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Creativity Squared: On A.I. and Pivoting from SEO 

Dear Creativity Squared Collective —

Hope this finds you well wherever in the world you’re reading this!

Black Tech Week took place here in Cincinnati this week, and it did not disappoint. Fawn Weaver stole the show! She’s the CEO of Uncle Nearest, the fastest-growing whiskey in U.S. history and the best-selling Black-founded and -led spirit of all time. Fawn is one of only five African American women in U.S. history to found and lead a $1B+ company. Here’s a Forbes video interview with her on how she’s not only disrupting the spirits industry but also changing the world while she’s doing it, elevating an early ally — Jack Daniels! — and more importantly, amplifying the legacy of the first known African-American master distiller: Nearest Green.

Of course, A.I. came up — and she’s a big proponent, seeing it as the great equalizer, especially when it comes to personal tutoring, once accessible to those who could afford it. She also uses it for deep research…for any industry-disrupting blueprint, especially those outside of the spirits industry, which she’s quickly come to dominate.

One thing that Fawn mentioned while she was on stage is that when you’re doing something unprecedented, you’re going to fail, but it’s all about pivoting.

“Pivot” may just be the unofficial word of 2025 with A.I. shaking up everything, from the solopreneur to the biggest of companies.

A.I. is becoming the new interface and gateway to the internet.

Now with the browser wars, we’re all going to have to pivot faster when it comes to how A.I. is reshaping the internet. My CincyAI co-founder and co-host summed it up best: Browser Wars were not on my bingo card — this is a great, simple, and quick overview of the A.I. browser landscape and what you can do now to set yourself up for success for “answer engine optimization” (AEO).

On my Creativity Squared podcast, we’ve discussed how SEO is being replaced with AEO in Episode 56 with Jon Accarrino & Pete Blackshaw. If you’re an artist or publisher who wants to protect your work from being scraped by the A.I. bots, then you can find great tips from Jon in Episode 56 and its accompanying blog post, too.

With OpenAI entering the browser game and with 500M ChatGPT users, we may witness the biggest browser shift in 20 years. This has massive implications not only on Google’s ad revenue, but also for how businesses get found on the internet.

Just today, OpenAI announced their ChatGPT agent, a tool that's capable of navigating the web and performing tasks on your behalf. A web browser would allow OpenAI to directly integrate its A.I. agent products directly into the browsing experience, enabling the browser to carry out tasks on behalf of the user, too.

With A.I. agents released into the wild and browsers as agents, we’re going to see more of the internet optimized for them over humans. What will this mean for the human user experience? Time will tell…

Ready to do the A.I. pivot…again? It’s certainly keeping us all on our toes!

In other news, here in Cincinnati, this Saturday, July 19, from 10am-3pm at the Contemporary Arts Center is ArtsWave Truth & Innovation Artist Showcase. Celebrating the original artwork of 25 BIPOC artists commissioned through ArtsWave’s Black and Brown Artist Grant program, the visual arts exhibition will be open and free to the public, along with six live performances, ranging from music to dance, a TEDx-style talk, and five film premieres. The program bridges cultural divides through art, and Creativity Squared is a proud supporter — check out our interview series with previous award recipients.

Next week on Wednesday, July 23, from 10:45am-5:00pm is a Live AI Assembly by Andus Labs with a fantastic curation of speakers — you can attend virtually or in-person: get your ticket today! With a focus on A.I. for good, I’m excited to hear from speakers who include Nataliya Kosmyna (MIT Media Lab's Fluid Interfaces group), Nick Thompson (CEO, The Atlantic), Douglas Rushkoff (media theorist and Team Human), and many more!

Two shameless plugs: book me as a speaker for your next event and pre-order my forthcoming book on the Imagination Age today!

Until next week, here’s to playing in the playground of possibility and manifesting more magic in 2025! 🪄✨ 

-Helen

Helen Todd (she/her)
Human behind Creativity Squared
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How creatives are collaborating with A.I.

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Become a Creativity Squared and #ImaginationAge supporter today! Pre-order my forthcoming book as a crowd-funded advance, enabling me to bring it to life. The book is based on my SXSW presentation of the same name, “Farewell, Information Age — Welcome to the Imagination Age.” Your financial support enables the movement and this independent female voice to champion it — thank you to everyone’s who’s already ordered a copy!

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Here are a few ways you can contribute to this independent female voice’s platform who’s championing Responsible A.I. and a human-centered future where it’s Dolly Parton and Holly Herndon — protectors of dreams and generative in their generosity and work — ushering in the #ImaginationAge (not AI ushering in the Intelligence Age, where humans are erased, starting with the framing…but I digress!).

Please consider supporting Creativity Squared in whatever way you can and would like to:

✅ Subscribe to the Creativity Squared YouTube channel (one day in the near future, I’ll be making money from this channel!)

🎨 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 or making a one-time tip!

🦋 I'm SUPER excited to share that my SXSW presentation, Farewell, Information Age — Welcome to the Imagination Age, is becoming a book! 📗 The conversations on my podcast Creativity Squared have informed many of the concepts. Pre-order your copy today as a crowd-funded advance to support an independent female voice. Your support will enable me to bring this idea to life — and is greatly appreciated! 🥰💛

🎉 And as a reminder, when you support this show, you’re also supporting ArtsWave! 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. For the third year in a row, we’re proud to partner with ArtsWave to also amplify the phenomenal artists selected for their 2025 Black and Brown Artist Program, elevating underrepresented voices and bridging cultural divides through art. You can get caught up on previous years’ ArtsWave interview series here!

🚀 Interested in becoming a sponsor of Creativity Squared? Reach out!

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🐝 We use Beehiiv for this newsletter and are big fans! (If you’re not aware of Substack’s racist issues, this NYT article is for you.)

🎙 Riverside is the platform we use for recording podcast episodes, and recommend the web-based software!

🎶 Play Audio Agency, headquartered in Cincinnati, is home to the team that helps produce the show and are audio rock stars!

🖥 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!

📆 EVENTS, A.I. CONFERENCES & MORE! 

📍 JULY 14-16 Black Tech Week, Cincinnati
📍 JULY 16-18 Data 4 Public Good (D4PG, #D4PG), Minneapolis
📍 July 17-18 The JoySpan Salon, Hudson Valley, NY (Use code HELEN-JOY2025 for 35% off!)
📍 JULY 17-20 ArtsWave 2025 Black and Brown Artists Grant Program Showcase, Cincinnati

For the full calendar, check it out here!

Interested in having me speak at your event or host a workshop for your organization? Reach out!

🗞 PRESS & PODCAST INTERVIEWS

📺 BBC News (June 5, 2025) — What is the future of digital clones? 

🎤 SXSW 2025 (March 11, 2025) “Farewell, Information Age — Welcome to the Imagination Age”:

🎙 Fulcra Dynamics podcast, “The Augmented Life,” with CEO Michael Tiffany (April 29, 2025) — The Imagination Age Is Here: Reclaiming Attention, Creativity, and the Future of AI with Helen Todd

🎙 AI Explored with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner (November 5, 2024) — Using AI to Expand Your Ideas and Creativity 

🎙 Reflections with an Accent with Kike Calvo (October 18, 2024) — Unveiling AI's Creative Power with Helen Todd | Reflections with an Accent 

🏆 Cincinnati Business Courier’s Fire Awards (May 2025) — Finalist in “Disruptor” category for CincyAI for Humans

🏆 Aviatra Accelerators (September 5, 2024) — Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award 

📖 Movers & Makers Magazine (October 1, 2024) — Notables in AI + Print

📖 Cincinnati Magazine + Print (December 19, 2023) — Clone Wars + Print

🖥 SXSW Conference Community Newsletter (December 5, 2024) — SXSW 2025 Speaker Helen Todd talks Digital Twins

🖥 UC News (July 5, 2024) — Mayor Pureval, Rob Richardson lead ethical AI symposium

🖥 UC News (June 4, 2024) — Community of AI enthusiasts expands in Cincinnati

🖥 AdAge (April 15, 2024) — The Dalí Museum used AI to recreate Salvador Dalí’s voice—so you can ask him anything

🖥 UC Office of Research (February 28, 2024) — CincyAI and Digital Futures Partnership: Growing AI Talent in our Region & Beyond 

Listen: Ep.75 BBL Drizzy, A.I. & Manifesting A.I.: Discover How Will Hatcher Manifested His Way to a Time100 A.I. 2024 Honoree

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“If you're trying to play life safe, then I don't think you can fully experience life, you know. So you gotta go to places that you never been before, be in uncomfortable situations, because that's where the real growth is.” -King Willonius

Discover the magic of manifesting in a Creativity Squared exclusive interview from the ONLY comedian (and one of two artists!) who’s a Time100 AI 2024 honoree in the Innovators category: King Willonius. 👑 

His real name is Willonius Hatcher (his first name is pronounced “Will-OWN-ee-us,” and he also goes by Will). 2024 has been a breakout year for Will after his “BBL Drizzy” comedy song went viral — the first song made in collaboration with A.I. that became a cultural phenomenon, transcending genres and mediums!  

What do Burning Man, Dune 2, and the Frost Planetarium have to do with his story? Listen in to our 75th episode — and the last one for 2024! — to find out.

Creativity Squared interviewed Will live at the FilmGate Miami Interactive Festival XI, one of the top ten immersive festivals in the world! You’ll hear why it’s so special from the festival’s Head Curator, Co-Founder, and Executive Producer, Diliana Alexander. 

On opening night, the FilmGate Miami audience got a preview of the “BBL Drizzy Musical Dome Experience”. Next year, Creativity Squared will be back to see the full production and host another time capsule conversation with Will. 

Once you check out the interview, you’ll know that Will is just scratching the surface of what’s possible — he’s ahead of the entertainment industries, and is definitely one to follow!

Why did he make the Time100 AI 2024 Innovators list? 

For Creativity Squared Founder and Podcast Host, Helen Todd’s take, check out the dedicated blog post accompanying this episode (we recommend starting with this first 😉):

Our 2025 podcast season will kick off again in April, but we’ll keep the newsletter going between now and then, aside from the holidays.

Here’s to manifesting more magic in the new year — enjoy! 💝🪄✨

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