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Reasons

Edges course

Lately, I’ve been reluctant to sign up to new courses to learn pretty much anything. My life is quite full, although I always make time for creativity. But I’m trying to spend more time practicing creativity, not just learning more new things that I don’t have time to practice. However, I’m still hooked on sketching! There’s something about the portability and spontaneity of sketching that…

WP Builds podcast

Recently, I sat down with Nathan Wrigley for the WP Builds podcast to talk about one of my favourite topics: human creativity in the age of AI. I met Nathan at WordCamp Asia in Mumbai earlier this year, where I gave him a copy of my Human Creativity in the Age of AI zine. I guess it was a conversation-starter, because after reading it, he invited me onto the podcast. We talked about my…

Father-son

Who determines creative mastery?

Reading The Dancing Plague by Gareth Brookes, I’m entranced. The book, about the 1518 “dancing plague” in which a sudden compulsion to dance spread like a contagion, is amazing and absurd. The illustrations, a combination of pyrography and embroidery, are wondrous. Masterful. Images from Broken Frontier The amount of work and skill in every page is evident, as I can see every stitch and every…

New, but nothing new

On a recent trip to New York City, I visited the New Museum for the New Humans: Memories of the Future exhibition. The exhibition explores our changing definition of humanity in times of technological advancement. That includes tech from the past as well as visions of the future, and where humanity might go from here. The exhibition was a vast, multi-story affair. I was there for several hours…

One single lunchtime

Nick Cave on AI tools for songwriters

I loved this answer from Nick Cave in a recent Red Hand File: It made me think of something I wrote recently about generating a zine with AI: These tools feel best when they’re filling a genuine need. When they’re doing something I’ve struggled with, it feels magical. When they’re doing something I enjoy, it can feel like a loss. For “good songwriters,” AI songwriting tools are bad because…

Input and output with AI

I’ve been using AI more and more for creative projects, testing the boundaries of what it can do, and what it feels uncomfortable for it to do. The good I’ve found that chatting with an AI bot in the early stages of a project can feel like brainstorming with a creative partner. It can offer related ideas, synthesise stream-of-consciousness notes, and do deep research. It’s good at taking in…

Creative Quest by Questlove

Misty

An AI-generated zine

For the second challenge in the I Am Not a Robot project, Jamie‘s brief was: Vibe Coding Challenge time 🙂 Choose one of the following, These could be separate apps that talk to WordPress, or built directly as WordPress plugins—up to you. 1. Smart Link Manager Scans for broken links, suggests fixes or redirects, and recommends relevant internal links to improve UX and SEO. 2. Post Rewriter…

I Am Not a Robot

As anyone reading this blog already knows, I have feelings about AI and creativity. So when we Automatticians were tasked with dropping everything and spending a month in pairs building and shipping work (“Radical Speed Month”), the first thing that came to mind was to explore this topic further. I suspect there are a lot of creators out there who feel the same way I do — sceptical, but curious…

Creating through loss and grief

A few weeks ago, we said goodbye to our beloved 18-year-old cat, Misty. We’ve had Misty since she was 8 weeks old, and she’s travelled the world with us. She was so special to us, and so loved. It’s been a devastating thing to go through, and it’s still difficult to think or write about. But I did want to work through some thoughts I’m having about the creative impulse in times of loss and…

Sketching Mumbai

I packed my sketching supplies for the trip to WordCamp Asia in Mumbai, India, excited for the opportunity to get more practice sketching street scenes. As expected, the streets were chaotic, but I managed to snap some inspiration pictures from the back seat of a Uber, pushing its way through gridlocked traffic as scooters and tuk tuks zoomed past. I also walked around some of the main tourist…

Human creativity in the age of AI

I’m not anti-AI. Not at all. In fact, I use it daily in my role as a marketer at WordPress.com. It can be an incredible tool to help organise my thoughts, do research, help edit, and to remix my ideas in new ways that then spark other ideas. But I’m often reminded of the places where AI erodes the creative experience. And I’m wary of relying on it too much to replace our creativity. I feel the…

The telly

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