety and respect for all participants.

This commitment to consent and all the mythical creatures that appear at Burning Man made me think of one of my favorite concepts on the subject: the consenticorn.  

What is a consenticorn?

The consenticorn is a powerful but playful vehicle to discuss consent — particularly online consent and artists’ rights in the digital age.

I got this idea from House of Yes, my favorite place on the planet to dance outside of Burning Man. The Brooklyn dance club features aerialists, costume parties, and over-the-top performances, but they take inclusiveness, safety, and security very seriously.

When you buy tickets to House of Yes, you must agree to their code of conduct as part of purchasing a ticket. When you arrive, like being seated in an airplane emergency exit row, you must verbally agree to the house rules again before being let in. Then on the dance floor, their security guards wear lit-up unicorn horns so they're visible and easily accessible if needed. House of Yes calls their security guards “consenticorns.”

While I'm a fan of the tagline "Consent Is Sexy," House of Yes takes it further…

From dance floors to digital spaces, "Consent Is Mandatory!"

Just like consenticorns keep dance floors safe, we need similar respect and safeguards in the digital world — especially with A.I. and artists' rights.

Too often, online spaces don’t reflect offline safety measures and need to.

Burning Man offers another model worth emulating. Unlike street photography, Burning Man requires permission from any subject being captured on film. Their Media Rights and Responsibilities state:

"You are responsible for respecting the participants you wish to record and seeking their permission before photographing or filming them. If you are asked to stop filming, you must do so immediately."

Some spaces at Burning Man prohibit photography entirely. The Temple, a space of reflection and grief, is one example. Burning Man explains: "Thousands of participants leave behind deeply personal offerings — letters, mementos, names, and photos — in vulnerable, often emotional moments. Out of respect for this space and the people who contribute to it, photography or video of offerings that are not your own is strictly discouraged. These moments were not made for an audience, and the people who left them are often not present to give their consent."

When in doubt — ask, don’t assume.

There’s an old adage that sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. This isn’t the case when it comes to people’s agency, no matter the context.

In fact, for the big A.I. players, they’re not even asking for forgiveness — they’re trying to get the rules of the game completely changed by advocating for fair use for all training data or as extreme as getting rid of current IP protections of copyright holders.  

Whether it's asking to dance, to take a photograph, or to use an artist's work for A.I. training, consent ensures that all participants are respected, safe, and given agency — especially where consent is directly tied to their livelihoods (ahem, looking at you, LLMs!).

The internet could learn from physical spaces that uphold consent well. While I love dressing up as a unicorn, no lit-up horns or costumes are needed to follow the simple, yet powerful principles of asking for permission.  

The more offline and online spaces have safeguards and systems that make consent not just encouraged, but mandatory, the better…and more fun for everyone!

Because in the Imagination Age, consent isn’t just sexy — it’s the foundation of trust.

This past Tuesday was our September CincyAI for Humans meetup, and speaking of consenticorns, I shared one of the songs from my kids album on A.I., digital, and media literacy, Ella the Consenticorn. It was great hearing an applause from the 150 people in attendance. CincyAI is the largest A.I. meetup in the state of Ohio, and next month is our 2-year anniversary!

Big Kitty Labs is a sponsor of this newsletter and of CincyAI.

Not only am I big fan of their work, but I’m happy to share that they’re offering a free software strategy session and bonus blueprint — a $2K value! Book your free call now with their A.I. expert developers to gain clarity on how to transform your idea into a business breakthrough: https://bigkittylabs.com/offer 

Two shameless plugs: book me as a speaker for your next event and pre-order my forthcoming book on the Imagination Age today!

Until next week, here’s to playing in the playground of possibility to manifest more magic in 2025! 🪄✨

-Helen

Helen Todd (she/her)
Human behind Creativity Squared
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🗞 PRESS & PODCAST INTERVIEWS

📺 BBC News (June 5, 2025) — What is the future of digital clones? 

🎤 SXSW 2025 (March 11, 2025) “Farewell, Information Age — Welcome to the Imagination Age”:

🎙 Fulcra Dynamics podcast, “The Augmented Life,” with CEO Michael Tiffany (April 29, 2025) — The Imagination Age Is Here: Reclaiming Attention, Creativity, and the Future of AI with Helen Todd

🎙 AI Explored with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner (November 5, 2024) — Using AI to Expand Your Ideas and Creativity 

🎙 Reflections with an Accent with Kike Calvo (October 18, 2024) — Unveiling AI's Creative Power with Helen Todd | Reflections with an Accent 

🏆 Cincinnati Business Courier’s Fire Awards (May 2025) — Finalist in “Disruptor” category for CincyAI for Humans

🏆 Aviatra Accelerators (September 5, 2024) — Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award 

📖 Movers & Makers Magazine (October 1, 2024) — Notables in AI + Print

📖 Cincinnati Magazine + Print (December 19, 2023) — Clone Wars + Print

🖥 SXSW Conference Community Newsletter (December 5, 2024) — SXSW 2025 Speaker Helen Todd talks Digital Twins

🖥 UC News (July 5, 2024) — Mayor Pureval, Rob Richardson lead ethical AI symposium

🖥 UC News (June 4, 2024) — Community of AI enthusiasts expands in Cincinnati

🖥 AdAge (April 15, 2024) — The Dalí Museum used AI to recreate Salvador Dalí’s voice—so you can ask him anything

🖥 UC Office of Research (February 28, 2024) — CincyAI and Digital Futures Partnership: Growing AI Talent in our Region & Beyond 

Listen: Ep.75 BBL Drizzy, A.I. & Manifesting A.I.: Discover How Will Hatcher Manifested His Way to a Time100 A.I. 2024 Honoree

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“If you're trying to play life safe, then I don't think you can fully experience life, you know. So you gotta go to places that you never been before, be in uncomfortable situations, because that's where the real growth is.” -King Willonius

Discover the magic of manifesting in a Creativity Squared exclusive interview from the ONLY comedian (and one of two artists!) who’s a Time100 AI 2024 honoree in the Innovators category: King Willonius. 👑 

His real name is Willonius Hatcher (his first name is pronounced “Will-OWN-ee-us,” and he also goes by Will). 2024 has been a breakout year for Will after his “BBL Drizzy” comedy song went viral — the first song made in collaboration with A.I. that became a cultural phenomenon, transcending genres and mediums!  

What do Burning Man, Dune 2, and the Frost Planetarium have to do with his story? Listen in to our 75th episode — and the last one for 2024! — to find out.

Creativity Squared interviewed Will live at the FilmGate Miami Interactive Festival XI, one of the top ten immersive festivals in the world! You’ll hear why it’s so special from the festival’s Head Curator, Co-Founder, and Executive Producer, Diliana Alexander. 

On opening night, the FilmGate Miami audience got a preview of the “BBL Drizzy Musical Dome Experience”. Next year, Creativity Squared will be back to see the full production and host another time capsule conversation with Will. 

Once you check out the interview, you’ll know that Will is just scratching the surface of what’s possible — he’s ahead of the entertainment industries, and is definitely one to follow!

Why did he make the Time100 AI 2024 Innovators list? 

For Creativity Squared Founder and Podcast Host, Helen Todd’s take, check out the dedicated blog post accompanying this episode (we recommend starting with this first 😉):

Our 2025 podcast season will kick off again in April, but we’ll keep the newsletter going between now and then, aside from the holidays.

Here’s to manifesting more magic in the new year — enjoy! 💝🪄✨

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