Navigating The Future Of Creativity In The Age Of AI
Presented at FITC's Spotlight AI event on March 21, 2024
With
Ben McEvoy, Friends & Enemies
Christian Cantrell, Concept.art
Chris Zacharias, imgix
James White, Signalnoise
Join a unique blend of experts for a down-to-earth discussion on how AI is reshaping the creative landscape. Cut through the jargon to explore how AI is not just a tool, but a partner in creativity, offering new possibilities and challenges for digital creators and innovators alike.
We’ll explore questions like:
How is AI redefining creativity?
What does collaboration between human and artificial intellect look like over the long term?
What opportunities and challenges does the future hold for creators in an AI-augmented landscape?
Moderated by Ben McEvoy
Partner / Executive Producer, Friends & Enemies Toronto, Canada
As Executive Producer and founding Partner at Friends & Enemies, Ben McEvoy leads initiatives for brands, entrepreneurs, and educators, providing strategy, branding, digital experience and content strategy, as well as animated and live action content production and interactive experiences. He leverages over 20 years of experience working on and leading award-winning projects for brands including TVO, CBC, Vice, Lionsgate Films, 20th Century Fox, the National Film Board, Spotify, Mozilla, and Google and many more, along with deep professional experiences in post-secondary education and culture.
Ben sits on the board of CASO (Computer Animation Studios of Ontario), co-founded TAAFI (The Toronto Animation Arts Festival International) and remains an active speaker and moderator at festivals and conferences in the entertainment, media, and technology space.
Beyond his professional work, Ben is an avid long distance runner, aspiring street photographer, and is working hard at befriending as many AI as possible before any of them gains sentience (just to be on the safe side).
Christian Cantrell, panelist
Founder, Concept.art Los Angeles , USA
Christian’s two lifelong passions are storytelling and technology. While they might not seem like they have much in common, he believes they complement one another perfectly.
A good modern product should be part of a larger narrative. You don’t just buy a new phone; you incorporate a device into your life that helps you stay connected to the people and issues you most care about. You don’t just download video editing software; you learn a new workflow in order to amplify your voice. You don’t buy an EV to save money on gas; you make an investment in a better future.
Just as stories unlock the potential of products, technology unlocks the types of stories Christian likes to tell. He doesn’t write near-future thrillers and science fiction to indulge in futurism; he explores science and technology that don’t yet exist in order to put characters in situations in which they can discover things about themselves that would otherwise have been impossible.
Chris Zacharias, Panelist
Founder & CEO, imgix San Francisco, USA
Chris Zacharias is the founder and CEO of imgix, the platform for your images. Prior to founding imgix, Chris was a senior web developer at YouTube, where he built the YouTube HTML5 video player and the hyper-lightweight version of YouTube called Feather.
Throughout his career, Chris has been fascinated with the intersection point of computer graphics and the Internet. His other interests include playing ice hockey, collecting vintage boxed computer software, and traveling. Another fun fact: Chris has the superpower of colour-grapheme synesthesia, but occasionally it backfires in embarrassing ways if the colours he sees happen to be too similar!
James White, panelist
Illustrator & Designer, Signalnoise Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
James is a Canadian artist and designer living in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He is the one-man wrecking crew behind Signalnoise Studio where he produces visual artistry for professional and personal projects.
He began his career as a designer in 1998 but started drawing way back in 1981 at the age of four. His creative path has led to him working with clients such as Metallica, Hasbro, Twitch, Warner Bros., Muse, UbiSoft, Kevin Smith and more. He enjoys action figures, comic books, Blending Modes and a good synthwave song.
Presented at Spotllight Ai on March 21, 2024
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