Once the stuff of science fiction, creative machines are now reshaping culture and daily life. Much of today’s AI innovation reflects a sci-fi fantasy: the all-knowing oracle, an AI that ultimately surpasses its creators across the board. That dream powered extraordinary breakthroughs, but it also boxed the field into a narrow vision of what AI can become, steering development toward replacing human labor and risking mass unemployment.
Beneath this trajectory lies the assumption that human cognitive and creative capacity has largely been exhausted, that our biological minds have little left to offer. I’ll argue that humans are operating at only a small fraction of our potential, and introduce Humble Creative Machines, an alternative goal for generative AI: systems designed not to replace humans, but to unlock unrealized human capability and amplify our intellect and creativity. With this new vision, the human–machine relationship need not be a story of replacement, but one of imagination, expression, and the future we choose to build together.
Featured Speaker:
Dr. Maya Ackerman
Maya Ackerman, PhD, is a world-renowned expert in artificial intelligence and creativity. As the CEO and Co-Founder of WaveAI, she leads a cutting-edge company empowers people through AI-driven creativity tools. Under her leadership, WaveAI launched LyricStudio, an AI-powered songwriting assistant that helps millions of creators express themselves, leading to chart-topping hits and viral singles.
In addition to her work as an entrepreneur, Dr. Ackerman is a Professor of AI at Santa Clara University, where she shares her deep expertise with students, helping to shape the next generation of innovators. Her academic work is recognized globally, with numerous publications in top-tier AI conferences and journals. As a thought leader in AI, she is a frequent keynote speaker, with venues including Google, IBM Research, Oxford, Microsoft, and the United Nations
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