DigiCon 2024 opens with Google Labs editorial director Steven Johnson

By Ron Lim, Author
Steven Johnson speaking at DigiCon 2024
Photo source: Ron Lim
During his speech at DigiCon 2024's opening plenary, Steven Johnson believes AI will 'augment' people at their jobs.

DigiCon 2024, the country's major annual digital convention, opened this year's edition with a bang as it featured a Google director as its keynote speaker.

During the convention's opening plenary talk, Google Labs editorial director and Notebook LM co-creator Steven Johnson delivered a talk titled “Where Good Ideas Come From: Innovation in the Age of Intelligent Machines”, which touched on how today's business and marketing specialists can utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to come up with “transformative new ideas”.

Steven Johnson

Photo source: Ron Lim

“We are living through a transformation that is as important and significant and far-reaching in its consequence as anything I've experienced in my lifetime. This is the revolution we're going through with artificial intelligence right now,” he said.

While there has been a lot of fear and uncertainty surrounding AI - a group of researches in the AI field have said that it will lead to the extinction of the human race - Johnson believes otherwise, saying that it will be a boon to workers instead

“The next five or 10 years, we're going to be in a situation not where the machines are gonna replace us at our jobs, but the machines are gonna augment us at our jobs. The machines are gonna help us do our jobs better, faster, with less annoying bits, and also more creatively,” he said.

According to Johnson, today's users can think of AI as a collaborative teammate that can help them think of another perspective when it comes to their own ideas and projects.

“It will allow you to brainstorm ideas and get early feedback that you can generate in 20 seconds. They're very good at kinda shapeshifting into these other kinds of points of view,” he explained. “I think that process of collaborating with another entity that has its own skills, we're going to see more and more of this. It's not replacing your job. It's helping you think more creatively.”

Johnson, who is also a New York Times bestselling author of works like Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer and The Infernal Machine, shared that he uses AI to come up with ways to structure a book or think up interesting storylines.

“Working with this new state of the art models, they are really good at digesting that information and suggesting future paths to explore,” he shared. “I really feel like I'm in a duet with this AI. It's no longer a tool. This feels like a true partnership, a creative partnership.”

Related Gallery: Real vs. AI generated photos of celebrities

Aside from Johnson, three other speakers opened up the plenary of this year's DigiCon 2024. Unionbank senior executive vice president Ana Delgado delivered a talk entitled “AI to Fly: Changing the Way We Bank in an AI-Driven World”, while JFC Philippines chief marketing officer Katrina Yu delived a talk entitled “Amplifying Consumer Joy: The Role of Technology and Modern Marketing in Delighting Consumers”.

Droga 5 Tokyo chief creative officer Masaya Asai and Meta Head of Creative Shioo Angela Bassichetti also delivered the talks “Brand Building in AI Age” and “AI and Other Emerging Trends from Leading Brand Stories”, respectively.

First held in 2016, DigiCon has become a pivotal gathering for Philippine marketing, advertising, and digital personalities. The event gathered more than 2,000 participants and aims to “provide a roadmap for leveraging rapid digital changes, equipping attendees with tools and insights for digital agility and continuous learning.”

DigiCon is organized by the Digital Marketing Association of the Philippines (DMAP), which was founded in 2007 and currently has over 250 members, including enablers of brands, advertising agencies, and digital transformation advocates.

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