Augmenting Human Creativity with AI: Insights from Vyond's Fall 2023 Storytelling Masterclass

Our Fall 2023 Storytelling Masterclass, special “AI and human creativity” edition, shared perspectives from a former Disney creativity and innovation leader, an AI-expert professor pushing boundaries, Vyond’s longtime-AI-advocate CEO, and a video producer extraordinaire. Here are a few of the big ideas we’re still thinking about. (While Duncan’s presentation is no longer available, you can still watch the session replays for Dr. Jules White, Vyond CEO Gary Lipkowitz, and Taylor Morgan. Check out the links below!)

Lean on AI as a “naive expert” to spark creativity and innovation

Even the most creative organizations on the planet face barriers to innovation. As employees and leaders, we’re often expected to think creatively without proper training in the skills we need to do so.

One of Duncan Wardle’s first missions in his role as Head of Creativity and Innovation at the Walt Disney Company was to uncover what those barriers to innovation were for the teams at Disney, Pixar, Lucas Films and Marvel. You may relate to the findings:

1. I don’t have time to think
2. We don’t have the resources
3. We say we’re consumer/client centric yet we’re measured by quarterly results, not our relationships with customers
4. Our ideas get stuck/diluted/killed as they move through approval processes
5. We all have very different definitions of creativity

He spent 30 years helping teams overcome those barriers. Based on that experience, here are a few of the simple tools Duncan shared to help break you and your team out of your same old “river of thinking”:

• What if? Observe your industry or challenge without judgment and write down the written and unwritten “rules.” Then pick a few and ask, what if the rule didn’t apply? Be audacious. This is how industries get disrupted: think Blockbuster to Netflix and taxi cabs to Uber.
• Where else? Look for where else in the world people may have already solved a similar challenge, perhaps for some other purpose.

  Roll-on deodorant took its inspiration from ballpoint pens and paint rollers. Speedo studied nature’s shark-skin design for its Olympic-record-breaking men’s swimsuit (so successful it was later banned from competition).

• Leverage AI as your “naive expert.” A naive expert is someone who doesn’t work in your industry. They’ll ask questions and propose wild ideas you wouldn’t come up with from the depths of your “river of thinking.”

  AI tools like ChatGPT can serve as that naive expert, suggesting ideas drawn from insights across other industries to approach your challenge.

Design more personalized learning experiences with augmented — not artificial — intelligence 

Dr. Jules White has picked up a thing or two about using AI tools from his work as director of the Vanderbilt Initiative on the Future of Learning & Generative AI and leading a ChatGPT prompt engineering course with Coursera. 

He’s paving the way for L&D pros to make the most of AI tools for learning design and champions AI tools’ potential to provide personalized support for learners. Here are a few of his insights for L&D pros — and all of us as learners.

• Think of AI prompts as conversations, not questions. The highest-quality output doesn’t come from a “one and done” question approach. Be ready for an exchange across a series of prompts that build on each other to help refine the responses you’re getting from ChatGPT.

• Take advantage of “prompt patterns” as building blocks. Large language model tools, like ChatGPT for text output and Midjourney for images, respond especially well to established prompt patterns like the following:
  • For text generators
    • Persona pattern: “Act as [persona]. Whenever you produce an output, produce the outputs that [persona] would produce.”
    • Audience persona pattern. “Explain/write/tell x to/for [persona].”

  • For image generators
    Describe the scene / medium / artistic style / color you expect. For example: “A neon highlighter drawing in a neoclassical style,” or “pop art painting of an alien stealing my lunch.”

• Let’s rebrand AI to “augmented intelligence.” Augmented intelligence (AI+) puts humans at the center, rather than trying to replace human intelligence and creativity with “artificial” intelligence. AI+ is all about amplifying and enhancing human thought and capability.

Watch Jules White’s full session

We got more audience questions for Dr. White than he had time to answer during his session, so we caught up with him afterward. Watch the bonus Q&A video with Dr. White.

Let Vyond bring the best of AI tools to you

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, keeping up can feel overwhelming. But Vyond CEO Gary Lipkowitz promises that soon you won’t have to. Vyond’s “applied AI” vision is to bring the most helpful AI tools to you, right in the platform.

Here’s a perfect example. Vyond’s 2023 Fall Release brings the launch of two new AI features to help you turn your vision into video:

• Video to Action lets you animate any custom movement — yes, even that signature dance move! — by simply uploading an example video clip, and 
• Text to Prop allows you to generate any custom prop you want by describing it in a few words. 

Advancements in generative AI mean that creating effective, engaging videos is getting ever easier and faster in Vyond — and even more closely delivering on your original vision, with assets that may or may not even exist yet!

Watch Gary’s full session

Take your video from first to final cut in Vyond Go and Vyond Studio

In our closing session, Taylor Morgan of “Taylor Tinkers” fame demonstrates both ways you can use Vyond Go:

1. You can enter a general description of what you’re looking for and rely on AI to deliver a result based on its vast internet training data, or 
2. If you’ve got specific details you’d like included in your video — say, talking points or steps in a procedure — you can paste those into your prompt, along with the general description of what you’re looking for.

A video producer by trade, Taylor shares some of his reflections on Vyond Go as he walks us through each option, including the following:

• Beyond being a timesaver, Vyond Go also builds in effective video production techniques for you, like changing up the camera framing throughout your video, that help make it even more engaging. 
• Keep in mind that Vyond Go’s output is only a first draft (if you want it to be)! You can bring your first cut into Vyond Studio to customize anything and everything: characters, backgrounds, voiceover, language … you name it.
• Asset view is your best friend for making instant, universal edits in Vyond Studio: select multiple scenes or assets to make updates across them all.

The best way to learn is to try it yourself! Once you’ve watched (or rewatched) Taylor’s session, log into Vyond and try making your own Vyond Go video. (Need a login? Play around in Vyond Go and Vyond Studio free for two weeks: get started now.)

Watch Taylor’s full session

*Note: Jump to 18:46 for Taylor’s portion of his joint session with Gary Lipkowitz.