A Columbia University Professor Urges Art Students to “Embrace the Machines” In Digital Storytelling—Here’s How His Lessons Are Relevant to Business Owners Looking to Creatively Collaborate with AI

A recent New York Times article detailed a professor who is something of an anomaly within the world of education: A teacher who actually wants his students to use AI in the projects that they make for his digital storytelling class.

This graduate course on digital storytelling often mixes in written and visual content. Such a topic is relevant to a number of people, from artists looking to connect with an audience to a business owner trying to design a great marketing strategy.

Why Does This Professor Want Students Using AI?

Though some students resist it, Professor Lance Weiler wants students to perceive AI not as a cheat-y creative clutch, but as a powerful tool that could enhance their creativity.

Part of the reason for this is Weiler’s views on technological innovation, which is your own relationship to emerging technology.

The truth is that the majority of people have no say in what technologies will emerge—their autonomy is exercised in their personal relationships with the technology.

What this means for students is that they can either choose to adapt to artificial intelligence, which is already encroaching on various creative fields, from creative advertising and marketing to the entertainment industry, or fight it.

One need only look at the Hollywood writers’ strike to see that fighting AI as a creative will likely prove fruitless, as the New York Times reports that studio heads in Hollywood have identified demands to limit or outright eliminate the use of AI in digital storytelling and filmmaking as total “nonstarters”.

So, as technology increasingly encroaches on our daily lives, it becomes evident that the principle of natural selection applies prominently to environments with artificial technologies. In this scenario, the imperative is to either adapt or witness your own phased exit from the marketplace.

Professor Weiler Might Be On the Right Track to Making the Most Out of A.I.

Weiler may be onto something because he is known for being quite clever in making the most out of technology. For instance, a film called The Last Broadcast that he made for less than $1,000 in the 1990s went on to gross over $5,000,000 in box office revenue—and that was all from self-distribution!

For business owners, the lesson is clear: Adapt to the latest technologies, and take advantage of them so that you stay ahead, instead of getting left behind.

One of the best lessons about AI and creativity is to be engaged with the AI, acting like its editor and collaborator instead of its passive courier. Learning how to properly word your request to generative AI, especially in digital storytelling, is a challenge in itself.

Adapting Your Business to Artificial Intelligence

Being able to adapt to new technologies will ultimately determine who among the next generation of creatives will be successful or not. This is especially the case in digital storytelling, which, as mentioned earlier, applies to the field of marketing.

Is your business adapting to the newest wave of artificial intelligence technologies like ChatGPT?

Did you know that there are more AI technologies beyond just chatbots that are available to your business today? To learn more about them, read below.

Want to Use AI for Your Business? Let’s GO.

With ChatGPT, artificial intelligence finally had its “iPhone moment”.

Like smartphones, which were once a niche technology, AI is slowly becoming universally recognized as one of the most important and life-changing technologies of our era.

There are many business owners out there wondering how they can take advantage of AI. What they may not know is that plenty of businesses, including their competitors, are already using AI.

Right now, the technology is available to business owners. They just need to know where to look.

Guardian Owl Digital has a proven track record of working with businesses through its AI and machine learning initiative, GO AI.

GO AI, through a partnership with Findability Sciences, offers clients the services of AI platforms like IBM Watson that offer you automated marketing solutions.

This includes TouchUp, which will tell you how your customers will receive your creative marketing materials.

Predict+ offers up to 99% accurate predictions for important data such as customer churn rates or the prices of materials you order for your operations.

Persona modeling offers you key cognitive insights into your customer base, enabling you to improve your marketing and customer outreach efforts based on what your customers care about.

And that is just a few of the AI and machine learning solutions that we offer.

From finance to manufacturing to healthcare and beyond, any and every industry, and businesses of all sizes, can benefit from our affordable AI solutions.

So, what are you waiting for? GO AI today to grow your business.