Hello, friend!
I’ve got a treat for you today — a (spontaneously recorded) podcast conversation with renowned creative technologist, futurist, author, AI Masterclass instructor and my dear friend Don Allen Stevenson III.
Why “spontaneous”? Because Don and I didn’t know we were going to record a podcast when we met in a downtown Mountain View cafe, just a few miles from where we went to high school together in the Bay Area. We were catching up on a buzzy Monday evening when Don (being Don) began unpacking his bag to reveal that an entire suite of gadgets — including a mini podcast studio — contained within the flaps of his small satchel. 🤯
Our conversation had been moving into such expansive spaces that we couldn’t not attach Don’s nifty mics to collars, roll up our shirt sleeves and dig into areas we’re both so passionate about: AI’s potential to expand creativity, the necessary guardrails that can ensure we don’t become overly reliant on AI, how AI can help us to live more fully in our unique purposes and so much more.
🎙️ Listen in to hear more about:
👉 Using the IKIGAI philosophy to get clear on which tasks you should do without AI to stay true to your life’s purpose — while being intentional around which tasks you SHOULD outsource to AI, based on what does not bring you fulfillment.
👉 The importance of envisioning a positive human-AI future through using Don’s technique of "possibility perception goggles.”
👉 Collaborating with AI as a "creative partner” and tool, shifting the focus towards emphasizing your beautiful, innate and irreplaceable creativity.
👉 Innovative applications of AI pioneered by Don, including AI-assisted book writing, unbiased analysis of the presidential debate and Don’s “customized AI critic,” in which Don trained a custom AI model to act as a personalized critic to help him build better content.
👉 The necessity for guardrails such as “critical thinking mode” to ensure we preserve human agency, remain autonomous and don’t become overly reliant on AI.
I hope you enjoy listening to this convo as much as Don and I had recording it!
Until next time,
Cecilia
Don Allen Stevenson is a futurist, educator and author of the newly released Make a Seat. Don recently taught a Masterclass alongside called Achieve More with GenAI, which is available now. You can find him on Instagram at @DonAlleniii, where he recently launched Meta AI’s new avatars alongside Mark Zuckerberg at Meta Connect 2024.
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RemAIning Human is written and edited by Cecilia Callas.
🎙️ Using AI to live in your purpose