The wonder (and reality) of generative AI with Hilary Mason

At the core of the generative AI revolution is a simple idea: Making connections between related things stronger. When you we multiply this idea an unthinkable number of times, and reinforce the behavior we want, we get systems that interact with the world the same way we do; through language and imagery.
Even if AI never got better than it is today, it would take decades for humanity to truly embrace what it can do. And it's getting better, fast.
But in many ways, we're squandering what's possible by retrofitting the AI of tomorrow onto the patterns of yesterday. We've been here before: When we first tried to digitize government, we simply turned documents into PDFs. We hadn't yet understood that digital approaches could deliver vastly better outcomes, and in many cases, render old ways obsolete.
So it is with AI. Today, it's used for automation, synthesis, and tasks like writing. Yet AI can truly create wonders.
So we've asked  Hilary Mason  to help us think outside the box.
Hilary has charted the rise of AI. After her role as chief scientist at  bit.ly , she dove into big data at Fast Forward Labs (which became Cloudera's AI team). A hacker at heart, she founded HackNY and has been an active member of Brooklyn's NYCResistor hacker collective, as well as a member of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Technology and Innovation Advisory Council. Her latest project,  Hidden Door  is a story game platform that can turn any book into an interactive experience. In this conversation with FWD50 co-chair Alistair Croll, she'll explore what's possible with generative AI, and where she thinks human creativity is headed in a chimeric future.