Hello INNOVATEwest Community,
AI is going to “disrupt” this or “decimate” that. But what does that mean for the individual who is getting “disrupted” and “decimated” by AI? Speaking with INNOVATEwest about the human perspective, Kris Krug, founder of MØTLEYKRÜG Media, shared more about his secret recipe for thriving as a creator in the mid-21st century.
Key takeaways:
- A “creator” is anyone who builds new things, whether that’s a blog, a painting, a team, or a whole company
- Creators can build resilience to AI from a curious mind combined with flexibility to evolve how you work
- We are in the early phases of a true renaissance, where a single innovation will eventually touch every person and every industry
Dave Tyldesley
Co-Founder/Producer SAAS NORTH & INNOVATEwest
Editor INNOVATEwest PULSE
Is your business AI-ready or stuck in the Stone Age? Download “AI and the End of Business as Usual” for your free AI-readiness framework to unlock the secrets to dominating the future. Don’t get left behind – grab your copy now! https
Throughout history, innovations came and changed everything: the printing press, the steam engine, the internet, and now AI. We are already seeing the effects of AI on multiple industries, prompting a call for the next generation of Canadian leaders to think differently.
Included in this community are creators—the people that Kris Krug, founder of MØTLEYKRÜG Media—defines as any individual whose job is creating things, whether that’s a blog, a painting, a team, or even a whole company.
As AI’s capabilities continue to grow, Kris says the way we create will be completely overhauled; here’s the recipe for resilience he shared with INNOVATEwest.
Headquartered in Vancouver, BC, VoPay helps businesses navigate the complexities of payments at any scale through their API-first platform. VoPay’s robust infrastructure delivers frictionless payment technology and puts powerful financial tools into the hands of any business. Schedule a Consultation at vopay.com
Upending the creator
Looking at the landscape surrounding AI, Kris sees three forces compounding on one another, causing massive shifts:
- Technological capability: From large language models to neural networks, AI is enabling significantly more than ever before.
- Cultural understanding of technological capability: For example, does society believe that individuals retain ownership of their past and future likenesses in all instances, or only instances before AI could convincingly replicate it?
- The law: If we believe creators own their creations, laws need to be reworded to grapple with AI’s functionally-instant and nearly-unlimited ability to replicate work without knowledge or consent.
This compounding effect was perhaps most visible in the actors and writers strike in Hollywood, fought over a contract term allowing for studios to reproduce a creator’s words or likeness.
“If I went into a film studio in 2020 and they recorded my picture and recorded my voice, I would sign a document that says they own those recordings and they can do whatever they want with them,” said Kris. “Today, with those same recordings, I could build infinite variations of that person, of their voice, or of their likeness with AI. That’s not what I signed up for when I signed that contract.”
advantage is a modern consulting, outsourcing and managed services firm hyper focused on great experiences and outcomes for our customers. We help organizations modernize, innovate, and use technology to develop competitive advantage and improve performance. Visit us at avantage.com/innovatewest to start your journey towards innovation.
How a nightmare can turn into a dream
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, the shift is only just getting started.
“Most of the AIs that we see right now have been built by humans,” said Kris. “But the next round of AIs we’re about to see will be built either by AIs themselves or by humans using AI; what are those going to be capable of?”
This kind of uncertainty can, and arguably should, worry everyone. But Kris said the real issue is if you’re too grounded in the past.
“If you’re trying to defend your castle, and your castle was built on older creative business models, you probably are freaking out,” said Kris.
For creators who want to ride through the evolution of AI, Kris’ recipe has three steps:
Step 1: Start with curiosity
When confronted with any AI, Kris recommends being as curious as possible. Ask about how the technology actually works, what outputs it can create, and under what circumstances. Then do your best to learn how to use it, both objectively and in the context of your work.
Step 2: Mix in flexibility
A lot of creators have an instinct to protect themselves and their creations—that’s great, but not at the expense of your creative capabilities in the future. Instead, Kris said it’s crucial to shift up your own ways of working as AI comes more into play.
Step 3: Repeat to develop resilience
The ultimate goal of this exercise is to continue being a creator, whatever that means for you, within the new context of a world with AI. But that destination is not instant: it might require a few experimental projects, killing your darlings, or even changing your entire business model.
Whatever you do, though, Kris cautioned to not underestimate AI—not necessarily in terms of its capabilities right now, but its lasting impact.
“AI is a series of technologies that’s going to come one by one after the next and completely disrupt everything we know,” said Kris. “And to be a successful, thriving professional going forward in the future is going to mean being able to understand tech and reinvent yourself, applying it where it’s needed to different use cases within your business.”
Ready for the renaissance
As the century hurtles toward its middle, new modes of creation are fundamentally changing the world. But we’ve seen this film before—from the printing press and steam engine to the internet and smartphones—where single inventions change everything and touch every industry.
AI is the next such thing; but that means there’s tons of opportunity for resilient creators.
“We’ve entered the early part of a true creative renaissance, where across every discipline there’s such profound change that we’re going to see things that we’ve never imagined before,” said Kris. “And so about that, I am quite optimistic.”