Albert:

Hello, hi, welcome everyone. You're joining here with me, myself, Albert, the social media coordinator and graphic designer for hundo.xyz. And I'm here with the lovely Terry. So would you like to speak more about yourself?

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Tery:

Sure, Albert, thank you so much for having me here. This is really wonderful. And it was so great to get to know some of your background too. So a little bit about me, and I'll try and be as brief as possible because I've got a couple of decades on most of you. So I began studying art and digital, like I mentioned, decades ago. I was like one of the first creative directors in the very early days of the dot com era. So, and then I began like, so my beginnings didn't begin with just using a computer. I have a traditional background. Like I actually used brushes and paint and ink in those horrible things where you had to spec type. So I have a traditional - Oh my God, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on a computer because the amount of cuts that I used to make from X-Acto blades on my fingers was excruciating. So I started with a very traditional foundation. But for me, what was cool and natural was like going from this traditional foundation of these physical objects into the digital and now into this world of AI. and it's super exciting for me. So there is like often this struggle between art and technology, which I found throughout my career, but now there seems to be this kind of smooth path that we're taking. So, you know, I found my traditional training actually helped me with a greater understanding from art history, from the techniques, from the styles and the colors - that brings about the style that I have when I'm using AI tools to create both written and visual content.

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2020 was when I actually began using AI and really understanding and studying it. And I have to give credit to Ann Spalter who did a phenomenal job. I love her art, but also the fact that she did this great demo using Playform and Playform has both a can and a GAN to it. So it's a creative adversarial as well as a generative adversarial network. And so I used train form to like train on my original artwork and photography. And that creates my unique approach to art. So that's just a little bit about me. Oh, and I just. I just got invited to join Sky Rocket Systems to provide the AI brand portion of the practice. So it's a management consulting firm.

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Albert:

I'm real happy for you, Terry. Even when you're speaking about how you started with the traditional beginnings, that's at me as well, because a little bit about myself. I'm also an illustrator who also specializes in characters and animation as well. But previously, I used to use the paint brushes. I was more for... probably say that HB, 2B, pencils, grout, paints, watercolors kind of guy before I moved on into the digital artwork I see in uni as well. So that's when I started like my own digital journey I say like in 2017. It's coming up to like six years now since I started doing digital arts. So I can definitely resonate with where you're coming from as well.

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Tery:

And even at 2017, the tools have changed so much. Are you not excited about the integration of AI into Photoshop? Isn't that amazing?

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Albert:

I feel like it'll be like more time efficient for creators now.   

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Tery:

Yes, yeah, and I think that's a really good like segue into our conversation. It does save time, doesn't it?

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Albert:

Yeah most definitely and what would you say is that the power of creativity in a digital era now?

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Tery:

So I love this question. It's like a super important question because creativity is at the heart of everything that we do. It's the process for our mind, our intelligence. We conjure up these ideas and our creativity allows us to plan it, to pull it together, to imagine it and bring it to life. So I like that. It's the, you know. Creativity is like the ability to generate this unique values and ideas,  solutions and expressions and things like that. And I just think everything has to have a form of creativity, whether you're a creative like ourselves or somebody who's just going into the business world. Even a mathematician is super creative.

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Albert:

And how would you say that creative e-like drives your innovation and problem solving? Because I really is like the forefront of a person these days, you know.

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Tery:

So I use creativity in terms of like the problem solving area. So it's like, okay, let's imagine, like, first of all, put ourselves from an empathetic position into like, you know, whose problem we're trying to solve, because we're often solving a problem for humans, or at least I am. And it's like, okay, what does that feel like? And bringing all that emotion and all that understanding back helps in the creative process. to evolve something or transform something into, that could be useful and solve a problem for that person in their lives. Creativity itself, it does manifest itself in a lot of different domains, not just from a creative perspective, but science, technology, business, you know, it involves everyday problem solving. And I think that's where innovation is driven too.

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Albert:

Yeah, yeah. What would you say what sort of things that you say you're trying to solve? Like what sort of problems would you say you're trying to solve? And in order to make the world a better place with your art.

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Tery:

So I use science fiction as a vehicle to pull out the problems that I'm trying to solve. So a couple years ago, I wrote a science fiction novel called Laundry Gate. And what I was trying to do was help us, the general population, understand where technology can evolve to. So I used that as a creative vehicle to get those messages out so that we can have a better understanding so that we're not so ingrained in what, you know, sort of like I hear these bubblings of like AI is going to take over the world. They're going to kill us!

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Albert:

Like iRobot!

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Tery:

Sorry, if anything, we're gonna kill ourselves first. I'm sorry, I don't mean to say that,

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Albert:

No that's fine, don't worry, it's no worries, I'm here for all the jokes and funny stuff, you know. And like, what is he going to carry on, carry on, sorry. What is he going to say?

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Tery:

But it is, we have to like take it from a more logical perspective. And what I wanted to do is use the creativity to solve those problems so that the general population had a basis for understanding things. Science fiction does a great job, but it doesn't always reach like a general population.

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Albert:

So what you're saying is that you're trying to help people change the narrative behind technology and artificial intelligence, you say.

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Tery:

Yes, yeah. So that there's a much better understanding. A lot of the, I mean, everybody, I spoke to so many people over the past couple of months that as soon as you know, ChatGPT launched  and all this excitement and all my friends are like, oh my God, I wrote this novel. And I'm like, oh yeah, that's good. And then I met with some agencies and I heard that, you know, folks were just uploading and you know, proprietary information from clients into chat GPT without understanding the technology that's behind it and why you shouldn't do things like that.

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Albert:

But even me, I can definitely relate to it as well, because I've been using Mid Journey recently. And before, obviously, I didn't really know much about AI. So I was probably like, the other people would be like, ah, AI has taken over the world. And especially that coming from a creative perspective, ever since I started using Mid Journey, I realized that it helps me in terms of getting rid of art block, because all you can do is just type in something. And then like it helps you visualize things because I'm more of a visualizer, if that's the word. So like if I was like typing like prompts then I'll be able to see it on the screen. But I wouldn't like, me personally, I wouldn't rely on it but I would just use it as like a way to like inspire my art as well as like using stuff like Pinterest like going to art galleries and stuff as well.

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Tery:

Well, isn't that great? I mean, for me too, it's for concepting, right? It helps you, like you put the problem in there and from a visual perspective to see what will come out and then you can bring it back to your team and say, hey, look, what's the reaction to this and get that immediate reaction. I think that's a great and clever way of using like Mid-Journey and other generative AI tools or visual tools. I mean, I... I think that's a very good way of using it. And it helps from a creative perspective, even from a creative direction perspective, or you could tell your team like, hey, let's all use this prompt and then put it into the system and see what we each get. And then you have lots of ideas that can come out of that.

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Albert:

Yeah, most definitely. Even using chat GPT as well for like, if you want to come up with social media captions, like captions for your social media posts as well, I can really just type it in, just think of an idea, type it in on chat GPT. And then also just trying to add my own personality into the captions as well, but just using it as like inspiration per se.

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Tery:

I think it's great for self-expression, even personal growth. I know some friends that are using it to even solve their own mental health problems. Not solve, I'm sorry, but to help them visualize what's going on. Yeah.

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Albert:

Yeah most definitely. And even like, there's even like AI on Snapchat as well. So people are using it, like what you said about your friends, like using it for like mental purposes, like people, I've seen people do it using Snapchat's AI as well, which is similar to chat, GPC.

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Tery:

Oh, I didn't even know Snapchat integrated it.

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Albert:

Yeah, it's the most recent thing. I know it came about this year, but I think like a couple months back, Snapchat launched this on AI and then people just use it to like, many of that funny stuff, if they need help or like there's one event that people use it on Snapchat as well.

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Tery:

I think that's great. I mean, so much can come out of it and it becomes so useful, like from the written content that I do, like you mentioned from social media, like you can ask it to give an outline. Say you have to do some kind of annual report, you could get your outline and then use that to help with that process of putting things together. There's so much like it touches on like marketing and advertising, right? Even engineering, right? And education and learning. I mean, I'm so excited. I'm more generations behind me. I'm trying to keep up every day. There's like a new tool. How do you keep up Albert?

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Albert:

I don't. I don't try to keep up. I just see me. I just try and see if it's there, it's there. I don't go out my way to look for it. If it's there, I use it. And yeah, that's literally me.

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Tery:

So that's a good, you're looking at like, and this is what I do for myself too. It's like, I look at it and I'm like, okay, today the client is asking me to create some social media cards, right? I'm not gonna go to Playform because that's trained on my personal art. I most likely will use it through mid-journey. I'll go to OpenAI's Playground and put a, you know, ask for an outline on a topic that I'm working on, then I'm going to pull it back in and I'm going to, you know, create some comps to show it to the team and say, hey, what do you guys think, does this work? And

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Albert:

And what do you think like the impact of AI on creative jobs and roles in the creative industry?

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Tery:

So I've been, I always thought like, so I decided that I would call myself a, go back to what I originally was, a creative director. And I feel like anybody who's getting into this has that role as the creative director over the AIs. So we're telling them what we want, what we need, what problems we're solving for our clients and things like that. So I think that's a very important role. It's still like, You still need some of that traditional or any digital education to understand things like the storytelling portion of things, the technical portion of things. And even if you're for yourself and myself, from the visual perspective, is the lighting coming from here? Is it coming from over there? All those components that make the illustration look realistic.

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Albert:

Even like trying to build that relationship of like the human and the AI, like how do you think that the impact will have on that in terms of that human's relationship with AI and how do you think they'll try and like make like a change to like not make people feel like they're a threat if that makes sense.

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Tery:

People aren't a threat. And I don't think we should view these tools as a threat either. We should understand. I think the reason why I wanted to tell my story about starting as traditional, like, artist and moving into digital and then AI was because we always have to be, I think, the core of what we are or what makes us creative, right? is the fact that we love to constantly learn and update our tools. Even as a traditional creative, you're always looking for the best paints, right? When you got into digital, you're looking for the best tools to make the best representation of what you're doing. And those tools often change. Even in AI, we need to keep up so that we could give better direction and be those creative directors. I also think like other things are happening for us to make our jobs a little more easier. Like things like that are repetitive tasks that we've taken on, you know, those boring tasks that are like, oh my God, if I've got to crunch numbers one more time, let someone else do that for me. Like I still have the foundation of understanding how to do it. Now I could direct the AI to do it for me, right?

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Albert:

Yeah, most definitely. We're all humans, we have feelings, and we shouldn't be treated -  like we shouldn't be machines. It's more so like, they go hand in hand, so like, we're the human, but we also gotta treat the machines with care as well. So the machine can put the best results out for us. So it has like this whole harmonious relationship, if that's the right term to put it in.

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Tery:

But that's a really important thing, like having the relationship with the AI. But also think about how much more of a relationship we can have with each other. Like collaboration can be more impactful, right? You know, personalization, even user experiences for - you know - our audiences could be even more creative and beneficial, right? So, I mean, there's a lot of things that are going to help to,  which generative AI will help us through to make our jobs even more exciting and allow us to have our minds more open so that we're not sort of pushed down by all those boring tasks.

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Albert:

Yeah, most definitely. Because the most important thing is to enjoy what you do. Especially as a creator yourself, you want to make sure that you have that 100% potential in everything that you do, be that true artist.

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Tery:

You're right.

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Albert:

And what are some of the ways that we can embrace the future of creative work with the use of AI?

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Tery:

Um, so there, so, so in turn, oh, right, in terms of the future, I, you know, I love this question that, that you guys put out there, I think the future of, you know, creative work and the use of AI involves a lot of different things like recognizing the opportunities and challenges, like now that we're not so bogged down, now we have, you know, much more clarity to see things without having the constant pressure of doing all those repetitive tasks and boring things that we have to manage. It will help us develop like complimentary skills so that we could see the AI doing one thing, but we're growing in another way that will augment. I think I'd like the idea like, for the next 10 years, the reality is we become more augmented with it. So that will be helping, you know? And the landscape is going to change. Like you and I just talked a couple of minutes ago, like how are you keeping up with all these tools? And there are so many exciting tools out there that, you know, but yeah, I mean, this will give us more time to keep up with those exciting tools that are put out there. So, you know, we have to deal with things like opportunities and challenges and developing these complimentary tool sets and skills that we'll need, you know, and always adapting and thriving.

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Albert:

Yeah, most definitely. Because even me, like, when you talk about augmented reality, like, it reminds me of the time when I was in uni. And like, I only just saw the behind the scenes of, like, how Instagram photos are created as well. Because I remember Instagram back in the day, they didn't even have stories. There was no DMs. If you wanted to, like, chat to someone, you have to go into the comments section. Like, seeing how far it has come from, like, the whole, like, remember the old, I think it was like a retro camera icon? So what it is now has been used by metal and seeing that firstly, there's DMs, secondly, there's stories. And now from stories to Instagram filters on itself as well. And also, um, seeing like how people actually make the filters is actually what really spun me because, um, what's it called? I never knew it was like a Firstly, this was my first time learning about augmented reality. So I used a software called Spark AR. So you can either design it on Photoshop, the design, or do it on Blender if you want to make it 3D. And then you pour it into Spark AR. And then you just try and test it out on your face. And then if you're happy with it, you upload it to Instagram. And then you put it out there. And then that's how the people like get to see what you're on. And that's how, yeah, it just showcases how the future's changing as well.

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Tery:

It really is. I mean, think about those tools like from the past and in what will happen in the future and like even the augmented part or the AR part of like the reality of, you know, what can happen to AI. I mean, right now we're just like, oh, typing and sometimes like some of the applications allow us to dictate. But like having that conversation, like, I don't know, have you tried out CRISPR or any of the other like chat bots in which We could go in

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Albert:

Unless it’s the go to those websites and then you see them automated bots saying, hi, how can I help you? Then no, I haven't used any other chat bots like that.

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Tery:

Or CRISPR is really bizarre where they're like, you give like, you train a chat bot and you put it out there and it starts having discussions with all the other chat bots and then you can actually add to that discussion if you want and.

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Albert:

You have to send me what they - you must send me through what you're using because I'm still trying to learn about all of these artificial intelligence technology and augmented reality stuff as well. I'm still like a beginner in this sort of software as you know.

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Tery:

I know it's really fun, but I think from an AI creative perspective, I think we're going to see a lot of changes like in the film industry and the entertainment industry. Like right now here in the US, I'm sure you heard like the writers are on strike.  They're very nervous about what's going on, but and I feel really bad that they have to go through this to, you know, here, let their voices be heard. But also they should also understand and learn and utilize the tools to become, to be able to create things with ease. So I think we might see things like that happening here in the US a lot where people are getting frustrated and speaking out about why it's affecting them instead of understanding how it can be helping them in a way. And I'm hoping more educators like ourselves will talk about that and in terms of like let's embrace it, understand it, and you know utilize it and so that we can you know continue to create a better a better world.

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Albert:

Yeah, and I was even going to say that, do you think the terminology and preconceptions associated with AI will fade over time as more people adapt to technology?

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Tery:

I think so and also I think generations behind me are going to be the ones that are gonna lead the charge. I'm trying to do my best, like educating people that are in seniors and older so that they don't have that fear. I'm actually doing a session over the summer at the Community Center for Seniors here. It's a five week course in which I'm gonna take them through the process of using creative AIs to... you know, create whatever they want to imagine. So I'm hoping by, you know, my little speck of the universe over here, I'm hoping that, you know, I could spread the word that way and, you know, build it, you know, start with these older generations and get them to be more exposed to it. I think the problem is, is when you're not exposed to it, you fear it, so…

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Albert:

Gotta make sure that you educate the people about AI, because it's like, it's kinda like Chinese whisperers, that you hear like one guy, one person, that tweeting about on Twitter, or any other social media platform, even like tabloids, or like those like gossip kind of magazines, and like, how it creates like a moral panic, if that's the right word. And then people just get spread with misinformation. So it's like they take it in for what it is, but they don't really do their research. And it's like, you really got to try and like, what's it called? Like inform the people what it really is about, get them to understand things slowly, slowly. So it's like, they can really like see the bigger picture and like not be confused and like really like understand it because like you don't want to be that mis-. misunderstood, if that makes sense.

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Tery:

No, you're absolutely right. And I like that because if you start feeding them a little bit at a time, then the message eventually gets heard. Well, you know, in advertising, it takes three to five times for a message to be understood, right? But in the same here, it's gonna take a while for the general population to be able to absorb and understand and recognize that this is not out to hurt anyone, this is out to help. But you also bring in something that triggers something in my mind, it's ethics. Like, so, I mean, it's up to us to constantly, and we, you know, we need to train AI and ethics, but we also as, you know, developers or business owners or even creatives have to have that built into like what we're doing. So that, you know, we don't, you know, that there's no bias, there's no hatred. And things that are explosive don't get baked into what we're doing.

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Albert:

Yeah, most definitely, most definitely. I just wanna try and train the AI role so it doesn't cause like a huge disaster.

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Tery:

Yes, so that's a huge consideration.

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Albert:

Yeah. And do you think humans could become too reliant on AI in the future? And could this become a good or bad thing? Or could there be   a mass rejection of this new technology?

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Tery:

I don't think we're going to see a mass rejection of the technology. I think the more we put in the ethics and the creation of laws around it, in some ways I know entrepreneurs like myself, like, oh my God, a law, geez, please don't put another law, but it's there to protect us. So we need certain parameters and guardrails. And I think the more... we do that, the less of a problem will be or the less certain societies won't get left out of the value that this can bring.

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Albert:

Yeah, man, like literally, I was gonna ask her even like another question, yeah. What is the one thing that you're excited about for AI?

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Tery:

This is such a great question. I had such a hard time with it when you sent me this list of questions. But you know what, let me, I mean, I could go on to tell you it's gonna transform education. I'm excited about that, work in society. It's gonna accelerate a scientific discovery. But what I'm really truly, and I wanna blue sky a little bit excited about - is I love the idea of having my own AI assistant, not a gofer like you could tell Google, hey Google, can you get this for me? Or Bard, you know, I'm researching this product or Bing, you know, can you tell me more about this? Not like that. I want this actual construct that is more than just an assistant. Maybe it becomes my companion. Maybe it's something that I get when I'm, you know, if I'm, you know, a child, you know, maybe a child gets there and then. they start cultivating this relationship, this companionship, and it becomes like part of this augmented human that we're talking about. And I think it has to be more than just like, you know, like I mentioned, more than just a gofer. I think it has to be something that, you know, not that we're relying on, but it also is, it will help us in a lot of different ways.

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Albert:

Yeah, I can imagine having your own little assistant saves time and it's like, you'll be able to have someone that tries to understand you as well.

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Tery:

Yes, yes, that would be great, right? That would be great. And not to take out, if you're a child and you get this, not to remove yourself from the family or your friends or stop you from doing that. I mean, not at all, but to help you through the process of maybe you don't understand something and it can explain it to you in better terms.

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Albert:

Yeah. And I feel like for me, that what I'm excited about is like having something that helps you like get things done in a very short amount of time. And not using it to like, like you said, to replace your family or friends. It's like a little something on the side to like help you out, but not even just you, like help your friends out or your family out too. Because let's say your family needs something and they don't really like your family or friends that they need something, but they don't know the right way to go about it. Like you can just type. You can just use your AI and it can get results within minutes as well. Minutes, seconds, like, be like, you'll be able to spark new ideas for them as well.

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Tery:

Yeah, that would be so exciting. And I think that does, you know, get us to another level maybe of our own human development.

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Albert:

It was lovely speaking to you Terry about like, learning  about like artificial intelligence, AI, and like learning about like your creative background as well. So I'd like to say thank you for having this talk with us today.

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Tery:

Thank you, Albert. It was great to get to know you too. I'd love to see your work.

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Albert:

Thank you. And feel free to let us know where we can find you on all social media platforms. If you want to like plug yourself.

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Tery:

I'm on Twitter, I'm just @tery (T-E-R-Y) on Twitter. I'm on LinkedIn, so you can find me at Terys, T-E-R-Y-S on LinkedIn. I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram as Tery Spitaro on both. I'm on TikTok as T3RYAI, I think. So  I'm on TikTok. I'm across a lot of the social planning platforms. I'm on YouTube as well.

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Albert:

Be sure to follow us on hundo.xyz on all social as well. So it's hundo.xyz on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok as well. And yeah, Instagram as well.

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Tery:

Thank you so much for having me Albert. This was delightful. I hope it was helpful.