Thrive or Survive: Why Creativity is the Key to an AI-Future

{
  "id": "PP1162418",
  "track": "Tech & AI",
  "focus_area": null,
  "category": "Panel",
  "event_id": "PP1162418",
  "event_type": "panel",
  "format": "Panel",
  "genre": null,
  "subgenre": null,
  "name": "Thrive or Survive: Why Creativity is the Key to an AI-Future",
  "presented_by": null,
  "publish_at": "2025-11-11T12:54:00.000-06:00",
  "reservable": true,
  "reservable_id": "PP1162418",
  "reserved": false,
  "date": "2026-03-12",
  "end_time": "2026-03-12T12:30:00.000-05:00",
  "start_time": "2026-03-12T11:30:00.000-05:00",
  "message": null,
  "image": {
    "alt_text": "Thrive or Survive: Why Creativity is the Key to an AI-Future",
    "credit": null,
    "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/85pmq9VDXsI28zAV1-rq9FrFEeY=/950x633/images.sxsw.com/187/25f2cf5e-50e8-3a43-f57c-a209e7fde6ce/pp1162418"
  },
  "credentials": [
    {
      "name": "Platinum Badge",
      "type": "platinum"
    },
    {
      "name": "Innovation Badge",
      "type": "innovation"
    }
  ],
  "contributors": [
    {
      "id": 80072,
      "company": "The Self-Driven Child",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2241398,
      "name": "Ned Johnson",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Educator",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Ned Johnson",
        "credit": "",
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/xcu9XBp_31161R5NBhn4uliYkYY=/0x5:800x805/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/d1dca116-bb90-4f68-b8e4-b606777d03c1/pcid-1630623"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Together with Dr. William Stixrud, Ned Johnson is the co-author of three books: The Self-Driven Child, What Do You Say? and their recently\rreleased workbook The Seven Principles of Raising a Self-Driven Child (Penguin Press, March 2025.) The Self-Driven Child was a national\rbestseller, sold one million copies and is published in 19 languages.\rNed if also the president and founder of PrepMatters, a nationally renowned education company that helps students succeed in high school and get into college. He describes himself as a professional “tutor-geek” who since 1993 has spent more than 50,000 one-on-one hours helping students. Ned loves how kids think and is forever curious about what motivates them, what worries them, and what matters to them. His mission is to help students learn about their own learning, thinking, and effective ways to motivate themselves, handle stress, and perform at their best. He encourages students to find a healthy balance between what life asks of them and what they want out of their own lives. He is a proud board member of CollegeTracks, which helps first-generation-to college students from low-income and immigrant households bridge systemic opportunity gaps to get to and through post-secondary education and on to a career pathway, and of the Safe Community Coalition, which provides programs and resources to reduce stress, foster mental wellness, and empower youth to thrive and make responsible choices about their health and safety. His work has been featured in media outlets such as NPR, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times of London, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News and World Report, Time Magazine, Scientific American, Business Week, Barron’s, New York Magazine, and Vogue.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 1486,
      "company": "Emory School of Law",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 4525,
      "name": "Ifeoma Ajunwa",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Associate Dean",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Ifeoma Ajunwa",
        "credit": null,
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/ZIyQEi757myzVIFpIFTR33Fy9nc=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/3dcc7560-1ff3-cf50-dfde-443a674d4d5e/pcid-832813"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Dr. Ifeoma Ajunwa is a tenured professor, Associate Dean at Emory Law, and Founding Director of its AI and Future of Work Program. A Yale Law and Columbia Ph.D. graduate, she’s a leading scholar on the ethical governance of workplace tech. She has advised Fortune 500 companies, testified before Congress, and written for top law journals, Forbes, and major media outlets. Her book The Quantified Worker is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 33838,
      "company": "Microsoft",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2065429,
      "name": "Mike Pell",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Envisioneer. Author. Outlaw.",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Mike Pell",
        "credit": "Juan Pantino",
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/GQNTVuGgGTNf02Spmriziswfofg=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/db6b4eb9-81d2-85d3-9c5f-97bd3c898e2d/pcid-1176026"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Mike Pell is Director of The Microsoft Garage in NYC, the company’s global innovation program. An inventor of Adobe PDF and holder of over 20 US patents, he’s authored The Age of Smart Information, Visualizing Business, and Envisioning Holograms. With over 30 years of experience in design, engineering, and rapid innovation, Pell brings expertise in spatial design, AI-driven visualization, and creative business transformation.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 79068,
      "company": "The Center for Arts & Innovation, Inc.",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2240113,
      "name": "Andrea Virgin",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Chair & CEO",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Andrea Virgin",
        "credit": null,
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/8w3vTxPOkmfBfnvkp317scMaCv8=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/62669688-5913-6120-ff89-9fbcea8565e7/pcid-1622476"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Andrea Virgin is a visionary leader who fuses creativity, engineering, and entrepreneurship to spark lasting change. A former professional ballerina turned civil engineer and nonprofit founder, she is the Chair & CEO of The Center, a pioneering initiative redefining cultural infrastructure and creative empowerment. Under her leadership, The Center has secured nearly $30 million in early support and engaged world-renowned partners like the Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Andrea's life story—shaped by resilience, reinvention, and a belief in the transformative power of creativity—continues to inspire communities across South Florida and beyond.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    }
  ],
  "venue": {
    "accessible": false,
    "age_policy": null,
    "floor": "4",
    "id": "V0376",
    "indoor_outdoor": "INDOOR",
    "mixhalo_url": "https://translate.mixhalo.rocks/?venue_id=429&partner=true",
    "name": "Salon D",
    "parent_id": "V0365",
    "parent_venue_name": "Hilton Austin Downtown",
    "venue_entry_info": null,
    "formats": null,
    "location": {
      "address": "500 E 4th St.",
      "lat_lon": [
        30.2651364,
        -97.7381904
      ],
      "city": "Austin",
      "postal_code": "78701",
      "state": "TX",
      "name": "Hilton Austin Downtown"
    },
    "root": {
      "id": "V0365",
      "name": "Hilton Austin Downtown",
      "mixhalo_url": null
    },
    "events": "[omitted 5 venue events]"
  },
  "description": "AI may make life easier, but at what cost to our imagination? Like a bike we stop riding, our creativity weakens when we overrely on AI. Still, while adults may feel rusty, we can get back on. For children, the risk is even greater: if they never build that muscle in the first place—never learn to ride at all—there’s nothing to return to. This all comes just as jobs are being disrupted, problems grow more complex, and we need more imagination, not less. This panel explores how we can grow creatively with AI (versus be diminished by it) and what we must build now to make that future possible.",
  "experience_level": "Beginner",
  "audio_url": null,
  "accessibility": [
    "Closed captioned"
  ],
  "accessible_venue": false,
  "add_bcl_url": false,
  "add_slido": false,
  "after_midnight": null,
  "age_policy": null,
  "american_sign_language": false,
  "apple_url": null,
  "audio_description": false,
  "caption_url": null,
  "captioned_qa": false,
  "closed_captioned": true,
  "cpe_credit": false,
  "event_status": "none",
  "has_subtitles": false,
  "hash_tags": [],
  "high_sensory_experience": false,
  "live": false,
  "long_description": "AI may make life easier, but at what cost to our imagination? Like a bike we stop riding, our creativity weakens when we overrely on AI. Still, while adults may feel rusty, we can get back on. For children, the risk is even greater: if they never build that muscle in the first place—never learn to ride at all—there’s nothing to return to. This all comes just as jobs are being disrupted, problems grow more complex, and we need more imagination, not less. This panel explores how we can grow creatively with AI (versus be diminished by it) and what we must build now to make that future possible.",
  "meeting_url": null,
  "meeting_url_live": false,
  "mentorly_url": null,
  "mobile_audio_url": null,
  "open_captioned": false,
  "playlist_tag": null,
  "rebroadcast": false,
  "recommended_ids": [],
  "search_conversions": null,
  "short_program": false,
  "slido_url": null,
  "sort": "THRIVE OR SURVIVE: WHY CREATIVITY IS THE KEY TO AN AI-FUTURE",
  "source": "Official",
  "squad_up_url": null,
  "stream_embed": null,
  "stream_id": null,
  "stream_url": null,
  "strobe_warning": false,
  "subdiscipline": null,
  "summit": null,
  "summit_display_name": null,
  "tags": [
    {
      "id": 2554,
      "name": "Crossover Day",
      "created_at": "2025-12-01T17:30:45.217-06:00",
      "updated_at": "2025-12-01T17:30:45.217-06:00",
      "sort": "CROSSOVER DAY",
      "alpha": "C"
    },
    {
      "id": 2114,
      "name": "Ai",
      "created_at": "2020-01-17T14:51:44.091-06:00",
      "updated_at": "2026-02-18T15:48:17.273-06:00",
      "sort": "AI",
      "alpha": "A"
    },
    {
      "id": 1343,
      "name": "Technology",
      "created_at": "2017-10-11T17:42:23.253-05:00",
      "updated_at": "2024-09-13T07:02:24.613-05:00",
      "sort": "TECHNOLOGY",
      "alpha": "T"
    }
  ],
  "talent_attending": null,
  "title_only": false,
  "track_display_name": "Tech & AI track sponsored by IBM",
  "trailer_id": null,
  "trailer_url": null,
  "video_on_demand": null,
  "vimeo_id": null,
  "vod": false,
  "xr_project_type": null,
  "youtube_id": null,
  "related_events": [],
  "related_sales_client": null
}