Democratizing creativity through AI with The New Yorker's Matthew Hutson

While the public is only just now beginning to grapple with the rise of artificial intelligence, there are those who have been studying its development for many years. Take Matthew Hutson, for example. A contributing writer at The New Yorker and Science.org, Hutson has been tracking the rise of artificial intelligence for his entire career.

For example, his master’s thesis explored the intersection of AI and creativity, so it’s safe to say that Hutson is tapped into the technology’s potential. In this latest episode of the Conversations with Zendesk podcast, Hutson spoke with host Nicole Saunders about a wide range of AI-related topics: how it could spur creativity in the arts, sciences, and business; why it’s so important for companies using AI to act transparently; and the challenges of regulating this game-changing technology.

“The major upside of AI is that it democratizes creativity,” Hutson said. “So you might have someone sitting at home with an idea for a movie, and they can sort of work on it on their own, they don’t need to raise millions of dollars in funds, they can just sort of experiment and play around and put it out there. And it’ll lead to a huge sort of a Cambrian explosion and the evolution of different perspectives and different voices and different ideas out there in the marketplace.”

While Hutson points out that AI will disrupt both the marketplace and the job market, it will also boost productivity by automating mundane, time-consuming tasks, thus freeing workers up to focus on issues that require the human touch. For example, Hutson uses an AI tool to transcribe interviews, saving him hours of time.

“People are saying that coders are now something like 30 percent more efficient, and then software will produce code for them,” Hutson said. “I’ve also talked to scientists who say that they use generative AI to help them write papers, either because they’re not fluent English speakers, or English isn’t their first language. So it helps them smooth out the language, or it’ll even help them generate ideas to help them brainstorm ideas for experiments.”

For more about Hutson’s thoughts about AI, be sure to listen to the full episode. And stay tuned for the next episode of Conversations with Zendesk, which will feature Tade Anzalone of Calm, who will talk about how companies can take concrete steps to ensure the well-being of their support teams.