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Creativity Squared: On Ads and A.I.  

Dear Creativity Squared Collective —

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

I’m currently vacationing in the Sunshine State and got to visit The Dalì Museum earlier this week. It was such a treat after interviewing the A.I.-recreated Dalì as part of the “Ask Dali” launch for the Creativity Squared podcast season 2 — more to come on this!

Yesterday, Anthropic released four commercials ahead of the Super Bowl, which takes place this Sunday. They rip into the fact that OpenAI is going to be integrating ads into their A.I. experience for the free tier. Sam Altman didn’t take it well and wrote an essay on X about it justifying ads:

While Anthropic positions itself as the most ethical A.I. player, the company is by no means an A.I. angel; however, I am loving these ads as they make the point that ads and A.I. are a very bad idea, and as a marketer, I couldn’t agree more.

In Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin’s talk, The A.I. Dilemma, they do a great job explaining that if social media is a race to the bottom of the brainstem, then A.I. is a race to intimacy — and this could be very dangerous for our well-being.

We know that social media already manipulates people based on what they share, and it will only be more dangerous and worse with the intimacy of A.I. — social media algorithms were designed to trigger our most primal instincts (outrage, fear, addiction) to keep us scrolling.

In their presentation, Tristan and Aza argue that while the first wave of A.I. (aka social media) competed for our attention, the second wave (aka generative A.I./LLMs) competes for our trust, friendship, and personal connection.

The red flags are manipulation and trust breakdown. If an A.I. knows your deepest insecurities or speaks to you like a best friend, it can influence your opinions or behavior far more effectively than a random ad or post in a newsfeed. Moreso, when A.I. can perfectly mimic human intimacy, it becomes impossible to know if you are being "cared for" or "calculated."

I have more to say on this front, but will leave you with these Claude ads to watch below. They remind me a bit of a scene from the Jim Carey film “The Truman Show” when his character’s wife breaks into an ad in the middle of one of their conversations — as these also reflect, it’s a bit creepy. Because even if these are exaggerated, despite Sam’s defensive statement, they’re more probable, especially given how more Black Mirror episodes seem to be coming to fruition.

Hope you enjoy them and that they get you reflecting on ads in A.I. and the need for new monetization models.

Check them out:

I’m one of those people who watch the Super Bowl more for the ads and halftime show than the game itself, so I’ll be looking out for all the A.I. ads and hope you enjoy spotting them too.

Until next week, here’s to playing in the playground of possibility to manifest more magic in 2026! 🪄✨

-Helen

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

6 AI Predictions That Will Redefine CX in 2026

2026 is the inflection point for customer experience.

AI agents are becoming infrastructure — not experiments — and the teams that win will be the ones that design for reliability, scale, and real-world complexity.

This guide breaks down six shifts reshaping CX, from agentic systems to AI operations, and what enterprise leaders need to change now to stay ahead.

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🦋 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! 🥰💛

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🎤 SEPTEMBER 16 VARTECH, Bahamas
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For the full calendar, check it out here!

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🗞 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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