Creativity Squared: On A.I. and Midwest Prompting

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Dear Creativity Squared Member,

Episode 54’s guest is Cathy McPhillips, the Chief Growth Officer at the Marketing AI Institute, where she leads efforts to make artificial intelligence accessible to businesses of all sizes.

I’m a big fan of the Marketing AI Institute and its robust educational content and events, including its signature MAICON conference, which will take place this September in Cleveland, Ohio. I’m honored to speak on stage there alongside other A.I. marketing experts like Cathy. 

Today, you’ll hear how A.I. is changing the trajectory of the marketing industry and how the Marketing AI Institute helps marketers understand, pilot, and scale A.I. The conversation includes A.I.’s role in content creation and the ethical and legal considerations surrounding A.I.-generated content.

A.I. isn’t going anywhere and Cathy encourages marketers to embrace it, stressing the continued importance of human expertise alongside A.I. tools. We also discuss the delicate balance between A.I. efficiency and human creativity in marketing and reflect on how creativity is evolving in the age of A.I.

Get ready for a conversation that demystifies A.I. in marketing and provides practical insights for marketers at all levels, especially when we geek out about A.I. tools and prompts with tips you can use today.

What does it mean to Midwest Prompt? Listen in to find out!

Check out Episode 54 today!

The video of the panel “How A.I. and Timeless Stories Connect” from this yer’s Autonomous Innovation Summit Panel is up on our YouTube channel. Check out the rich conversation I had with Leopold Ajami (Chief Influence Officer, Public Speaking, and Thought Leadership Coach at Novel Philosophy Academy), Paqui Lizana (Global Head of Technology Strategy at Ikea), Yago de la Sotilla (CEO & Founder of Glassy), and Katie Trauth Taylor (CEO & Cofounder of Narratize).

Also, thank you to my dear friend Amel Derragui for having me be a guest on her podcast The Time is Now to discuss all things digital clones and A.I. — check out the episode!

Scroll on to discover:

• 💛 Featured Blog Post: Cincinnati: The Heartbeat of Responsible A.I. in America's Midwest

• 📆 Calendar of Events: A.I. Conferences & Events Radar

• 🤯 A.I. + Creativity News Roundup

• 🎧 More on Episode 54

• 👯‍♀️ Apply to Join the Clone Club

• 💎 Creativity Squared Premium Member Benefits

• 💝 Milestone Rewards

• ❤️‍🔥 Premium Members: Episode NFT

We’re just getting started, and if you enjoy our content, I’d really appreciate it if you could share, review, like, subscribe, leave a comment, and help spread the word about Creativity Squared in whatever way you’re willing to. Your support is greatly appreciated, and the whole team looks forward to growing with your help. Thank you!

Here's to exponential possibilities!

Helen

Helen Todd (she/her)
Human behind Creativity Squared
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How creatives are collaborating with A.I.

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📆 A.I. CONFERENCE & EVENTS RADAR

JULY 9 CincyAI Meetup, Cincinnati (Co-Host)

JULY 16-18 Black Tech Week, Cincinnati (Speaker)

JULY 18-19 Data 4 Public Good, Minneapolis (Speaker)

AUGUST 6 CincyAI Meetup, Cincinnati (Co-Host)

SEPTEMBER 4-6: MidwestCon, Cincinnati (Speaker)

SEPTEMBER 10-12: Marketing AI Conference (MAICON), Cleveland (Speaker)

NOVEMBER 20: Columbus AI Summit by OhioX, Columbus

Interested in having me speak at your event? Reach out!

Your A.I. + Creativity News Roundup

With all of the A.I. news flooding our feeds and screens, we’ve got you covered. News to check out includes:

This teaser is from Creativity Squared guest Nik Kleverov from Ep48. OpenAI’s Sora Text-to-Video Model who just announced the first-ever brand video made with OpenAI’s Sora that he and his team at Native Foreign made for Toys “R” Us. Sora is still only available to OpenAI’s testing partners, and the full video can be watched by visiting https://www.toysrus.com/pages/studios.

OpenAI's CTO says AI tools can 'expand our intelligence,' but may cause some creative jobs to disappear CNBC — During a weekend talk at Dartmouth’s engineering school, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati suggests that the creative jobs that A.I. replaces should have never existed if the output quality can be achieved by a machine. Murati was responding to a question about whether A.I. could write scripts and make films. Murati also said that A.I. will expand creativity and lower barriers of entry for creative professions. 

Sony, Universal, Warner sue over AI music copyright violations BBC —  Record labels are suing A.I. start-ups Suno and Udio, claiming the firms' software steals music to create similar works. Both startups deny reproducing content and argue their A.I. technology is legitimate under fair use. The record labels argue the A.I. firms are profiting from copying songs and threatening the music ecosystem. Artists like Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj have previously called for a halt to A.I.'s use in the music industry.

YouTube is trying to make AI music deals with major record labels The Verge — YouTube wants to clone more musicians using A.I. and is offering major record labels like UMG, Sony, and Warner cash to license their songs for training its music tools. The platform aims to work with dozens of artists for new A.I. tools. However, labels have been cautious due to concerns about unauthorized use of content and A.I.-generated music. 

NBC Brings A.I. Al Michaels to Peacock for Customized Paris Olympics Recaps The Hollywood Reporter — NBC is using A.I. to create a personalized Olympic recap narrated by an A.I-cloned voice that sounds like Al Michaels, offering customized highlights based on user preferences. Michaels approved the use of his voice, trained on his past work, for the feature. NBC says it will ensure accuracy by having human editors review the content. The move by NBC sets a precedent for future A.I.-generated content with the involvement of talent.

When the Terms of Service Change to Make Way for A.I. Training The New York Times — Google is one of several tech companies that has updated its privacy policy to include using public data for training A.I. models. Companies are adjusting terms to include A.I.-related language as new A.I. lawsuits get filed weekly. Users are concerned about their work being used to train A.I. that could replace them. Companies like Snap and Meta warn users about sharing sensitive information with A.I.. Companies use collected data to improve products and personalize experiences. Terms restrict users from using services to train A.I. without permission.

Exclusive-Multiple AI companies bypassing web standard to scrape publisher sites, licensing firm says CNA — A.I. companies are skirting web standards to scrape content, causing disputes with publishers. Perplexity and Forbes are in a public disagreement over this issue. TollBit, a startup, acts as a mediator between A.I. firms and publishers for content licensing. Concerns are mounting about the impact on publishers' ability to monetize content. Publishers are also conflicted about the value of their content to A.I. companies. Some are suing for copyright infringement while others are striking licensing deals. Google's A.I. summarization tool is a concern for publishers as it requires opting out of search results.

Anthropic CEO says we need to think bigger than a universal basic income if we want to solve the AI inequality problem Business Insider  — We’re not prepared for the consequences of consolidating power and wealth made possible by advanced A.I., according to the head of a major A.I. developer. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also doubts that universal basic income is an effective solution, even as A.I. concerns push public investments and discussion of UBI schemes. Amodei advocates instead for a society where everyone can contribute, suggesting a need for a more comprehensive solution to the economic impact of artificial intelligence.

Listen: Ep54. The A.I. Midwest Prompt
Level Up Your A.I. & Marketing with the Marketing AI Institute’s Cathy McPhillips #MAICON

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“We are not trying to have A.I. replace anything in particular. We're looking at A.I. to augment some of the things we're doing so we can be more human, more creative, and do the things we love doing.”

-Cathy McPhillips

Episode 54’s guest is Cathy McPhillips, the Chief Growth Officer at the Marketing AI Institute, where she leads efforts to make artificial intelligence accessible to businesses of all sizes. With decades of marketing experience, she has worked in Cleveland's advertising agencies, owned a strategic digital marketing business, and led marketing for the Content Marketing Institute and the No Kid Hungry campaign. She has been recognized as one of Folio's Top Women in Media and a MarTechExec Woman You Need to Know in Martech.

At the Marketing AI Institute, known for its educational content and events like the MAICON conference, Cathy plays a key role in the Responsible A.I. movement, which aims to enhance rather than replace human creativity. The conversation highlights how A.I. is transforming marketing, especially in content creation, while addressing ethical and legal considerations. Cathy emphasizes the need for marketers to embrace A.I. and maintain a balance between A.I. efficiency and human creativity.

Listen to today’s episode to learn more about the evolving role of creativity in the age of A.I. and learn tips on using A.I. tools effectively. Tune in to discover what it means to Midwest Prompt and enjoy a deep dive into the intersection of A.I. and marketing!

Check out the full conversation with Cathy for Episode 54 today.

Digitally Clone Yourself!
The Avatar Experience Cincinnati

👯‍♀️ Ready to be digitally cloned? Get your own custom synthetic avatar! Creativity Squared is collaborating with our partner and sponsor, Render, to bring The Avatar Experience to Cincinnati, OH, on October 25 and 26 at ADC Fine Art Gallery (1013 York St. Cincinnati, OH 45214). Digitally clone yourself to unlock streamlined and dynamic video content — Book your cloning appointment today!

There are less than a thousand known hyper-realistic custom synthetic avatars in existence, so participants will be at the forefront of this groundbreaking A.I. technology. Custom synthetic avatars are part of a massive and growing digital avatar market and is projected to be $270B by 2030.

Custom synthetic avatars can be used for creating:

• Dynamic online course instruction

• Streamlined SEO video production of blog or audio-only content

• Turnkey social media and email marketing video content

• Engaging customer service messaging

• And more!

👯‍♀️ In case you missed the announcement, I’ve digitally cloned myself! Learn all about mine in episode E14. Not Deepfaked! I Cloned Myself. You’ll meet Helen 2.ODD, my digital double, and discover why and how I made my A.I.-created custom synthetic avatar.

Thank You to Render

Creativity Squared is supported by Render which provides Digital Likeness solutions for personal brand businesses, thought leaders, influencers, and business leaders who want to leverage their synthetic, A.I.-powered Likeness to communicate more effectively online and create audio and video content from anywhere without going on camera. Learn more by visiting: https://rendermedia.ai.

Interested in partnering with Creativity Squared? Reach out!

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