Creativity Squared: On Agency in the Age of A.I.

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Dear Creativity Squared Member,

Hope all those in the states had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

We’re back with a new episode for Creativity Squared — our 50th one! 🥳 

This week we’re diving into resilience and agency in the age of A.I. with our guest Sam Jordan, a futurist on a mission to spread “plausible optimism.” As a Manager at Future Today Institute, she helps clients navigate and plan for unpredictable futures with certainty.

Sam also wrote on computing, the metaverse, space, and A.I. in the 2024 Emerging Tech Trends Report, which is released annually by the company’s renowned founder and CEO, Amy Webb, at her equally famous SXSW keynote.

With a background in economics and data science and a passion for sci-fi, Sam found her dream job in strategic foresight, writing evidence-based sci-fi to inform real-world strategies.

In this episode, you'll hear Sam's insights on the convergence of A.I., biotech, and connected ecosystems, creating a "supercycle" unlike any general-purpose technology that we’ve seen before. We discuss the consolidation of power in tech, the importance of resilience, and the need for experimentation during this transitionary period.

We also dive into fascinating trends like using human brain cells to power chips, universal basic income to address the social safety net, and the importance of human purpose and meaning during this seismic change. Sam also shares her favorite sci-fi influences and emphasizes the power of storytelling and scenario planning to shape the future.

How do you keep your agency in the age of A.I.? Check out Episode 50 to find out!

Join me for a virtual panel on “How AI and Timeless Stories Connect” for the Autonomous Innovation Summit that’s taking place online June 5-6. My fellow panelists include 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).

Scroll on to discover:

• 🤖 Featured Blog Post: 2024’s Humanoid Hiring Spree and the Real Value of Work

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

• 🤯 A.I. + Creativity News Roundup

• 🎧 More on Episode 50

• 👯‍♀️ 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

JUNE 4 CincyAI Meetup, Cincinnati (Co-Host)

JUNE 4 ‘Makers + Mixers’ Happy Hour, Cincinnati (Community Partner)

JUNE 5-6 Autonomous Innovation Summit, Virtual (Speaker)

JUNE 11-13 Cincy AI Week, Cincinnati (Host Committee)

JUNE 12-16 BOLD UnConference, Austria (Attendee)

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

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

SEPTEMBER 4-6: MidwestCon, Cincinnati (Speaker)

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

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

With all of the A.I. updates flooding our feeds and screens, we’ve got you covered with the latest news at the intersection of A.I. and creativity.

OpenAI training its next major AI model, forms new safety committee Ars Technica — Sam Altman forms a new safety oversight group of himself and three fellow executives inside OpenAI after two safety leaders quit over concerns related that the company was rushing development. The group’s expanded safety goals include protecting children and safeguarding elections. OpenAI also announced it just began training GPT-4o’s successor model.

How AI Is Impacting the 2024 Elections WIRED —With elections scheduled in more than 60 countries this year, the tech news outlet just launched a hub for tracking how GenAI is influencing them. Examples include an Indonesian candidate using A.I. to get endorsements from dead people and a candidate in South Africa generating a deepfake endorsement from Eminem. 

Canva tackled digital design — and now the office suite is next The Verge — Canva is making a play for Adobe Photoshop’s throne with a suite of new features for business teams. 1,000 lucky users are getting instant access to the updated features, but the rest of us will have to wait until August for access. The update improves brand management, file storage, and collaboration. More casual Canva users will also notice a revamped and more easily navigable interface. 

News Corp. and OpenAI strike 'multi-year global partnership' deal to use journalistic content to improve ChatGPT CNBC — ChatGPT will soon be able to cite news content from the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and other News Corp properties after a historic deal with OpenAI. The companies announced that news content will also help train OpenAI models, while News Corp will consult with OpenAI on “best journalistic practices.”

Everything announced at Microsoft Build 2024, including new Copilot and Edge features Mashable — Highlights from Microsoft’s developer conference include Copilot for teams and new A.I.-powered Surface laptops. A new A.I. ”Recall” feature that can remember everything you’ve done on your computer is already alarming cybersecurity experts. Microsoft’s Edge browser will be able to translate videos in real time, and Copilot will also be able to view your screen to help you navigate through tasks. 

Spam, junk … slop? The latest wave of AI behind the ‘zombie internet’ The Guardian — Experts are waging a crusade against the annoying spam mail of the new age: meaningless A.I. webpages and content clogging up search engines. Experts have termed such content “slop” in hopes that naming the issue will help increase awareness. Slop exists because A.I. makes it cheap to churn out content that diverts search traffic in order to sell ads. 

Even Google’s Own Researchers Admit AI Is Top Source of Misinformation Online Futurism — A.I. is now the tool of choice for peddlers of misinformation, according to a pre-published study by Google. Although researchers didn’t report an uptick in the volume of misinformation since ChatGPT came out, the overwhelming majority of image-based misinformation is now A.I.-generated.

Meta says AI-generated election content is not happening at a “systemic level” MIT Technology Review — Meta’s top policy liaison, Nick Clegg, downplays concerns about A.I.-generated election disinformation, saying the issue is manageable. He also sidestepped questions about Meta allowing political ads that claim the 2020 election was stolen. Multiple states’ top election officials wrote to Mark Zuckerberg recently saying the ads could disrupt elections. 

Listen: Ep50. Agency in the Age of A.I.
Glimpse into a Resilient Future with Sam Jordan, Author of Future Today Institute’s 2024 Tech Trend Report on A.I., Computing, and Space 

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“I think that we are underestimating human creativity. There’s no limits to growth in what we can imagine ourselves creating."

-Sam Jordan

Episode 50’s guest is Sam Jordan, a futurist on a mission to spread “plausible optimism.” As a Manager at Future Today Institute, she helps clients navigate and plan for unpredictable futures with certainty. Sam also wrote on computing, the metaverse, space, and A.I. in the 2024 Emerging Tech Trend Report, released annually by the company’s renowned founder and CEO Amy Webb at her equally famous SXSW keynote.

With a background in economics and data science and a passion for sci-fi, Sam found her dream job in strategic foresight, writing evidence-based sci-fi to inform real-world strategies.

Previously, she was the CEO and co-founder of TrovBase, a secure data discovery platform, and before that, she worked at IBM modernizing IT systems. Sam holds a Bachelors degree in Economics and Data Analysis from George Mason University and an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business, where she met Amy Webb.

As a huge fan of the Future Today Institute and Amy’s SXSW keynotes, I couldn't be more excited to have Sam on the show to give us a glimpse into the future and share practical insights on building resilience in this time of massive transition.

In this episode, you'll hear Sam's insights on the convergence of A.I., biotech, and connected ecosystems, creating a "supercycle" unlike any general-purpose technology that we’ve seen before. We discuss the consolidation of power in tech, the importance of resilience, and the need for experimentation during this transitionary period.

We also dive into fascinating trends like using human brain cells to power chips, universal basic income to address the social safety net, and the importance of human purpose and meaning during this seismic change. Sam also shares her favorite sci-fi influences and emphasizes the power of storytelling and scenario planning to shape the future.

How do you keep your agency in the age of A.I.? Listen in to find out!

Check out Episode 50 today! 

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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.

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👯‍♀️ 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.

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