Creativity Squared: On A.I. and Big Tech "Missteps"

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Dear Creativity Squared Member,

Welcome! We’re taking today off from publishing a new podcast episode ahead of the Memorial Day weekend holiday here in the states. Don’t worry — we still have a round-up of A.I. news, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o model’s voice that sounds eerily close to Scarlett Johansson’s, and a new blog post on the controversy of Apple’s “Crush” commercial.

In case you missed it, we’re also featuring Episode 49 with Yemi A.D. again. He’s an incredible artist who’s going to the moon! 🚀

Earlier this week, I was preparing with my fellow panelists for a great session on “How AI and Timeless Stories Connect” for the Autonomous Innovation Summit that’s taking place virtually June 5-6. I’ll be joined by 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). Hope you’ll be able to join!

Yesterday I spoke to the fab women of Cocktails, Careers, and Conversations on agency in the age of A.I. and how Cincinnati is leading Responsible A.I.

"The pessimistic scenario happens when you maintain the status quo. As technology advances, and as behaviors change, you will get a pessimistic scenario 10 out of 10 times if you change nothing.

Optimism is harder, because optimism requires you to do something."

I shared this quote from upcoming Creativity Squared podcast guest Sam Jordan of the Future Today Institute, the strategic foresight company founded by renowned futurist Amy Webb. My interview with Sam, which will be the 50th episode, drops next Thursday, May 30th — you won't want to miss it!

Scroll on to discover:

• 😬 Featured Blog Post: “Pressed: The Crushing Backlash to Apple’s Destructive Ad”

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

• 🤯 A.I. + Creativity News Roundup

• 🎧 More on Episode 49

• 👯‍♀️ 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!

For those in the U.S., have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

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’s recent departures force leaders to reaffirm safety commitment Axios — OpenAI’s top leaders were forced to defend their safety policies last weekend after a former exec’s blistering public criticism. In a statement, former safety exec Jan Leike said he quit OpenAI last week due to feeling like the company was too focused on developing “shiny projects” rather than investing in safety precautions. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman posted a response online, saying that making new technology safe “isn’t easy.” 

Legal Experts Say OpenAI Is in Big Trouble If Scarlett Johansson Decides to Sue Futurism — Actress Scarlett Johansson slammed OpenAI for their newest assistant model, GPT-4o, which features voice interaction that sounds eerily similar to the actress. Johansson claims she rejected two requests from OpenAI last year to license her voice. The company says that the resemblance was not deliberate. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is reportedly an outspoken fan of “Her” (2013), in which Johansson voice-acted the role of the A.I. assistant love interest. 

Forty-six European countries adopt artificial intelligence treaty DPA — The world’s first international agreement to regulate A.I. is now in effect after a vote by the Council of Europe yesterday. Countries that signed onto “The Council of Europe Framework Convention on AI” agree to draft their own laws ensuring transparency, and accountability in the A.I. space. This treaty is separate from the EU AI Act, which is in the final stages of negotiation. 

World is ill-prepared for breakthroughs in AI, say experts The Guardian — “The Godfather” of A.I., Geoffrey Hinton, and fellow A.I. experts warn that we are way behind the curve in protecting humanity from dangerous artificial intelligence. The group released a paper ahead of this week’s A.I. summit in South Korea, saying that while efforts to address A.I. are off to a good start, the technology is evolving more rapidly than governments and societies are reacting. They recommended increased funding for research agencies and strong government frameworks for enforcement. 

Political ads could require AI-generated content disclosures soon The Verge — The US Federal Communications Commission is considering a rule to make A.I. content more obvious in political ads. The rule was proposed yesterday, and if implemented, would apply to TV and radio ad, but not ads on streaming services. 

Even Developers Aren't Sure How AI Models Work — But We're Finally Getting Answers Decrypt — Researchers at Anthropic say we’re closer than ever to understanding what actually happens inside an A.I. model between input and output. In a recent paper, the team outlines a framework they call “dictionary learning,” which allows researchers to identify the “features” or concepts that form an A.I. model’s knowledge. 

Wisconsin man arrested for allegedly creating AI-generated child sexual abuse material The Verge — A 42-year-old software engineer is facing over 70 years in prison on charges that he generated and sent sexually explicit images depicting children under 15 to minors through social media. Authorities say they counted over 13,000 images on the suspect’s computer. Charging documents say that he used Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion text-to-image model. 

Big AI companies sign safety pledge Ars Technica — At an A.I. summit in South Korea this week, OpenAI, Google, Meta, and other A.I. developers recommitted themselves to building A.I. responsibly. Companies promised not to develop or deploy a model if severe risks cannot be mitigated. The agreement signed in Seoul builds on a similar agreement reached at an AI summit in the UK last year.

Listen: Ep49. This Artist is Going to the Moon!
From Training Humanoid Robots to Dance to Being a #dearMoon Crew Member, Meet Yemi A.D.

Apple | Spotify | YouTube | Pandora | Amazon | Google | SoundCloud | iHeart Radio

“Creativity is connected to freedom and the ability to get away from the patterns of the past…
If you’re not free, you’re just using creativity to recycle the past."

-Yemi A.D.

I couldn’t be more excited to introduce Episode 49’s guest: Yemi A.D. — he’s an artist who’s going to the Moon! Yes, you read that right. 🚀

I first met Yemi at the Austrian Trade Commission’s BOLD networking event at SXSW, but it wasn’t until he was on stage revealing the humanoid robot Apollo — which was trained on his dance moves — that I learned he was selected to be on the dearMoon mission! Yemi’s got an amazing, infectious energy, optimism, and outlook.

Yemi, a Czech-Nigerian choreographer, was chosen from among 1 million candidates to be a crew member of dearMoon, marking the first all-civilian space trip around the Moon. He’s one of the eight artists chosen to join Japanese entrepreneur and art collector Yusaku Maezawa, who believes art has the power to promote world peace.      

Yemi’s love of movement and finding freedom in movement are intertwined into all aspects of his life, which you’ll hear in the conversation.

In this episode, listen to Yemi's incredible journey from growing up as the only Black child where he was raised in Czechoslovakia to his rise as a creative powerhouse working with Kanye West to traveling into space. We also dive into how Yemi's studies of indigenous cultures worldwide gave him insight into the intelligence of movement. He also shares the importance of representation in the tech industry to ensure a more inclusive and human-centered approach to A.I. and robotics — he’s a futurist and proud that the word “robot” was created by the Czech writer Karel Čapek.

Yemi believes that the best way to predict the future is to create it, and he's doing just that. Tune in to discover his vision for the future he’s working to create.

Check out Episode 49 today! 

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👯‍♀️ 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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