Transcript of a welcome/opening remarks at the City of Burbank 'Tech Talk' (May 2025) about how creativity is expanding across professions and how AI acts as a partner for creators. Speaker emphasizes that everyone can be creative (chefs, roofers), that creation benefits from collaboration and authenticity, and that using AI as a ‘sidekick’ plus heavy partner participation differentiates successful projects. The speaker is cautiously optimistic about AI’s potential while acknowledging risks.
Well, first of all, thank you for coming, and welcome to our Burbank Tech Talk. On behalf of the City of Burbank Economic Development Division, I would like to welcome you all to today's event. There are many exciting things happening in Burbank, and we invite you to join us as we continue to grow and evolve.
As we know our industry goes through change probably about every 10 years. This one is particularly disturbing to some people. Yes, we have a technology that has the ability to do a lot of things, and in the wrong hands, it has the ability to do a lot of wrong things. I'm excited about where things are going, but I'm also cautiously optimistic about where they're going.
Now, everyone is a creator. That's how we see the world, and that's how the world is changing. I think that, you know, a cook in a kitchen is now a creative. I think that a roofer is now a creative. I think that anybody that's making something has that potential in them because the. The space has opened up so much. It's all encompassing at this point. It's no longer a thing where you have to have some special talent to be able to say that I can create something or I am creative. No, you all are. Now, with the use of AI, you have that partner to flush out ideas or bounce ideas off of. But what I found is that the most successful projects have heavy, heavy participation from our partners. I just don't think that creation is created in a vacuum. It is an active participation from groups of people. Because we see so much different content everywhere, we gravitate to whatever is authentic. That's where you strike gold, is more than just one person's life experience, but multiple people.
If you can be creative enough to be able to use AI as your sidekick and pick from places that will apply in your area to be creative that would make you differentiate from others.
