My hot, cold and slightly foggy take on SXSW 24.

Just to get it off my chest (and legs), it’s amazing how much you are expected to queue here. Apologies for the stereotype but even as a Brit it was a little too much. Don't get me started on the weather! Hot, cold and foggy.

Anyway, as you would expect AI dominated the conversation from start to finish.

A real exploration of the breadth of AI's capabilities and its ethical implications, with a particular emphasis on how it can be leveraged to drive innovation, inclusivity, and advancement across creative and other industries. The main take out from every single AI talk I went to was that we are just scratching the surface and the acceleration of computing power and AI means no one really knows where it is going. I have to confess, overall, I was left with more questions than answers. There were deep concerns over deep fakes and consumer predictive models but overall the feeling was optimistic about its place in creativity and society. Probably shouldn’t have watched ‘The Creator’ on the plane over!

So I’m not going to talk that much about AI, I wouldn’t know where to start to be honest. Instead here are my 1 AI + 7 other highlights.

I kicked off with How Human is Too Human? Our Relationship with AI & Robots. Anna Arriola-Kanada & Luis Sentis

Ironically, the tech didn’t work! Human error, of course! Almost every talk I went to couldn’t click through. Weird when we’re talking in the context of tech taking over the world. But it kind of set the scene and vibe for the whole AI debate. The big thing I took out of this, apart from that if you put a humanoid robot in front of people will kick it, is that we’re still trying to find the sweet spot between speculation and sanity. The balance between Artificial Intelligence and human stupidity. Glib, but true.?

Social robotics is exciting. Japan has a growing senior population, birth rates are down and there’s a lack of immigration. So humanoid helpers will have a huge part to play. By age 80, 40% won’t be able to walk and robots will help, just stop kicking them, People like kicking robots! It’s weird. Interestingly people are more comfortable with robots in human or animal form, the mannerisms and expression are familiar. This is where more development is needed to better connect with the human experience. The focus at the moment seems to be productivity.

Where it gets really interesting is when robots get smarter and even, maybe, have empathy. When they start to have human needs and desires. Desire for beauty. Desire for experiences. AI doesn’t have desires at the moment they’re more like animal adolescents. But a question that will need to be answered in 10-15 years might be a robot asking for human rights, wanting a holiday! And then there was a moment of levity. A robot making packet noodles. Let’s call it the Ramen-ator.

Seeing it I couldn’t help but feel that human form might be holding robotics back! It just looks so awkward. Like I said, more questions than answers. But one thing is for sure. The most likely and quickest acceleration of this technology will be used in war. The dystopian image we’ve all seen in various sci-fi films of humanoid soldiers is just around the corner. Probably a good reason to stop kicking them. Straight after this talk I almost tripped over a delivery robot. Did it do it on purpose? It’s no coincidence that the US Army sponsors SXSW.

?Keynote: Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen. Katie Couric, Errin Haines, Brooke Shields, Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex & Nancy Wang Yuen.

Next up, a panel of impressive woman, all who had stories of being kicked when they were down and being treated as less-than-human on social and mainstream media. It’s scary that in the year of Barbie there are less women on the screen than the year before.

We heard the story of an 11 year old Meghan Markle that wrote to P&G because an ad for washing up liquid had caused a wave of misogyny in her classroom. Amazingly P&G listened and changed the slogan of the ad. Previously it had been a lazy slogan about women belonging in the kitchen. Brooke Shields pointed out that she was playing a prostitute at 11!

I overheard a few of the crowd and found it incredibly sad at how Meghan still has casual and overt misogyny aimed at her, even somewhere as progressive as Austin. She talked about a report from the UK that asked Gen Z’s what they thought of feminism and it showed that the majority feel it does more harm than good. Where is this coming from? -? you can’t help but conclude the rise of social media is playing a huge part.

The sexualisation of women was the next topic. Brook Shields acknowledging that she was part of it. She told us how Hollywood is predicated on eating its young, building them up then destroying them. It seems that it is not much different now but there are more voices. There are strength in numbers but still a lot to do.

‘Good One: A Podcast About Jokes’ Live Jesse David Fox Judd Apatow.

Bit of a gear crunch but humour is a hot creative topic at the moment so I popped into a podcast about jokes ‘Good one’ with Jesse David Fox and Judd Apatow. It wasn’t quite what I thought it was but I did steal this one.

"In an election year the US has got a guy old enough to have met Hitler and one that wishes he had".

The 4 Elements of Non-Obvious Thinking. Rohit Bhargava.

Non-obvious thinking seemed weirdly obvious. Lot’s of good, sporadic examples of ‘out of the box thinking’ but no real structure. Maybe that was too obvious! It was a packed room and the people there seemed to lap it up. For me it was lots of different examples and anecdotes, saying think differently - to be fair it was delivered brilliantly!

Here’s one obvious slide from the presentation: Non-Obvious Thinkers see what others miss (and you can too)

As promised, non obvious thinking was broken down into 4 things: Space, Insight, Focus and Twist. All quite self explanatory.

Go Viral Or Die! - How To Create Viral Marketing Hits. Michael Krivicka

This was one of my favourites (and not obvious). I remember when people used to joke about people saying ‘Do me a viral’ like it was a given, but it seems Michael Krivicka can do just that. This was all about great examples, substance and principles to follow to give you the best chance of going viral. A lot of the thinking can be applied to general creative process too. And it was fun! I took a ton of notes but I’ll try and distill what stuck with me, apart from the 3 dildo viral proof of concepts! Hopefully these are sound bites that make sense:

In the ideation stage: Keep it simple and relatable but the crazier the better. A good way to start is asking yourself ‘What if I could….?’ Think about the headline you want to create when/if the news channels pick it up. The idea should come from the product or service but not be the product or service. Keep the idea to one page. Be original and if something has been done before make the execution original. Be the world’s first (fill in the blanks).

In execution: Don’t drown in trends, no one will thank you. Real people equals real reactions. Think about the first 2 seconds. It used to be 10! The idea not the brand should be front and centre, the brand takes a relevant but back seat. No budget, no time, no problem, just don’t wait. Keep it real and raw, don’t worry about the polish.

In placement and reach: Don’t target your fans, they’ll find it if you do it right. Your brand channel could cock block your audience so buy channels and domains relevant to the idea not the brand.?

Whether it was Spiderman grabs a coffee, Bubba’s Watson’s Jet pack, Unreal Selfie stick or Possessed coffee shop, every single successful viral idea he showed us followed these principles. As a person that has obviously succeeded in captivating an audience, It was a joy to see and (of course) share.

The year of Woke Reckoning. How good can win in ’24. Amy Williams.

I loved this presentation. It was short, sharp and mildly shocking. Annoyingly under attended for something so insightful and Amy Williams was a passionate presenter. The fact it was mostly broken down to T shirt slogans made it pretty easy to follow too.

Firstly, it was a good reminder of the origins of woke and how the word has been hijacked by the right to belittle progressive thinking. It was originally a black term meaning "alert to racial prejudice and?discrimination”

Anyway, the first T shirt. Get woke, go broke. The big take out was the boycott of Bud Light when they featured Dylan Mulvaney and their response to it. Well, their response was to pull all advertising. Unlike Nike, they crumbled under pressure and paid the price. What do they say? “If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything”.

There were some key take outs for me. Don’t take action on everything. Be intentional, be committed and be authentic. But taking action builds trust and ESG commitments are directly linked to sales growth. Also, 84% of global consumers look to buy from companies that support causes important to them.

So maybe a more appropriate T shirt to counter STAY WOKE, GO BROKE could be:

Do right, sleep tight or No funny business, make money - business. Ok, maybe not that!

Finally, Embracing Fandom: Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) On Creating a Fantasy Empire.

An obscure one to finish.

Matthew Lillard has charisma. He had the room captivated with a funny but poignant story about fame, fortune and second, third and fourth chances. I’d only know Liillard as Shaggy and, more recently, from ‘Five Nights at Freddie’s’. He has been an actor, writer, producer and director. He plays a character in Five Nights at Freddie’s that kills kids and stuffs them into animal robots, so we’ve kind of come full circle on AI and robotics.

He started off by saying being an actor is miserable. He went through a stage of losing credibility, his only option being ‘Dancing with the Stars’. That’s when he reset and followed his younger passion and got his childhood friends involved, That passion is Dungeons and Dragons. Yep! In a nutshell he makes high end, luxury D&D boxes. Nerd passion combined with luxury goods. Who knew?

He tells us to make stuff that you’re passionate about for an audience you understand. He’s now launched a premium spirit brand also based in the fandom of D&D. It’s already a huge success.

After a fan asked him to swear as Shaggy, he ended on these words of wisdom for a pessimistic world:

“Hold on to the shit you’re proud of when you are struggling with confidence and optimism”

So. In conclusion. A real mixed bag of both themes and quality of talks. Regardless, the optimism for creativity was infectious. I’ll finish as I started, AI dominated and will continue to do so, there is no doubt. The general consensus is that, at the moment, it’s a friend of creativity, used as a kind of creative wing person. But the not too distant future is a bit fuzzier as the opportunities and challenges seem infinite. There are still conversations around how it can progress society but without cheques* and balances it could also be detrimental, on one hand the homogenisation of creativity, on the other human learnt biases and prejudice . Optimism shone through though. So hopefully, the kids will be AI-ght.

#AI #SXSW24 #SXSW #Innovation #creativity #robotics #humanoid #opinion #