Season 1, Episode 12
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and The Future of Creativity
“We now have, within creativity, two options: We have the cyborg option where AI can help us be creative and help us expand our creative output, and we also have computers that simply are creative and produce creative outputs.”
– Bryan Alexander
Hosts & Guests
Bryan Alexander
Cyndi Burnett
Matthew Worwood
Episode Transcription
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and the Future of Creativity with Dr. Bryan Alexander
How is machine learning and AI related to creativity?
How can we use them to prepare for the future? In this episode of Fueling Creativity, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Bryan Alexander, an award–winning, internationally recognized futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher.
Tune in to learn what it means to be a futurist, how we can use creativity and automation to anticipate the future, and the limitations of artificial intelligence in being creative. You’ll gain insight into how teachers and administrators can utilize AI to optimize teaching strategies and school management systems.
Bryan also sheds light on a few eye-opening trends, like the decreasing birth rate, that are impacting K-12 and higher education and what this means for our children’s future.
Bryan’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
- Play with teaching tools that already use AI. Many are free! For example, you can use Duolingo, the language-teaching app.
- Look at the overall field of AI studies to get familiar with the various technologies, but also look at some of the criticisms of these technologies.
- Look at AI and automation outside of teaching and learning!
Guest Bio
Bryan Alexander is an award–winning, internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher. Bryan speaks widely and publishes frequently, with articles and interviews appearing in venues including The Atlantic Monthly, Inside Higher Ed, the Washington Post, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, UNational Public Radio (2017, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020), the Chronicle of Higher Education (2016, 2020), the Atlantic Monthly, and Reuters.
He recently published Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education for Johns Hopkins University Press (January 2020), which won an Association of Professional Futurists award. He is currently working on Universities on Fire: Higher Education in the Age of Climate Crisis (2022). His two other recent books are Gearing Up For Learning Beyond K-12 and The New Digital Storytelling (second edition).
Bryan is currently a senior scholar at Georgetown University and teaches graduate seminars in their Learning, Design, and Technology program.
Debrief Episode
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Podcast Sponsor

We are thrilled to partner with Curiosity 2 Create as our sponsor, a company that shares our commitment to fostering creativity in education. Curiosity 2 Create empowers educators through professional development and community support, helping them integrate interactive, creative thinking approaches into their classrooms. By moving beyond traditional lecture-based methods, they help teachers create dynamic learning environments that enhance student engagement, improve academic performance, and support teacher retention. With a focus on collaborative learning and exploration, Curiosity 2 Create is transforming classrooms into spaces where students thrive through continuous engagement and growth.