Creativity Squared: On Truth and Innovation

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Dear Creativity Squared Member,

I’m happy to share that the second 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:

🤩 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

🎭 The Ravenside Occurrence
🙌🏾  @snowman353
🗓   Debuts this September
📍   Playhouse in the Park
🖥 https://cincyplay.com/tickets/Arts-Culture-Incubator

Today in Creativity Squared Episode 58, enjoy hearing about each of these artists’ films and their interpretation of the theme “Truth & Innovation”:

• Alicia Redmond — film: “Rooted in Love: The Recultivation of Lincoln Heights - A Historic Black Community”

• Markus Cook — film: “The Coming Sleep”

• Ashley Glass — film: “Breaking the Silence: The Black Nursing Documentary”

• Ethan Avery — film: “Shot Clock”

• Asha the Artist — film: “Bodies in Flux: Exposing Reproductive Choice Through Art and Words”

• Douglas J. Hilson — film: “Strokes”

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 58!

This past weekend, I had the great honor of being back in the Hudson Valley for the Future Frequencies Salon where I did my first-ever live podcast recording with Creativity Squared guest Joanna Peña Bickley as my cohost. We interviewed Dinesh Maheshwari who’s a Humanist entrepreneur, Advisor to several startups, and Chief Technology Advisor at Groq. You won’t want to miss this conversation when the episode drops after our upcoming data justice series from the Data 4 Public Good conference — stay tuned!

Last month, we lost an amazing photographer, Thomas Hoepker, who took iconic images of 9/11, Muhammad Ali, and Andy Warhol to name a few. I had the distinct pleasure of working with him and interviewing him for Leica Camera, and today’s blog post is a tribute to his incredible life’s work.

Scroll on to discover:

• 📷 Featured Blog Post: Tribute to Thomas Hoepker

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

• 🤯 A.I. + Creativity News Roundup

• 🎧 More on Episode 58

• 👯‍♀️ 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.

🙌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!

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🖥 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

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)

OCTOBER 17: Illuminate: Together Digital National Conference (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:

The EU's AI Act is now in force TechCrunch — The countdown has started for A.I. developers to get compliant with the European Union’s new A.I. regulations, which took effect as of today. Depending on the size of their A.I. model and the risks associated with their product, developers have to meet various deadlines to ensure their tools comply. Almost all companies will have to achieve compliance by 2026. The Act’s bans on certain applications like biometric scanning for law enforcement, will take effect within six months. 

OpenAI announces SearchGPT, its AI-powered search engine The Verge — The Google and Perplexity search rival from OpenAI will be available as a prototype in limited release, with plans to eventually build it into ChatGPT. OpenAI announced its much-anticipated entry into the search market, SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine with real-time access to information across the internet. Check out Creativity Squared Episode 56 on “To Scrape or Not?” on how to either protect or optimize your content from LLM search bots.

Reasoning skills of large language models are often overestimated MIT News — MIT researchers say that A.I. isn’t as flexible in deducing information as some might think. While A.I. developers tout their models’ increasing ability to “reason,” the study from MIT shows that unless an A.I. model is specifically trained on how to solve a unique problem, its ability to figure it out by itself is extremely limited. The research raises questions about how A.I. will advance to handle all of the unforeseeable complications that humans encounter. 

Instagram now lets people create AI versions of themselves The Verge — Meta says that all of its U.S. users will get access to a new feature in its AI Studio allowing them to generate A.I. characters and chatbots of themselves. The feature was originally developed as a tool for content creators to interact with their audiences. Users can customize their A.I. based on their own content, train it on specific topics to avoid, and links to share with the audience. The announcement comes at the same time Meta announced it's abandoning its product for users to chat with A.I. versions of celebrities. 

UK regulator looks at Google’s partnership with Anthropic The Guardian — The European Union’s antitrust enforcement agency is investigating Google’s $2 billion investment into Anthropic and the two companies’ cloud computing agreement. The regulator is looking into whether Google and Anthropic’s deal represents a de facto merger. The agency is pursuing similar investigations into deals between Microsoft and OpenAI, Microsoft and Mistral, as well as Microsoft’s acquisition of Inflection AI’s leadership team and A.I. models. 

AI search engine accused of plagiarism announces publisher revenue-sharing plan Ars Technica — As it navigates copyright infringement claims from the likes of Forbes, WIRED, and Conde Nast, Perplexity AI announced a new business model this week that could set a trend for the industry. Perplexity, which hopes to steal Google’s Search crown, says it has already inked partnerships with  TIME, WordPress.com, and multiple other publishers. As cries from content owners grow louder against the scourge of scrape bots and wanton copyright infringement, this revenue model could inspire other A.I. developers to sweeten the deal for content creators. 

Apple says it took a 'responsible' approach to training its Apple Intelligence models TechCrunch  —  Apple says that it only used publicly available and licensed data, not user data, to train its Apple Foundation Models. Apple Intelligence, which the company teased earlier this year to put A.I. in its smartphones, is reportedly still in development. A.I. features are expected to become available on iOS gradually over the next several months. 

Will A.I. Upend White-Collar Work? Consider the Hollywood Editor The New York Times —  A newly-minted contract between Hollywood’s unsung production staff and studios is leading to even more anxiety among union members that displacement by A.I. is unavoidable. The deal struck by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents editors, makeup artists, prop makers, and the rest of Hollywood’s skilled production staff, struck a deal that would require its members to use A.I. technology rather than protect them from it. Union leaders say that A.I. adoption is inevitable, advising its members to become A.I. tool experts to stay competitive. 

Canva Grows AI Toolbox With Leonardo.AI Acquisition Decrypt — Adding 120 new designers, researchers, and developers to its roster via acquisition, Canva is ramping up its mission to compete with the likes of Adobe and Google in the A.I. space. Leonardo.AI, which specializes in generating production-quality images for professional use, won’t be shutting down so users can still access its powerful image generator, Phoenix. 

Listen: Ep58. ArtsWave Truth & Innovation” Part 2
Alicia Redmond, Markus Cook, Ashley Glass, Ethan Avery, Asha the Artist & Douglas J. Hilson      

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

“For parents watching the film that might have a child interested in creative arts, try to be careful of the voice you use when you approach them. You don’t want to necessarily say anything that snuffs out their passion — it can be a slippery slope.”

– Douglas J. Hilson

Episode 58 is part two 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:

• Alicia Redmond — film: “Rooted in Love: The Recultivation of Lincoln Heights - A Historic Black Community”

• Markus Cook — film: “The Coming Sleep”

• Ashley Glass — film: “Breaking the Silence: The Black Nursing Documentary”

• Ethan Avery — film: “Shot Clock”

• Asha the Artist — film: “Bodies in Flux: Exposing Reproductive Choice Through Art and Words”

• Douglas J. Hilson — film: “Strokes”

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 58 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

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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

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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.

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