Creativity Squared: On Truth and Innovation

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Dear Creativity Squared Member,

I’m happy to share that the first part of a special three-part series is available today and it’s one near and dear to my heart: this year’s ArtsWave Black and Brown Artist Program grant recipients on their work featured in the ArtsWave “Trust & Innovation Artist Showcase.”

For the second year in a row, Creativity Squared is proud to partner with ArtsWave to amplify the phenomenal artists and grant recipients selected for this year’s ArtsWave Black and Brown Artist Program.

Here are three ways you can check out and support the ArtsWave “Truth & Innovation” artists:

🤣 Up the As*pirin: Pain Management, a sketch comedy variety show
🙌🏾  @gashtronomy
🗓  July 26-27
⏰  8pm 
📍  Know Theatre of Cincinnati
🖥  https://knowtheatre.com/on-stage

🤩 Be Still City-Wide AR Portrait Exhibition
🙌🏾   @i_woode
🗓  July 11 - September 22
📍   Outside the Aronoff Center for the Arts
🖥   http://BeStill24.com

🖼   The Visual Arts Exhibition
🙌🏾  @ehmomohara, @isitrevolutionn, @lisameridapaytes, @nawal.magh, @Saraherodriguez__
🗓   July 13 - August 8
📍   Clifton Cultural Arts Center 
🖥   https://artswave.org/truth

Today in Creativity Squared Episode 57, enjoy hearing about these artists’ work, the world they want to live in, and their truth expressed through their art:

• Gauravi Shah & Tatiana Godfrey — “Up the As*pirin: Pain Management”

• Ingrid Woode — "Be Still"

• Faith Marie — "HeartSpace Poetry Project”

• Lisa Merida-Paytes — “Flow:Flux”

• Emily Hanako Momohara — “Mother's Tongue”

• Sarah Rodriguez — “PatchWORK”

The intention of these interviews is to give these talented artists another platform to share their art and the truth expressed through it, as you never know what ripples will turn into waves. If you’re interested in working with, featuring, or supporting these artists, please don’t be shy about it!

With that, discover what "Truth & Innovation" means to these ArtsWave Black and Brown Artists Program grant recipients.

Check out Episode 57!

Also, wanted to give a shoutout to Mariana Ianovska for this great recap video of my Black Tech Week presentation on the “Future of Communication with A.I. Clones!”

I went straight from that conference to Minneapolis to interview the speakers of Data 4 Public Good on A.I. and data justice for a special speaker series for the Twin City Innovation Alliance. Stay tuned for more on this!

Tomorrow I head back to the Hudson Valley for Joanna Peña Bickley’s Future Frequencies Salon where I’ll be moderating a panel with Creativity Squared guests Cindy Gallop, Katie Trauth Taylor, and Lori Mazor. Also, I’ll be doing my first-ever live podcast recording with Joanna (also a Creativity Squared guest in Episode 4) as my cohost. We’ll be interviewing Dinesh Maheshwari who’s a Humanist entrepreneur, Advisor to several startups, and Chief Technology Advisor at Groq. If you’re interested in attending, use this link for 20% off — it’s an intimate event and a few spots are left.

Scroll on to discover:

•  🎨 Featured Blog Post: ArtsWave Black and Brown Artist Showcase 2024: Truth & Innovation

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

• 🤯 A.I. + Creativity News Roundup

• 🎧 More on Episode 57

• 👯‍♀️ 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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CreativitySquared.com
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How creatives are collaborating with A.I.

🙌SUPPORT CREATIVITY SQUARED & ARTSWAVE

🎨 I want to live in a world where artists not only coexist with A.I., but thrive. And because it’s important to support artists, 10% of all revenue Creativity Squared generates goes to ArtsWave, a nationally recognized non-profit that supports over 150 arts organizations, projects, and independent artists. Consider becoming a Premium Member today!

🚀 Interested in becoming a sponsor of Creativity Squared? Reach out!

👍 AFFILIATE RECOMMENDATIONS

🐝 We use Beehiiv for this newsletter and Riverside for recording podcast episodes, and recommend them! Using these links also supports Creativity Squared, and we only recommend what we actually back!

🖥 Need a new website or the slightest of help on your current site? Check out e9 Digital — they created, and help us host and manage Creativity Squared’s website! They know how to make accessible websites which I love. Mention Creativity Squared for 20% off too!

📆 A.I. CONFERENCE & EVENTS RADAR

JULY 26-18: Future Frequencies Salon, Newburg, NY (Speaker) - Use this link for 20% off!

AUGUST 6: CincyAI Meetup, Cincinnati (Co-Host)

SEPTEMBER 4-6: MidwestCon, Cincinnati (Speaker)

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

SEPTEMBER 17: CincyAI Meetup, Cincinnati (Co-Host)

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:

Kling AI Video Generator Now Available Globally to Take on OpenAI's Sora Decrypt — Kuaishou's Kling AI has launched globally at KlingAI.com, offering fast text-to-video and image-plus-text-to-video generation. Its performance is competitive with OpenAI's Sora, excelling in realistic scenarios but struggling with fine details. Kling AI’s developers said they’re planning advanced features in future updates, with limits on violent, famous, or NSFW content. Subscription programs for more credits are also coming.

Mistral's Large 2 is its answer to Meta and OpenAI's latest models TechCrunch — TLDR; Indian fintech startup CRED introduces cash flow management feature; new A.I. model censors sensitive topics; Star Catcher Industries explores electricity generation in space; Mistral releases flagship A.I. model; MIT showcases robot training method; Apple Maps now available on web; AltStore launches third-party iOS apps in EU; Microsoft previews Bing generative search; Astranis funds next-gen satellite program; Reworkd founders go viral with A.I. tool; Lakera raises $20 million to protect A.I. applications; Google introduces new features for Play Store; Vanta raises $150 million in funding.

Here’s what we know (and don’t know) about Kamala Harris and tech policy The Verge — If elected President, the current Vice President and frontrunner for the Democratic nomination will be leading the country through a transformative period of A.I. growth. Yet her tech policy views aren’t clear, leaving questions about A.I., antitrust, and privacy unanswered. With Elon Musk’s recent endorsements of Donald Trump and Silicon Valley donors looking to Democrats for tech-friendly policy, A.I. is steadily creeping further into U.S. politics. 

AOC’s Deepfake AI Porn Bill Unanimously Passes the Senate Rolling Stone — The U.S. Senate passed the DEFIANCE Act in response to the (widely anticipated) surge of sexually explicit deepfakes. The bill allows victims of deepfakes to launch lawsuits against creators, distributors, or receivers of such content. Sens. Durbin and Graham, along with Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, led the legislation. Victims can seek justice under the amended Violence Against Women Act. The Bill is now moving to the House of Representatives. 

Opinion | H​ow Long Will A.I.’s ‘Slop’ Era Last? The New York Times — Instead of philosophers, financial analysts are now sounding the alarm about generative A.I., suggesting that investors dumping billions into the tech may never break even if it doesn’t get better. Some are questioning whether A.I. can be economically useful for more than generating internet spam and misinformation.

Elon Musk claims he is training “the world’s most powerful AI by every metric” Ars Technica — Elon Musk wants to build the world’s best A.I. by the end of 2024, if he can muster enough power. The Tesla CEO said that xAI has begun training its newest model at a new Memphis supercomputer facility, dubbed the “Supercluster.” Yet Musk is reportedly still negotiating contracts with local electric utilities to satisfy the facility’s power demands. 

The ACLU Fights for Your Constitutional Right to Make Deepfakes WIRED — States are trying to regulate A.I.-generated content, but civil rights groups argue some proposals would infringe First Amendment rights. For instance, the ACLU is fighting some laws drafted against deepfakes, arguing that Americans have the right to create them as free speech. The legal battle may impact the future of A.I. regulation and the balance between speech and regulation.

Meta Launches Llama 3.1 as Mark Zuckerberg Pushes Open-Source AI Decrypt — Meta launched Llama 3.1, trained on over 400 billion tokens, claiming it's now the largest and most capable open-source A.I. model available. In comments about the new launch, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been emphasizing A.I. safety, including unintentional and intentional harm prevention. The latest Llama model also comes with Llama Guard 3, a built-in tool that monitors ethical model use. Zuckerberg believes open-source A.I. will drive economic opportunities and security. 

Listen: Ep57. ArtsWave Truth & Innovation” Part 1
Gauravi Shah & Tatiana Godfrey, Ingrid Woode, Faith Marie, Lisa Merida-Paytes, Emily Hanako Momohara & Sarah Rodriguez

Apple | Spotify | YouTube | Pandora | Amazon | Google | SoundCloud | iHeart Radio

“Maybe I can make an impact, maybe I can be impactful because it’s not so serious, it’s not so daunting and I love the ability of comedy to be hitting on truth without making it seem preachy.”

-Gauravi Shah

Episode 57 is part one of our special three part ArtsWave “Truth & Innovation” series. Creativity Squared interviewed the artists who are the grant recipients of the 2024 ArtsWave Black and Brown program.

The projects and artists featured in the episode include:

• Gauravi Shah & Tatiana Godfrey — “Up the As*pirin: Pain Management”

• Ingrid Woode — "Be Still"

• Faith Marie — "HeartSpace Poetry Project”

• Lisa Merida-Paytes — “Flow:Flux”

• Emily Hanako Momohara — “Mother's Tongue”

• Sarah Rodriguez — “PatchWORK”

Who Is ArtsWave?

ArtsWave is a nationally recognized non-profit that supports over 150 arts organizations, projects, and independent artists. Because it's important to support artists, 10% of all revenue generated from Creativity Squared goes to ArtsWave to support their Black and Brown Artists Program. The mission of Creativity Squared is to envision a world where artists not only coexist with A.I., but thrive.

The Black and Brown Artists Program supports independent artists of color in the greater Cincinnati area with direct grants of $10,000 each, as well as opportunities for mentorship, business skills training, and networking. Funded artists were selected by a panel based on how their proposal addressed this year’s showcase theme: “Truth & Innovation.” 

Be sure to check back next week for part two of this special series.

Check out Episode 57 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!

Become a Premium Member to Unlock Exclusive Content and Claim Your NFT

Become a Premium Member to unlock exclusive content and to claim your NFTs of episode cover art!

At $10 per month or discounted to $100 for annual memberships, Premium Members enjoy other benefits too:

• $1 per month (or $10 per year) to ArtsWave

• Premium Member NFT

• First-Dibs at Event Invites

• Access to Monthly Exclusive Content (e.g. Helen’s Monthly Must-Know Video Report on the hottest A.I. news)

• Discounts from Creativity Squared Partners

• Thank You by Name in the Creativity Squared Newsletter

There is also a VIP Founding Member tier for those who want lifetime first dibs and access to Creativity Squared content, events, and whatever we dream up!

Because it’s important to support artists, 10% of all revenue Creativity Squared generates will go to ArtsWave, a nationally recognized non-profit that supports over 100 arts organizations.

Subscribe to Creativity Squared Premium Membership to read the rest.