Creative Intelligence

In this episode, James speaks to Carolyn Rodz, co-founder and CEO of Hello Alice. Backed by Serena Williams and Melinda Gates, the free data-driven platform connects individuals with the resources to start and grow a business. Working closely with community, government and private sector partners such as Ebay, Backstage Capital, Mastercard and Salesforce, the platform uses machine-learning technology to match businesses owners to personalized opportunities. 

In this conversation, Carolyn describes her personal mission to create a platform which removes the challenges that entrepreneurs face on day one, such as gaining access to capital. She shares some of the tools which people can use to transition from office spaces to remote working, and explains how Hello Alice puts the control back into the hand of business owners by providing the knowledge and mentorship needed to executive decisions.

In this episode, James speaks to Parry Malm, CEO of Phrasee. A pioneer of AI copywriting, he co-founded Phrasee five years ago and has since worked with some of the world's most recognized brands including Ebay, Groupon and Virgin. Phrasee uses AI to generate marketing copy, which they say is better than what a human can produce - and this is used for newsletters, social media, push notifications and more.

In his latest book ‘‘The Language Effect: Why AI-Powered Copywriting is a marketer’s (new) best friend’, he presents a new rule book for marketing in the digital age

In this conversation, Parry explains why the best marketing campaigns need to be both human and machine driven to create shared experiences that can be understood at scale; argues his goal was never to create “General AI”, but specific tools that allow marketing teams the time to be creative; and he encourages more businesses to be transparent and show what they stand for by having a public facing AI ethics policy.

In this episode, James speaks to Michael Wooldridge, professor and head of computer science at the University of Oxford. He’s been an AI researcher since 1989, and has recently published ‘The Road to Conscious Machines: The Story of AI’, in which he explains why our fears for the future of AI are misplaced. During this conversation, Michael explores how our lives are changing through the use of AI, but also how he believes the technology will never be able to replicate human creativity. He began his work long before AI really became mainstream, and here he muses over those moments when it caught the public attention – receiving a call from the BBC to talk about a guy called Elon Musk, who announced that AI could spell disaster for the human race. He explains how that’s an unlikely event, and looks to calm headline fears around AI and set the record straight.

In this episode, James speaks to Devin Krotman, director of the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE. The XPRIZE Foundation has designed and operated 17 competitions in the areas of space, oceans, learning, health, energy, environment, transportation, safety and robotics. The $5 million prize that Devin oversees is focused on artificial intelligence, and challenges teams to develop a system that uses AI to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. Devin says there’s a lack of harmonized conversation surrounding AI, and says it’s important we move away from dystopian views to balance the narrative. In this conversation, he explores how turning the creative process into an incentivized competition forces people to push boundaries. He also says we are at an interesting place in history, that the problems we face are more complex and dynamic than they have ever been before – and we as humans cannot solve them alone. To build a better future, he says, we need collaboration between people and machines.

In this episode, James speaks to Rhonda Scharf, professional speaker and president of consultancy practise ‘On The Right Track’. Her latest book, ‘Alexa is Stealing Your Job’, explores how artificial intelligence will impact our careers in the future, and offers advice on how to make yourself invaluable. Here she explains how AI will impact every sector, how it will boost creativity, and how it will increase fulfilment by taking over the mundane parts of our day-to-day tasks. Rhonda admits that AI will make many jobs redundant, but says rather than being frightened, you should adapt, and explains what people need to do to get ahead of the curve. She says employees need to open their eyes to prepare for the future, and companies need to keep pace – or risk being left in the dark.

In this episode, James speaks to Pranav Yadav, CEO of Neuro-Insight, a company which uses brain-imaging technology to measure how the subconscious responds to marketing campaigns across social media platforms and TV commercials. Pranav believes marketing has the power to shape our culture and the way we think, but argues that our over-reliance on conscious, self-reported data means that we need to adapt our approach to advertising. Neuro-Insight’s technology allows an understanding of the deepest drivers of human emotion to find out what motivates us, and discover what makes adverts both compelling and meaningful. Pranav discusses the importance of creative intelligence, and says that people are rarely given the time and space to be creatively intelligent. He argues that a shake up is required in business to unlock dormant talent and make positive change, and that companies need to invest in their consumers and their staff to begin living and breathing the value of authenticity. 

In this episode, James speaks to Minda Aguhob, chief people officer and co-founder of Vytality Health, a social app for co-caring. It provides physical and emotional support through personalized communities of support and customized information. The idea was born after Minda was involved in a serious cycling accident that resulted in her living through eight months of “torment and torture”. As her loneliness developed into depression, she realised we need a better way of communicating and connecting with friends and family when struggling with major health issues. Minda believes tech has the power to build stronger communities, create more relevant relationships and improve social connections. Fuelled by her passion and motivation, Minda explores the importance of Vytality Health in allowing people to effectively communicate their ‘why’, not only when they fall ill, but as a preventative measure too.

In this episode, James speaks to Payal Arora, professor and chair of technology, values, and global media cultures at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Payal is also the founder and executive director of Catalyst Lab, an initiative that brings the academic and business world together to engage the public on social issues. As a digital anthropologist, the number one reaction Payal gets to her work is: “What is that?” In this intriguing and thought-provoking discussion, she gets to the heart of what her work truly means. She says it’s about finding the meaning and value of technology, and figuring out how to infuse it into the rest of our lives. Payal believes that while technology helps us to find answers to the ‘what’, we are often missing the human element of the ‘why’. Her company uses digital storytelling campaigns to do good, and recently won a Canadian grant to highlight the poor working conditions of low income women in the Bangladesh garment industry. And, given the current climate of sweeping negativities surrounding the impact of technology on our lives, Payal focuses on why it’s important that we begin to fall back in love with it.

In this episode, James is in Paris speaking to John Crowley, section chief of research, policy and foresight at UNESCO’s Sector for Social and Human Sciences. UNESCO is an agency for cooperation and a forum for debate, and John works to mobilise the human sciences to develop knowledge and action capacities for social transformation. He asks what is it to be human, and explores how we understand ourselves in the face of technological advancement and challenges. John believes there isn’t enough work being done at the intersection between digital and human sciences, and is working to move the debate outside of academic circles. He talks about the philosophy of technology, and shares stories about what happens when you don’t ask the anthropologist before attempting to transform peoples’ lives with tech.

In this episode, James speaks to Dr Tara Swart, neuroscientist and senior lecturer at MIT. She helps executives all over the world to achieve mental resilience, and her unique career has been featured in Nature about alternate career paths for people with science degrees. Despite this, she was told from a young age that she wasn’t creative because she wasn’t artistic, and wants to reframe that stereotype through the lens of neuroscience. To her, creativity is about using your brainpower to create the life that you want, focusing on six different areas: emotions, the brain/body connection, intuition, logic, motivation and creating outcomes. This informative conversation comes complete with actionable advice, and aims to make us more aware of our brains and bodies so we stop taking them for granted!