YSC Session: Lights, Camera, Algorithm: Is This the AI Revolution?

Sessions at the Yale Schwarzman Center are peer-led gatherings where conversations generate collaborations and move ideas into action. Because seats are limited, registrants will automatically be placed on the waitlist and will be notified via email if they are selected to participate. 

Join us for a conversation on how AI and humans may coexist and forge new paths into the future of the creative economy. In the wake of recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence as well as the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFRA labor disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), this session aims to cast a spotlight on the complex interplay between technology and creativity. As AI continues to revolutionize many aspects of film production and other industries, we’re faced with fundamental questions about intellectual property, job security, and the essence of artistic expression and innovation. 

Bob Bookman is a producer and manager at Veritas Entertainment Group. Prior to opening his own management firm, Mr. Bookman spent four years as a senior literary and director's agent at Paradigm and 27 years at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) as a senior motion picture literary and director's agent and agency partner.  Earlier, he was the executive vice president of production at Columbia Pictures and the vice president and head of production at ABC Motion Pictures. Mr. Bookman received his J.D. degree from the Yale Law School.  

Leighton Pierce is an artist and a committed educator grounding his work in an examination of how one can use art, or video and sound in his case, to explore the fringes of the narrative impulse, the seeds of cognition, and the thresholds of perception. He takes a holistic approach to video making and video installations embracing all aesthetic/technical aspects as an entangled web of symbiotic relationships. His work has been widely screened at over 500 film festivals where he has earned numerous awards and accolades. His major multi-channel video installations, designed to de-objectify the “ideal” video viewing experience, have been presented in numerous locales including at the Sundance Film Festival, the Kochi (India) Biennial, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the University of Iowa Museum of Art, and the Sheldon Museum of Art; his film and video work has also been screened at museums including the Whitney Biennial, Pompidou Museum, and MOMA.  In addition to his wide exhibition record, he is also the recipient of fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Creative Capital, and the NEA. 

Nicholas Surdel is a third-year PhD student at Yale. He received his M.S. in Psychological Sciences from William & Mary and graduated Summa cum Laude from the University of Florida. Nick's research explores how people form mental models of AI, and how people respond when they misbehave. He works at the cutting edge of research designed to improve human-robot teaming throughout society. Outside of the lab, you can find him at the docks with the Yale Graduate Crew team.