The pleasure and peril of AI and the future of creativity

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The pleasure and peril of AI and the future of creativity 〰️

View fullsize Get your unique holiday gift today ✨ THE GRAIN Book Club and exclusive in-person author event in Toronto: The Friend Machine, by Victoria Hetherington, published by Sutherland House Books. Give this thoughtful gift and support a local author, in
View fullsize I watched The New Yorker at 100 on Netflix and it made me reflect on what it means to make a magazine now. thegrain.ai
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View fullsize There's a phenomenon taking place that you may not have noticed: AI is being used to generate deepfakes of Black influencers and journalists without their consent. But for the Black community it's nothing new, there's even a name for it: Digital Bl
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View fullsize From THE GRAIN Newsletter: Web of Lies I strongly encourage reading Nicholas Hune-Brown's recent investigative piece in The Local, Investigating a Possible Scammer in Journalism’s AI Era, and the subsequent fallout. What sticks with me is t
View fullsize THE GRAIN Newsletter: Music is having a moment. There's been a surge of AI-music news lately, and the industry is shifting rapidly. Popular songs are the soundtrack of our lives and memories, but what happens when authorship fades? Could an AI tra
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View fullsize Why so much emphasis on "getting ahead" by using AI? Instead, we should be getting together. AI is about the collective, not the individual. The only race we are a part of is the human race.
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View fullsize There have been many instances when I've been told not to ask. Sometimes overtly, sometimes subliminally. I've come to realize that's their problem, not mine. Let's be curious, together. Share this post with someone who needs to start asking.
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View fullsize THE GRAIN Podcast: AI vs. Freedom of Information My conversation with Ian Krietzberg, AI correspondent at @puckdotnews and one of the clearest, most grounded voices covering AI today. We talk about curiosity, transparency, and the human lens to und
View fullsize Still buzzing from THE GRAIN’s first live event, ADVERTISING vs. AI: How To Be Authentic Now. ✨ Full room. Big questions. Real conversations about the pleasure and peril of AI and the future of creativity. Creatives, this is the start of som
View fullsize One of the things I'm most proud of is the vibe THE GRAIN created at ADVERTISING vs. AI: How To Be Authentic Now. AI is a topic that impacts us all, and our opinions vary widely. But we came together for one night, shared what we care about, and
View fullsize THE GRAIN’s inaugural live event, ADVERTISING vs AI: How To Be Authentic Now was a tremendous success! Thank you to our exquisite panelists: @mobofill @123w.ca @drelabre @dept_of_never @iandavidmackenzie @memorycreativeinc @iranreyesf @mad

THE GRAIN is a movement of creators, thinkers and leaders defining our collective future.

I’m Ronit Novak

(Ro-NEET)

I’m a journalist, creator and educator with 20 years of experience leading creative multimedia teams in editorial, advertising and visual storytelling.

I knew artificial intelligence would have profound and lasting impact but I saw creatives were afraid to face it and avoided talking about it.

So I founded THE GRAIN as a podcast, newsletter, and live event platform to spark conversation, share real stories, and help creatives make sense of what’s going on and how they can shape it.

Today, The Grain Foundation is a nonprofit organization that reaches thousands of creatives, industry leaders, students, and families worldwide.

My work centres on a human-first approach to artificial intelligence, one that protects creative agency and helps people collaborate with technology in ways that amplify, not replace, human creativity.

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THE GRAIN Community

We are photographers, illustrators, musicians, filmmakers, writers, designers, artists, students, educators, professionals, organizations, agencies and corporations.

We share a curiosity to explore how AI can enhance our creativity, productivity and collaboration.

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THE GRAIN Podcast

My in-depth, candid conversations with creative leaders and industry experts shed light on our struggles, goals and mixed emotions about how AI is shaping our future.

Episodes are available as video on YouTube and Substack, and as audio on Spotify, Apple, and all other major streaming platforms.

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THE GRAIN Newsletter

Each week I cut through the AI noise with 5 hand-picked news stories plus my grains of thought on what they mean for creativity and how they spark deeper conversations.

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