PODCAST: AI & The City—Anthea Foyer

PODCAST: AI & The City—Anthea Foyer

A couple of weeks ago, I moderated a panel at the VRTO Spatial Media Conference [https://conference.virtualreality.to/events/the-value-chain/] at OCAD University about the evolution of value in the age of AI. One of my panelists was Anthea Foyer, who leads the Creative Technology Office at the City of Toronto. [https://www.toronto.ca/business-economy/industry-sector-support/creative-technology/] I found her ideas fascinating. Partly because I didn’t really know the City of Toronto had a Creative Technology Office. But mostly because of the way Anthea thinks about creativity, technology, and public life. She talked about embracing the weird, she talked about convening, and she talked about what happens when we stop treating AI as a force that is simply happening to artists and start asking how creative communities might actually help shape what comes next. So, obviously, I invited her onto the podcast. Anthea’s office supports Toronto’s creative technology sectors, including immersive media, video games, esports, and emerging forms of digital entertainment. She is also the city’s focal point for Toronto’s UNESCO City of Media Arts designation and a co-founder of Future Makers, a creative foresight initiative developed with Toronto Metropolitan University’s Creative School. What interested me most was how Anthea and her colleagues have changed the way they bring AI into conversations with creative people. When you invite people to an event about AI, she says, they often arrive with a position already formed. They’re excited. They’re angry. They’re worried. They’re skeptical. So instead, Future Makers began asking people to imagine the future of their creative industries. AI was still in the room. It just wasn’t always the headline. That shift opened up a much more interesting question: What kind of creative future do we actually want to make? In this conversation, we discuss: * Why conversations about AI become so polarized * What happens when artists actually get to touch and test the tools * The difference between art made by AI and art made by artists using AI * Whether algorithms are expanding creative possibility or making culture more homogenous * Why Toronto should make more room for the strange, experimental, and weird * The role cities can play in AI adoption * Why convening people across disciplines may be one of the most important things we can do right now One idea from Anthea that lingers with me: technology can start to feel like an inevitable force being done to us. But technology is something humans created. We can play with it and question it. We can decide where it belongs and where it doesn’t. We can advocate for different systems and regulations. We can bring different people into the conversation. And, maybe most importantly, we can keep making things. Anthea believes Toronto has a particularly interesting opportunity right now. We have creative people, researchers, universities, AI expertise, business leaders, and public institutions. Her argument is that we need to get more of those people into rooms together to convene, to connect, and to make more room for the weird. I hope you enjoy the conversation, and please share your thoughts in the comments. Subscribe to support THE GRAIN Listen, like, comment, and share THE GRAIN to join the conversation we need to be having about the pleasure and peril of AI and the future of creativity. You can watch this and other video episodes of THE GRAIN Podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@THEGRAIN-AI]. Subscribe to THE GRAIN Newsletter [http://thegrainai.substack.com/], for deep dives on how AI is impacting creative industries right now. Read more about THE GRAIN and our upcoming live events at t [https://www.thegrain.ai/]hegrain.ai [https://www.thegrain.ai/] Reach me at ronit@thegrain.ai [ronit@thegrain.ai] Follow me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ronit_novak], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronitnovak/] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@thegrain.ai] Get full access to THE GRAIN with Ronit Novak at thegrainai.substack.com/subscribe [https://thegrainai.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

PODCAST: AI vs. Strategy—Joe Castaldo

Recently, the federal government released its new national AI strategy, AI for All. I downloaded it, printed all the pages, and sat down with a highlighter. What interested me wasn’t just the policy itself. It was the story Canada is trying to tell about AI. The strategy is built around words like trust, literacy, adoption, and sovereignty. It assumes that AI will become part of our lives, our workplaces, our schools, and our economy. But as I read, I kept coming back to a few simple questions: * Trust for whom? * Literacy for what? * And adoption on whose terms? To help unpack it, I invited Joe Castaldo onto the podcast. Joe is a business journalist at the Globe and Mail who has spent the last several years covering artificial intelligence, including Canada’s emerging AI policy. What I appreciate about Joe’s reporting is that he doesn’t approach AI as either magic or doom. He’s interested in what is actually happening: where the technology is useful, where it’s falling short, and what questions still remain unanswered. In this conversation, we discuss: * Canada’s new AI strategy and its focus on adoption * Whether AI literacy automatically leads to trust * The government’s $50 million creative technology fund * Copyright, consent, and training data * What meaningful support for artists and creators might look like * Why AI feels inevitable to some people, and why others resist that framing One line from the conversation is lingering with me: Joe notes that the strategy assumes Canadians should be using AI, but never fully explains why. That question sits at the centre of this episode. If AI is becoming infrastructure, then understanding it isn’t just about learning a tool. It’s about understanding the values, assumptions, and tradeoffs being built into the future around us. I hope you enjoy the conversation and please share your thoughts in the comments. Links to stuff we talk about: * AI for All: Canada’s new AI strategy [https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/ised/en/canadas-national-artificial-intelligence-strategy-ai-all] [ISED Canada] * Ottawa’s new AI strategy includes more than $2.3-billion for training, adoption and startups [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/20640f8ef3c9b2d28b7bcbb4b534115b13746d14675cdc5351371be895bc2d86/7YPEXOP2LRHH3PTZZGSFWYBJEI/theglobeandmail.com/gift/20640f8ef3c9b2d28b7bcbb4b534115b13746d14675cdc5351371be895bc2d86/7YPEXOP2LRHH3PTZZGSFWYBJEI/] [Joe Castaldo, The Globe and Mail, gift article] * Joe Castaldo, The Globe and Mail [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/joe-castaldo/] [Reporter profile] Subscribe to support THE GRAIN Listen, like, comment, and share THE GRAIN to join the conversation we need to be having about the pleasure and peril of AI and the future of creativity. You can watch this and other video episodes of THE GRAIN Podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@THEGRAIN-AI]. Subscribe to THE GRAIN Newsletter [http://thegrainai.substack.com/], for deep dives on how AI is impacting creative industries right now. Read more about THE GRAIN and our upcoming live events at t [https://www.thegrain.ai/]hegrain.ai [https://www.thegrain.ai/] Reach me at ronit@thegrain.ai [ronit@thegrain.ai] Follow me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ronit_novak], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronitnovak/] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@thegrain.ai] Get full access to THE GRAIN with Ronit Novak at thegrainai.substack.com/subscribe [https://thegrainai.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

PODCAST: AI vs. Inspiration—Marian Bantjes

Generative AI has made a lot of creatives nervous, not just about jobs, but about individual expression. Marian Bantjes isn’t new to this kind of disruption. As an artist, illustrator, designer, and writer, her work has always pushed against polish, taste, and convention. If you know her book I Wonder, you know her voice is unmistakable. What interested me most is that Marian began experimenting with generative AI early, back in 2023, before it became slick or predictable. Instead of being overtaken by the tool, she treated it the way she treats any material: critically, playfully, and with intent. We talk about kitsch, hallucination, repetition, and failure, and why early AI’s weirdness mattered. We talk about what AI can generate, and what it still can’t do: make lateral leaps, form nuanced metaphors, or replace lived experience. This is a conversation about where ideas come from, and why strong creative voices don’t disappear when new tools arrive. If you’re trying to figure out how to work with AI without losing yourself in the process, this episode is for you. Links to stuff we talk about: * marianbantjes.com [https://marianbantjes.com/] [Personal website; Design Art Gallery] * AI: Part 1 [https://bantjes.substack.com/p/ai-part-1] [Substack, Marian Bantjes] * Jonathan Hoefler [https://jonathanhoefler.com/] [Typographer] * Rodney Brooks [https://rodneybrooks.com/] https://rodneybrooks.com/[Roboticist] * Douglas Coupland [https://coupland.com/] [Artist] * Stuart Semple [https://stuartsemple.com/project/black-v1-0-beta-worlds-mattest-flattest-black-art-material/] https://stuartsemple.com/project/black-v1-0-beta-worlds-mattest-flattest-black-art-material/[Black 2.0 paint] * Edel Rodriguez [https://www.instagram.com/edelrodriguezstudio/?hl=en] [Illustrator] Subscribe to support THE GRAIN Listen, like, comment, and share THE GRAIN to join the conversation we need to be having about the pleasure and peril of AI and the future of creativity. You can watch this and other video episodes of THE GRAIN Podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@THEGRAIN-AI]. Subscribe to THE GRAIN Newsletter [http://thegrainai.substack.com/], for deep dives on how AI is impacting creative industries right now. Read more about THE GRAIN and our upcoming live events at t [https://www.thegrain.ai/]hegrain.ai [https://www.thegrain.ai/] Reach me at ronit@thegrain.ai [ronit@thegrain.ai] Follow me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ronit_novak], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronitnovak/] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@thegrain.ai] Get full access to THE GRAIN with Ronit Novak at thegrainai.substack.com/subscribe [https://thegrainai.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

PODCAST: AI vs. Photography—Heather Morton and Rob Haggart

The photo industry has been running on gut feelings for years. Heather Morton and Rob Haggart brought receipts. They’re the team behind the new State of the Photo Industry Survey, a rare, data-driven look at how photographers are actually making a living, right now. Heather is a professor in the Honours Bachelor of Photography program at Sheridan College, mentoring students entering an industry flirting with existential crisis. Rob is a former magazine photo editor and the founder of the APhotoEditor and Photo Folio, long-running platforms focused on the business of photography. If you’ve worked in editorial or commercial photography, you’ve almost certainly encountered his work. They both live and breathe photography and after decades of guiding, teaching, and connecting photographers, they are deeply invested in the health of this industry. What caught my attention is that the survey didn’t even ask about AI directly and yet it still shows up, especially where people feel most uneasy about their future. This episode isn’t simplified into a pro-AI or anti-AI stance. Rather, we foster a nuanced, practical conversation about the business of photography, and the real feelings behind it. If you’re a photographer, hire photographers, teach photography, or are trying to figure out what future you’re walking into, this one’s for you. Links for more detail: * State of the Photo Industry Surve [https://hmphotoprof.substack.com/]y [Substack, Heather Morton] * HM Photo Prof [https://www.instagram.com/hmphotoprof/] [Instagram, Heather Morton] * APhotoEditor.com [https://www.aphotoeditor.com/] [Blog, Rob Haggart] * APhotoEditor [https://www.instagram.com/aphotoeditor/] [Instagram, Rob Haggart] Subscribe to support THE GRAIN Listen, like, comment, and share THE GRAIN to join the conversation we need to be having about the pleasure and peril of AI and the future of creativity. You can watch this and other video episodes of THE GRAIN Podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@THEGRAIN-AI]. Subscribe to THE GRAIN Newsletter [http://thegrainai.substack.com/], for deep dives on how AI is impacting creative industries right now. Read more about THE GRAIN and our upcoming live events at t [https://www.thegrain.ai/]hegrain.ai [https://www.thegrain.ai/] Reach me at ronit@thegrain.ai [ronit@thegrain.ai] Follow me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ronit_novak], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronitnovak/] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@thegrain.ai] Get full access to THE GRAIN with Ronit Novak at thegrainai.substack.com/subscribe [https://thegrainai.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

PODCAST: AI vs. Freedom of Information—Ian Krietzberg

Ian Krietzberg is one of the clearest, most grounded voices covering AI today. As the AI correspondent at Puck [https://puck.news/], and former editor-in-chief of The Deep View, Ian approaches artificial intelligence the way a great reporter approaches any powerful system: by following the money, interrogating the incentives, and keeping the human impact front and centre. At a moment when AI is framed as an inevitable technological destiny or a geopolitical arms race, Ian’s work brings the conversation back to something essential: curiosity, freedom of information, and the people behind the machines. He also exposes a truth many in creative industries have felt but struggled to articulate: AI is often tested on creatives first because our work is considered “low risk” meaning technically easy to scrape, culturally abundant, and generally low risk. His newsletter The Hidden Layer traces how decisions made by developers, CEOs, users, and regulators shape the technology we interact with every day. Our conversation digs into why AI is not a mystical force but a human invention, how media hype distorts our understanding of it, and why the real stakes aren’t in model benchmarks but in the lives touched, changed, and sometimes harmed by these tools. This is AI reporting with humanity, clarity, and courage. Links of stuff we talked about… * The Hidden Layer [https://puck.news/newsletters/the-hidden-layer/] [Puck] * The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinki [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197812306-the-ai-mirror]ng [Shannon Vallor] * Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222725518-empire-of-ai?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=0t8nAHudLZ&rank=1] [Karen Hao] Listen now, like, comment, and share THE GRAIN to join the conversation at the edge of AI and creativity. You can watch this and other video episodes of THE GRAIN Podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@THEGRAIN-AI]. Stay tuned for my grains of thought in the newsletter [http://thegrainai.substack.com/], for news and insights on how AI is impacting the creative industry worldwide. Read more about THE GRAIN at thegrain.ai [https://www.thegrain.ai/] and get in touch with me at ronit@thegrain.ai [ronit@thegrain.ai]. You can also follow me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ronit_novak], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronitnovak/] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@thegrain.ai]. Get full access to THE GRAIN with Ronit Novak at thegrainai.substack.com/subscribe [https://thegrainai.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]