Early AI & Expert Systems

In this episode, we dive deep into the evolving relationship between human creativity and artificial intelligence. Inspired by Ada Lovelace's early vision of creative machines, we explore how the boundaries between expertise and common sense have been reshaped by modern AI, from expert systems to today's generative models. We sit down with pioneers and practitioners—Vasant Dhar, a longtime AI researcher and author of Thinking With Machines; Christopher Mims, technology journalist and author of How To AI; and the creators of Tachi AI, Aden Bahadori and Brett Granstaff—to discover how AI is shifting not only what we make but how we make it.

We unpack the promise and the pitfalls of treating AI as a true thinking partner, not just a tool for automation. Our guests share practical strategies for using AI to augment creative work, streamline tedious tasks, and enhance idea generation—while emphasizing the necessity of human framing, expertise, and judgment. Whether you're a leader, designer, marketer, or filmmaker, we reveal why using AI thoughtfully is the real competitive edge in creative fields and business.

Five Key Learnings:

1. AI’s Compounding Edge: Utilizing AI consistently and benchmarking progress gives creatives and teams a multiplying advantage—not by replacing human originality, but by amplifying it through incremental improvements.
2. Framing Questions Matter: The ability to ask the right, nuanced questions remains fundamentally human, and is essential when using AI as a partner in ideation, research, and strategy.
3. Context and Expertise Are Critical: Experts benefit most from AI—leveraging their knowledge to dig deeper, validate outputs, and push beyond generic solutions, while ensuring originality in their work.
4. AI as Scaffolding, Not a Substitute: The greatest value of AI today is in reducing friction and clearing time for creativity—whether it’s summarizing information, managing knowledge, or prepping film edits—so humans can focus on what matters.
5. Human-Centric, Supportive AI: Tools like Tachi AI demonstrate that supporting creativity is more transformative than automating it; AI as infrastructure enables faster iteration and more creative decision-making, not just higher productivity.

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