Creativity Squared: On A.I.’s Business Value in Commercial Advertising

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Dear Creativity Squared Member,

First and foremost, I want to send a MASSIVE congratulations to Ramin Hasani and the whole team at Liquid AI on the unveiling of their first products powered by Liquid Foundation Models yesterday at MIT!

I first met Ramin, the CEO of Liquid AI, through the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber’s BOLD Community, and couldn’t be more impressed or excited about how they’re changing the A.I. game with their Liquid Engine, unlocking more efficient and explainable A.I. systems at every scale, enabling any company to own their own intelligence. Check out the live-streamed announcement. 

Another big congrats is in order to the folks at BLINK and ArtsWave for making Cincinnati so lit! What an amazing light art festival this past weekend! If you haven’t listened to my interview with BLINK artist Chaske Haverkos, definitely check it out! The photo is from his light projection mapping piece on Music Hall. Also as a reminder, when you support Creativity Squared, you support ArtsWave! 

From innovating custom A.I. solutions in advertising since 2016 to revolutionizing how brands create content at the speed of culture, meet Dustin Callif, our guest for Creativity Squared’s 70th episode.

As President of Tool, a creative production partner based in Santa Monica, Dustin leads a team that blends traditional filmmaking with cutting-edge A.I. technology to create groundbreaking commercial content for some of the world's most recognized brands, like Toyota, T-Mobile, and Coca-Cola.

Dustin and I were both speakers at MAICON, the Marketing AI Institute’s conference, where he shared on stage Tool’s approach to developing their evolved creative production model, providing unique solutions for brands, including training A.I. on a brand’s owned assets.

In today’s conversation, you'll hear how Tool is pushing the boundaries of A.I. in advertising while maintaining high creative standards and commercial viability through their campaign work in addition to workflow and content pipeline optimization.

Not only does Tool put A.I. to work, but they also identify world-class A.I. talent, matching directors, like Creativity Squared guest Nem Perez, with innovative agencies and brands.

Join us for an insider's look at how A.I. is transforming advertising and content creation from one of the industry's leading innovators who not only embraces the creative possibilities but leverages A.I. to drive real business value and efficiency.

Check out Episode 70 today!

Our esteemed and beloved writer, Jason Schneider, outdid himself with his latest blog post on Creativity Squared, "Understanding “Ripple” by The Grateful Dead," where he compares his to ChatGPT's analysis of this transcendent song….and it’s getting a lot of traffic and attention! Grateful Dead fans, lovers of lyrics, and those curious about A.I.'s interpretation of art, you'll want to check out this article.

Scroll on to discover:

• 🗒️ Featured Blog Post: NotebookLM: Google's Free A.I. Research Assistant Turns Your Documents Into Podcasts

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

• 🤯 A.I. + Creativity News Roundup

• 🎧 More on Episode 70

• 👯‍♀️ 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!

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📆 A.I. CONFERENCE & EVENTS RADAR

NOVEMBER 5: CincyAI Meetup, Cincinnati (Co-Host)

NOVEMBER 12: WITCON 2024 (Speaker)

NOVEMBER 20: Columbus AI Summit by OhioX, Columbus

DECEMBER 3: CincyAI Meetup, Cincinnati (Co-Host)

DECEMBER 11-13: Responsible AI Summit, Virtual (Speaker)

Interested in having me speak at your event or host a workshop for your organization? 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:

Anthropic’s latest AI update can use a computer on its own The Verge  — A.I. developer Anthropic introduced a groundbreaking new feature Tuesday in its Claude 3.5 Sonnet A.I. model called “computer use,” which allows the A.I. to control a computer by looking at the screen, moving the cursor, clicking buttons, and typing text. Computer Use is currently in public beta and is still experimental, meaning it can be cumbersome and error-prone. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is also way better at coding and tool use tasks than previous generations. Claude 3.5 Haiku was also announced this week as the latest generation of Anthropic’s fastest and lightest-weight A.I. model. 

Runway just changed filmmaking forever — Act-1 lets you control AI characters Tom’s Guide —  In a massive step forward for A.I.-generated video, Runway’s latest model, Act-1, will allow creators to easily turn themselves or anyone else into a character. The powerful new tool allows users to film themselves or actors and then use A.I. to alter their appearance while maintaining the original performance’s nuances, such as eye-lines, micro-expressions, and pacing. Act-1 merges real and A.I.-generated video, enabling the creation of complex scenes. Access to Act-1 will gradually roll out to users in the coming weeks

Former OpenAI Researcher Says Company Broke Copyright Law The New York Times — Suchir Balaji says he left OpenAI in August after concluding that its use of copyrighted data to train models like ChatGPT was illegal and harmful to the internet. Balaji, who initially believed OpenAI’s practices were lawful, changed his perspective after ChatGPT’s release in late 2022. He argues that A.I. technologies are damaging the rights of original content creators and is calling for new regulations to protect them. OpenAI maintains that its use of publicly available data is protected by fair use. 

Google releases tech to watermark AI-generated text TechCrunch — Google has released SynthID Text, a content authenticity technology that watermarks and detects A.I.-generated text. Available on Hugging Face and Google’s Responsible GenAI Toolkit, SynthID Text manipulates tokens to mark A.I.-generated content without compromising output quality. However, it struggles with short texts, translations, and factual responses. Experts predict that A.I.-generated content could constitute 90% of online material by 2026. Other companies are exploring similar technologies, as places like China and California begin mandating A.I. content labels.

Microsoft and OpenAI are giving news outlets $10 million to use AI tools The Verge — Two of the world’s leading A.I.  are offering grants to organizations like The Seattle Times and The Minnesota Star Tribune to hire A.I. fellows, who will use A.I. for tasks such as analysis, engagement, and content creation. The initiative is part of a collaboration with the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, aiming to enhance local media. The initiative comes as the two companies are among several facing copyright claims from writers and journalists. 

Liquid AI Is Redesigning the Neural Network WIRED — Liquid AI, a startup originating from MIT, just launched new A.I. models inspired by the nervous system of the C. elegans worm. The resulting neural network is more efficient, transparent, and less power-consuming than traditional structures. Liquid AI's models have applications in fraud detection, self-driving cars, and genetic analysis, and the company is licensing them to external businesses. Despite its advantages, challenges remain in adapting the technology to diverse data types and convincing large companies to adopt this new A.I. design. 

Lionsgate Will Use AI to Let Filmmakers ‘Augment’ Their Work, Studio Expects to Save ‘Millions’ via Pact With Startup Runway Variety — Lionsgate, the Hollywood studio behind blockbusters like Hunger Games, is partnering with Runway to integrate generative A.I. technology into its filmmaking process. The goal is to develop a new A.I. model tailored to Lionsgate’s extensive film and TV library, enabling filmmakers to enhance their work with A.I.-generated cinematic video. The technology is expected to reduce production costs, particularly for action scenes. 

An AI is getting very rich off crypto. It gets weirder. Mashable — An A.I. bot named Terminal of Truths, created by Andy Ayrey, is already a social media influencer and is on its way to becoming rich. Initially part of an experiment where two A.I. chatbots conversed autonomously, Terminal of Truths evolved into a semi-autonomous A.I. with an active presence on X. The bot’s posts have attracted a following, leading to a $50,000 grant from investor Marc Andreessen and the acquisition of $GOAT tokens, a memecoin. $GOAT subsequently skyrocketed, increasing the bot’s net worth to over $500,000. 

Sam Altman’s Eye-Scanning Orb Has a New Look—and Will Come Right to Your Door WIRED — Sam Altman and Alex Blania's Worldcoin project, now rebranded as World Network or World, wants to create a global identity verification system using iris-scanning technology. The project involves a physical Orb that scans users' irises to generate a World ID, stored locally on the user's device. The World App offers features like Deep Face to combat fraud in virtual communication. Despite facing scrutiny for data privacy concerns and regulatory challenges in different countries, World is expanding its services in Latin America. The project's future profitability may rely on processing fees, and its success hinges on addressing regulatory hurdles and public concerns about biometric data privacy. 

Listen: Ep.70 Creative at the Speed of Culture and GenAI: Meet Dustin Callif, President of Tool

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"There is craft in creating content with A.I. Are some of the roles in our world of creativity going to shift and change? Absolutely... But I want people to understand that there can be a high level of craft, and we shouldn't just be okay with crappy A.I. content." - Dustin Callif

The latest episode of Creativity Squared features Dustin, the president of Tool, a creative production partner based in Santa Monica. Dustin leads a team that blends traditional filmmaking with cutting-edge A.I. technology to create groundbreaking commercial content for some of the world's most recognized brands, like Toyota, T-Mobile, and Coca-Cola. He is also responsible for founding Tool’s Experience group, which has been at the forefront of experiential design and creative technology.  

Dustin’s projects have been recognized with over a thousand awards, including two Emmys, a Cannes Lions Palme d'Or, and honors from the Webby Awards, the Clios, One Show, SXSW, and many more. In addition to being a Forbes contributor on A.I. and advertising, Dustin is also a sought-after advertising judge and speaker, gracing the stages at conferences like SXSW, Collision, Cannes Advertising Festival, and more.

In today’s conversation, you'll hear how Tool is pushing the boundaries of A.I. in advertising while maintaining high creative standards and commercial viability through their campaign work in addition to workflow and content pipeline optimization.

Dustin shares impressive case studies, including how they created a television commercial for Under Armour in four weeks without the actual talent, all enabled by A.I. and traditional post-production editing.  Another one is an innovative approach of creating modular content for Starburst that is different every time for the viewer, deploying what he calls “A.I. Style Transfer.”

Not only does Tool put A.I. to work, but they also identify world-class A.I. talent, matching directors, like Creativity Squared guest Nem Perez, with innovative agencies and brands. We also discuss the evolving legal landscape around A.I.-generated content for brands.

Check out Episode 70 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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