Creative Agency in the Age of AI
Friday, March 6th
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Frances Searle Building, Center for Human-Computer Interaction + Design (Room 1-122) 2240 Campus Drive
As AI tools become collaborators in everything from writing and research to music and movement, they’re reshaping what it means to be creative. While marketed as creativity boosters, many AI systems can actually limit human agency, producing generic outputs, reinforcing bias, and leaving creators feeling disconnected from their own work.This event brings together researchers, designers, and artists to explore what creative agency looks like in the age of AI. We’ll dive into questions about how AI shifts roles within creative teams, how interface design can better support human intention, and what knowledge people need to stay in control of their creative process. Through interdisciplinary dialogue, we’ll imagine more empowering futures for human-AI collaboration in the arts and beyond.
Organizers
View Duri Long's Profile
Noshir Contractor
Jane S. & William J. White Professor, Northwestern Behavioral Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering; Professor of Management & Organizations
Karan Ahuja
Lisa Wissner-Slivka & Benjamin Slivka Assistant Professor, Northwestern Computer Science
Guest Speakers
Steven Dow
Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science and the Design Lab, UC San Diego
John Zimmerman
Tang Family Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction, Carnegie Mellon University
Joy Kim
Research Scientist, Adobe
Brian Bailey
Professor in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Max Kreminski
Assistant Professor of Design Tech, Cornell Tech
Lydia Chilton
Associate Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University
Ethan Manilow
Senior Research Scientist, Google DeepMind
| Time | Activity | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 9 - 9:10 a.m. | Opening / Welcome | |
| 9:10 - 11 a.m. | Creative AI Demo and Workshop | Select students, faculty, and industry partners will be invited to demo and/or workshop creative AI tools that aim to support human creative agency. |
| 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. | Networking Lunch | Participants will be split into pre-assigned groups for lunch, designed to evenly distribute senior faculty, junior faculty, industry partners, and students to provide opportunities for mentorship, networking, and idea-sharing. |
| 12 - 1 p.m. | Panel: Agency and Cognition in Human-AI Creative Processes |
|
| 1 - 2 p.m. | Panel: AI & Agency in Creative Teamwork |
|
| 2 - 2:30 p.m. | Afternoon Coffee Break | |
| 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. | Panel: Automation vs. Agency for AI Creativity Tools |
|
| 3:30 - 5 p.m. | Mini-Proposal Speed Writing Session and Shareback | Participants will break into small groups. They will engage in a collaborative speed-writing activity to write mini-proposals for future research projects related to AI and creative agency, drawing on the day’s discussions. A speculative prompt and template will be provided to scope the activity and encourage creative brainstorming. |