I won’t lie… this conversation was confronting for me.
It was difficult.
It was exciting.
Because that’s what creativity is - it is all of these things and much more. And it always has been.
True, I never got the chance to interview Leonardo da Vinci, but I have the feeling that he would have expressed some similar challenges to the modern artist - deep insecurities, persistent perfectionism … the relentless pursuit of excellence and the desire to say something meaningful.
But the difference between 1503 (the year da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa) and now is that now, there is something new in the world - something that has never been… something with power, capability and speed even da Vinci could not have imagined. Now we have AI.
So I asked Dr Maya Ackerman, a prominent innovator, researcher and author, to help me unpack this unprecedented moment in history - because Maya’s new book ‘Creative Machines’ - is all about finding a way for us to coexist and collaborate with AI.
While machines may never possess a human soul or create art exactly as we do, there’s a unique magic that unfolds when we dare to deeply collaborate with them. It invites us to look past the surface, to recognize new forms of creativity and connection, and to open ourselves to the possibilities that arise when we blend human ingenuity with machine capability.
I hope you enjoy this interview.
I hope you find it inspiring and encouraging.
I hope you get to the end and want to make more art not less - engage more in the creative process, not shrug your shoulders and say to yourself ‘why bother… the machines do it faster’
I hope these are the feelings you have because at this point in time, hope feels important - it feels necessary.
Also, despite my best efforts to get all my questions in, I still have pages of questions that didn’t get asked. Maya has graciously agreed to a second interview if there is enough interest so please, let me know if you want to hear more and also, send me your burning questions and thoughts on this topic - I’ll happily throw them into the mix.
And for anyone who is interested in pre-ordering the book, you’ll find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Machines-Future-Human-Creativity/dp/1394316267
Also, Substack is the place where we share all sorts of content and cover a range of topics that interest us - however, if you’re looking specifically for content and courses specific to songwriting, you’ll find all our offerings at https://howtowritesongs.org
Enjoy
Benny
