Creativity Squared: On A.I. and a Citywide Canvas for Immersive Art

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Dear Creativity Squared Member,

First and foremost, my heart is with everyone’s heart impacted by Hurricane Milton and those who are still recovering from Hurricane Helene. I grew up near Asheville and Newport in East Tennessee and, like so many, have friends and loved ones in Florida. And ever since my interview with the A.I.-recreated Salvador Dalí, I’ve been wanting to visit The Dalí Museum in St. Petersberg, and sending love to the staff and hope that they’re all safe.

To be honest, I’m at a loss for words on how to transition from that into keeping the show running here at Creativity Squared, especially with the contrast of energy for the positive milestones from this week. On Tuesday, we celebrated CincyAI for Humans’ ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY! 🥳 

It’s absolutely incredible to see where CincyAI started — a LinkedIn post with an idea from my amazing co-host Kendra Ramirez! Where we’re at — the largest A.I. meetup in Ohio! And where we’re going — we’ve embraced the mantra ‘a rising tide lifts all ships,’ and we’re not slowing down and have a lot in store, so stay tuned!

Mayor Aftab showed his support and I’m grateful for his presence and that we provide the space for policymakers to convene with the community to help shape a human-centered future.

Move over Burning Man! — Cincinnati is showing how a city can become a canvas of possibility, illuminating art’s power to bring communities together to collectively experience wonder and awe.

As the mayor has said on stage before, Cincinnati is a really dope city! And one very special festival that happens every two years is BLINK — the nation's largest light, art, and projection mapping experience!

I’m really excited to share with you today’s Creativity Squared Episode 68 with Chaske Haverkos, director, motion designer, 3d animator, and immersive artist. He’s one of four artists selected to illuminate Music Hall, which is not only a historic and iconic building in Cincinnati but also the biggest canvas during BLINK. 

Taking place October 17-20 for its fourth edition, BLINK is a breathtaking four-night free public festival that transforms Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky into a vibrant, open-air immersive gallery. The region welcomes over 2 million visitors to experience 80 stunning installations brought to life by local and international artists in an exhibition space spanning 30 city blocks. Cincinnati was also named the number one city in the United States for street art by USA Today this year. The city’s 300 awe-inspiring outdoor murals come alive in the evening during BLINK.

Chaske’s love of creating frames of all types, both analog and digital, in a variety of mediums — and at any scale — shines through in his animations, motion graphics, and immersive installations.

Discover how Chaske approaches A.I. in his creative process and pushes the boundaries of art and emerging technology for his largest canvas to date, the façade of an iconic 140-year-old building — enjoy!

Check out Episode 68 today!

Scroll on to discover:

• ✨ Featured Blog Post: Emily Dickinson: The Theoretical Physics of Consciousness

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

• 🤯 A.I. + Creativity News Roundup

• 🎧 More on Episode 68

• 👯‍♀️ 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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🎨 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!

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📆 A.I. CONFERENCE & EVENTS RADAR

OCTOBER 10: Columbus AI Meetup hosted by Big Kitty Labs, Columbus (Speaker)

OCTOBER 11: Kent State University Creative Workshop Series, Cleveland (Speaker)

OCTOBER 17: Illuminate: Together Digital National Conference (Speaker)

NOVEMBER 5: 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:

The AI Nobel Prizes Could Change the Focus of Research WIRED  —  The winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes in physics and Chemistry didn’t go to physicists or chemists, instead they went to A.I. researchers whose technology has unlocked new frontiers in the traditional scientific disciplines. Demis Hassabis and John Jumper from Google DeepMind won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, while Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield received the Nobel Prize in Physics for their contributions to AI and machine learning. It’s a clear indication of A.I. contributions to natural sciences, yet there are concerns that this trend might lead to an overemphasis on A.I. techniques at the expense of fundamental scientific research, potentially skewing future research directions.

After winning Nobel for foundational AI work, Geoffrey Hinton says he's proud Ilya Sutskever 'fired Sam Altman' TechCrunch — In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, the “godfather of AI” praised Ilya Sutskever, for Chief Scientist at OpenAI, who played a key role in the controversial firing of CEO Sam Altman, in November 2023. Hinton viewed this event as a victory for AI safety, though Altman has since regained more control over OpenAI and may soon receive equity as the company transitions away from its former nonprofit structure. 

Adobe has a new tool to protect artists’ work from AI The Verge — Adobe is launching a new Content Authenticity web app in early 2025 to help creators protect their work from unauthorized AI use. The free app will allow users to embed attribution and “do not train” tags into images, videos, and audio files, making it easier to manage content rights and opt out of AI training. The app integrates with Adobe’s existing tools and aims to drive industry-wide adoption of content authenticity protections. However, its success depends on how many tech and AI companies choose to support it.

Zoom's custom AI avatar tool may come with risks TechCrunch  — Zoom is developing a feature to create AI-animated, photorealistic avatars that can mimic users’ video clips and sync with typed scripts, aimed at enhancing asynchronous communication. While Zoom hopes the feature will help save time and boost productivity, it raises concerns about deepfake risks. Zoom plans to implement safeguards like advanced authentication and watermarking, but details remain vague. The feature is set to launch in the first half of 2025 as part of a premium add-on. 

Justice Department calls for sanctions against Google in landmark antitrust case NPR — The DoJ is proposing sanctions against Google following a federal judge’s ruling that the company used its dominance to control the search engine market. The proposed sanctions aim to end exclusive agreements with companies like Apple and Samsung, limit data tracking, and potentially restructure Google’s Chrome and Android businesses. This follows a 2020 antitrust lawsuit and a 10-week trial where Google was found to have acted illegally to maintain its monopoly. The government and Google will present further proposals later this year, with another trial set for April to determine the final remedies.

A reporter used AI to apply to 2,843 jobs TechCrunch — Using an AI tool called AI Hawk, a reporter showed how, after years of fighting through keyword-based resume scanning algorithms, job seekers finally have automation solutions on their side. The reporter was able to automate the entire process from generating resumes to submitting applications. The stunt highlights a growing trend of A.I. 's involvement in the hiring process, with 42% of companies using AI for screening candidates. 

Can a Start-Up Help Authors Get Paid by A.I. Companies? The New York Times — The Authors Guild has partnered with Created by Humans, a start-up aimed at helping writers license their works to A.I. companies. The collaboration aims to give authors control and compensation if their work is digested by A.I. models. The platform will enable authors to license their books for various uses, including training A.I. models and creating derivative works. While some authors are optimistic about the potential benefits, others worry about the competition from A.I.-generated content. The platform is still in its early stages, with details on payment models yet to be finalized.

PLAY Audio Agency and Chaske Haverkos set Music Hall aglow for BLINK Play Audio Agency — Learn more about the collaboration between PLAY Audio Agency and this week’s episode guest, Chaske Haverkos, for BLINK Cincinnati 2024, the nation’s largest light and projection mapping art festival. Haverkos, known for his innovative projection mapping, and PLAY Audio Agency, renowned for their sound design, aim to create an immersive experience. The festival, running from October 17-20, 2024, will feature over 80 global artists and is expected to attract millions of visitors, showcasing Cincinnati’s commitment to public art and technology

Listen: Ep.68 Immersive Art, A.I. & Illuminating Possibility: Meet Chaske Haverkos, Featured Artist of BLINK, the Nation’s Largest Light, Art, and Projection Mapping Festival

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"I'm an artist that uses A.I., I'm not an A.I. artist...and I think that it is important to acknowledge that there is a difference between the two, and it's okay to be one or the other, but I think it's also, important just to acknowledge that that there are those that want to use this as a tool to enhance not just something that we lean on." - Chaske Haverkos

Join us for a new episode of Creativity Squared featuring director, motion designer, 3d animator, and immersive artist, Chaske Haverkos.

Chaske is one of four artists selected to illuminate Music Hall, which is not only a historic and iconic building in Cincinnati but also the biggest canvas during BLINK. 

Taking place October 17-20 for its fourth edition, BLINK is a breathtaking four-night free public festival that transforms Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky into a vibrant, open-air immersive gallery

Originally from Cincinnati, Chaske is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s DAAP School of Design. He’s operated in the advertising, creative, and entertainment fields for over 15 years, working with a diversity of clients to help create rich visual content and engaging experiences for all audiences. Chaske’s love of creating frames of all types, both analog and digital, in a variety of mediums — and at any scale — shines through in his animations, motion graphics, and immersive installations.

Today, you'll hear Chaske's journey into projection mapping and immersive art, how he integrates A.I. into his creative process, and his perspective on the evolving relationship between artists and artificial intelligence. We also discuss the technical challenges of working at such a large scale, his approach to crafting experiences for live audiences, and his vision for the future of immersive art.

Discover how Chaske pushes the boundaries of art and emerging technology for his largest canvas to date, the façade of an iconic 140-year-old building.

Check out Episode 68 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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