Creativity Squared: On A.I., Science Fiction, & Positive Global Impact

Dear Creativity Squared Member,

I’m celebrating my 40th birthday at the beach this week and writing this email from a hammock (and possibly with a margarita in hand! 😉). I’m also feeling extra generous about marking the milestone: If you become a Creativity Squared Premium or VIP Founding Member by the end of February, 50% will go to ArtsWave!

ArtsWave is a nationally recognized non-profit that supports over 150 arts organizations, projects, and independent artists, and your contribution through Creativity Squared directly supports their Black and Brown Artists Program.

That’s not all: The first 20 people who become Premium Members will also receive a 15-minute coffee chat over Zoom with me, and all Founding VIP Members will receive a full hour! Become a Premium or Founding VIP member today.  

Last week Google DeepMind unveiled Gemini 1.5, the newest state-of-the-art A.I. model from Google DeepMind, one of the world's leading A.I. companies that’s giving OpenAI a run for its money.

This graphic from Google DeepMind visualizes Gemini 1.5’s dramatically enhanced performance along with a breakthrough in long-context understanding, which massively increases the amount of information their models can process. Google DeepMind’s latest model, Gemini Pro, can process 1 hour of video, 11 hours of audio, and codebases with over 30,000 lines of code or over 700,000 words in one go! 🤯

Today’s interview in Episode 37 is with Dex Hunter-Torricke, the head of Global Communications & Marketing for Google DeepMind. We had the interview in December before this announcement, but we discussed Gemini, and our conversation is as relevant today as it was when we first recorded it.

Dex is passionate about driving large-scale, global societal change and believes that amazing possibilities are coming as A.I. tools transform the way billions of people live and work over the coming years. He sees Gemini 1.5 as another exciting step towards that future.

Today, you’ll discover Dex’s vision for A.I. to help solve humanity's grand challenges while ensuring it’s developed safely and responsibly. We also discuss key aspects shaping A.I. in 2024, like Google’s new multimodal model Gemini, as well as governance experiments like Meta’s Oversight Board.

As a writer and fan of science fiction, Dex also shares the power of storytelling and why it’s needed now more than ever to make sense of the complexities of A.I. and also to capture the public’s imagination about the possibilities of amplifying the best of human potential.

What does the future hold? Join the conversation where Dex shares his optimism, sense of history in the making, and desire to realize A.I. for positive global impact.

Listen to Episode 37 to discover what’s possible today!

There’s still time to get your ticket to Walk It Off, a play that Edward Gibbons-Brown, who’s a longtime Creativity Squared and Sociality Squared team member, wrote and directed. We’re all so proud of Edward and encourage you to check it out in person in NYC on February 25 and February 29 or streaming online on February 25.

As part of Creativity Squared’s mission to support artists, we’re excited to bring you an insider sneak peek on our blog…not to mention a special discount code (“WALK”) for 20% off of your ticket purchase!

Last week I was in NYC and co-hosted another A.I. Avatars & Aperitifs happy hour at the Chief Clubhouse in the Flatiron. Stay tuned for a recap on my presentation covering the exciting future of online communication with ethically created A.I. digital avatars.

SXSW is right around the corner, and I’ll be there as an official SXSW Mentor! Registration just opened up for my mentor session that’s taking place March 11 from 4-5:15pm CT at the Hilton Austin Downtown in Room 400-402. RSVP is required. Sign-up today! 

If you’ll be in Austin, do let me know — would love to meet while I’m in town for SXSW. Just reply to this email, and I’ll see your response. Let me know what dates you’ll be there, and we’ll go from there.

Our featured blog post is from Episode 17 with SXSW Co-President and Chief Programming Officer Hugh Forrest who discusses A.I., tech trends, and the importance of community.

Scroll on to discover:

• 🤠  Featured Blog Post: Ep17. Hugh Forrest: A.I. Hype Cycle or Not?

• 📆 Calendar of Events: A.I. Conference Radar + Cincy A.I. Events

• 🤯 A.I. + Creativity News Roundup

• 🎧 More on Episode 37

• 👯‍♀️ 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! 

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📆 A.I. CONFERENCE RADAR

🤠 MARCH 8-15 SXSW — I’ll be back in Austin for SXSW in March for its Interactive Conference which starts on March 8, and will be staying for their A.I. track which is March 11-15. Let me know if you’ll be there — would love to say hi IRL! If you missed the episode with Hugh Forrest, SXSW Co-President & Chief Programming Officer, check it out here!

😎 APRIL 5-9: Texas Eclipse Festival — If you’re looking for A.I. events to attend next year, do add the Texas Eclipse Festival to your list! On April 8, 2024, there will be a total solar eclipse. The festival, taking place April 5-9 at Reveille Ranch in Burnet, TX (outside of Austin), will bring people together from all over the world to celebrate the 4 minutes of totality amidst music, immersive art, tech talks, wellness activations, and so much more.

I can’t wait to be on stage there to talk all things A.I., avatars, and synthetic media alongside so many talented people and artists, including Alex & Allyson Grey, Android Jones, and Chris Dyer.

📆 CALENDAR OF A.I. EVENTS: CINCY

For those local in Cincinnati, join these upcoming A.I. events. 🥳 

🤝 MARCH 5 CincyAI Meetup — Join me and others interested in all things A.I. at the CincyAI Meetup for Humans, cohosted by Creativity Squared, on Tuesday, March 5, at the UC Digital Futures building from 3-5pm ET. Sign up now!

🥃 MARCH 5 Makers + Mixers Happy Hour Following Our CincyAI Meetup — Mingle with fellow makers and creative minds at the 1819 Innovation Hub. Makers + Mixers is an exclusive opportunity for Creators across Ohio to collaborate with Maker's Mark and mixologists. But that's not all – these teams will work with Creators using A.I. to concoct cocktails and a complete sensory experience while winning cash prizes. RSVP today!

Looking forward to meeting those who can make it in person and geeking out about all things A.I. and creativity!

📣 COMING SOON

The “OUR T2 REMAKE“ will premiere in Hollywood on March 6, and if you can’t make it in person, they’ll host an exclusive live stream on Saturday, March 9 at noon PT. For the live stream, you'll get a chance to chat and watch the film with the entire cast and crew! This event will take place online ONLY ONE TIME. Sign up for either event on their website: https://t2remake.com. I know I cannot wait to see this film!!!

If you missed the Creativity Squared interview with the two producers, Nem Perez and Sway Molina, and one of the A.I. video artists, Ben Nash, check it out here: https://creativitysquared.com/podcast/ep33-nem-perez-sway-molina-ben-nash-our-t2-remake 

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 Develops Web Search Product in Challenge to Google The Information — OpenAI is reportedly building out an A.I. search experience on Bing. The news comes on the heels of Google releasing Gemini 1.5, the latest version of their flagship A.I. model, designed to compete with OpenAI’s GPT-4. OpenAI is reportedly focusing its product roadmap on autonomous A.I. assistants. Web search capability will undoubtedly be a critical component of A.I. agent functionality. 

OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora MIT Technology Review — OpenAI stunned the world this past week with hyper-realistic clips generated by their new generative video model, Sora. Sora is built on a diffusion model (like DALL-E) and a neural network. The OpenAI team developed a new training method for Sora which slices videos in space and time so that the model can interpret videos similarly to how an LLM interprets sequences of text. Sora is only available to safety testers and a small group of beta tester creatives. The company didn’t announce a public release date, saying that they want to make sure the model is safe before putting it in the hands of the masses. Sora’s outputs will automatically include authenticity credentials within the metadata to combat deception. Sam Gregory, a human rights advocate and technologist, expands on what some misuse possibilities are that we should be worried about in his LinkedIn post which we also recommend reading.

February 2024 | This Month in Generative AI: Election Season Content Authenticity Initiative Blog —  The Federal Communications Commission banned A.I.-generated robocalls indefinitely, and two businesses are under investigation after New Hampshire voters received fake robocalls recently urging them to skip the state’s primary election. Internationally, candidates in Indonesia and India both used A.I. to generate endorsement videos from dead political leaders, in what could become a political trend with GenAI. 

Podcaster Bobbi Althoff Addresses Nude AI Deepfake Drama The Daily Beast — A pop culture podcast host is the latest victim of nonconsensual deepfaked sexual imagery. Really Good Podcast host, Bobbi Althoff, was trending on X this week after a video of her likeness performing a sexual act went viral. Althoff said through her Instagram story that the video was not real. X is the same platform where deepfake nude images of Taylor Swift went viral earlier this month. 

Google pauses AI-generated images of people after ethnicity criticism The Guardian — The public rollout of Google’s flagship GenAI model, Gemini, hit controversy this week amid reports that Gemini’s image generator produces ethnically inaccurate representations of historical figures. When prompted to generate images of German soldiers in World War II or of Vikings, Gemini portrays them as people of color. Google temporarily shut down image requests for people on Gemini until they can fine-tune outputs for historical accuracy. The company said that it will maintain the model’s default to include characters of color in more open-ended requests. 

As Congress lags, California lawmakers take on AI regulations NPR — A California State Senator is looking to make the Golden State the national leader in A.I. regulation. A new bill from San Francisco’s state senator would require developers of the country’s biggest models to test for safety before release and divulge testing protocols to the government. The law would also give the state Attorney General the right to sue companies if their product causes “critical harm.” California’s push for A.I. regulation comes as the federal government struggles to pass a comprehensive national legal framework. 

How the House Bipartisan Task Force Is Thinking About AI TIME — The House of Representatives is catching up with the Senate, setting up a task force to workshop policy recommendations and draft legislation around GenAI. The eight-member task force includes members representing the California Bay Area, and representatives with tech backgrounds. Their regulatory priorities for A.I. include the healthcare and banking sectors, as well as preventing deepfakes. 

Elon Musk hints at possible X partnership with Midjourney Readwrite — A.I. image generation may be coming to X. Elon Musk announced recently in a public chat room on the platform that his team is in talks with Midjourney to enable image generation on the platform Musk is trying to make into “the everything app.” Musk also announced that Grok 1.5 will be released soon, enabling A.I. summaries of posts and threads, as well as writing aids. 

Air Canada must honor refund policy invented by airline’s chatbotArs Technica  — Air Canada’s A.I. chatbot went rogue, creating a convincing refund policy that the court ruled Air Canada must honor. This landmark decision underlines a critical lesson: companies are accountable for their A.I. technology’s actions, setting a precedent for corporate liability despite that the airline tried to argue that its chatbot was a separate legal entity responsible for its own actions and that the company should not be held liable for any misleading information provided by the chatbot.

Listen: E37. Gemini by Google DeepMind:
Discover A.I.’s Potential for Positive Global Societal Impact with Dex Hunter-Torricke, Head of Global Communications & Marketing for Google DeepMind

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Passionate about driving large-scale, global societal change, Dex Hunter-Torricke is the head of Global Communications & Marketing for Google DeepMind, one of the world's leading A.I. companies.

Currently based in London, Dex’s impressive career includes managing communications for leaders and organizations reaching billions of people and at the heart of global transformation. He’s been the head of communications for SpaceX, head of communications and public policy for Meta’s Oversight Board, head of executive communications for Facebook, and was Google’s first executive speechwriter where he wrote for Eric Schmidt and Larry Page. Dex began his career as a speechwriter and spokesperson for the executive office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He’s also a New York Times-bestselling ghostwriter and is a frequent public speaker on the social impact of technology.

I met Dex back in 2014 at a Facebook developer’s conference in San Francisco, and we’ve been friends ever since. I’m in constant awe at his amazing career trajectory, work, and passion.

Today in Episode 37, you’ll discover Dex’s vision for A.I. to help solve humanity's grand challenges while ensuring it’s developed safely and responsibly. We also discuss key aspects shaping A.I. in 2024, like Google’s new multimodal model Gemini, as well as governance experiments like Meta’s Oversight Board.

As a writer and fan of science fiction, Dex also shares the power of storytelling and why it’s needed now more than ever to make sense of the complexities of A.I. and also to capture the public’s imagination about the possibilities of amplifying the best of human potential.

What does the future hold? Join the conversation where Dex shares his optimism, sense of history in the making, and desire to realize A.I. for positive global impact.

 Listen to the full conversation today!

Apply to Join the Clone Club 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, by appointment that fits into your schedule. Digitally clone yourself to unlock streamlined and dynamic video content — Apply to be cloned 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.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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