Event Roundup: Insights from Scott Belsky on Creativity & AI
April Underwood sat down with Scott Belsky in New York last week to explore creativity in the age of AI. Read on for key takeaways and insights!
Last week, Adverb's co-founder April Underwood sat down with Scott Belsky — Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at A24 Films and former CPO of Adobe — to discuss the evolving landscape of creativity in the world of AI.
Scott brought his unique perspective as a founder, builder, and investor at the intersection of technology and design, sharing valuable insights for founders, builders, and creatives amidst the seismic technological shift.
Their conversation sparked many insights – here are a few of our favorites:
🪄 Algorithms are optimizing for what keeps us watching, not what we truly want to see — creating a new imperative for authentic storytelling.
As brands increasingly flood the content space through the use of gen AI tools and algorithms, which tailor content that drives engagement and not necessarily our true interests, quality storytelling will be at a premium. The bar to stand out from the noise out will only get higher. Scott’s new role at A24 Films, a studio known for distinctive storytelling, is a unique purview from which to leverage the potential for technology to transform the film industry.
A critical question arises—will personalized content become commoditized? Just as consumers gravitate towards branded, high-quality items (like designer shoes or premium cars) when everyday products become ubiquitous, we may begin to demand more meaningful, authentic content. In this landscape, "brandertainment" is emerging—where brands produce story-driven content to stand out from traditional ads. This shift is particularly exciting for user-generated content, as we’re all empowered to tell our stories in new and creative ways.
🫰As a founder, empathy can beat passion.
Being a successful founder isn’t just about relentlessly driving your vision forward — it’s about listening. The best founders balance conviction with adaptability, pivoting when needed and deeply understanding user needs. “If you're the founder that's struggling shoulder to shoulder with your end user,” Scott explained, “you are likely to get some signal that passion for a solution would never give you.”
This wisdom becomes especially valuable when navigating what Scott calls “the messy middle” — a term he coined in his book that describes the volatile place of repeated attempts and failures that every startup traverses. “You want a positive slope of progress where every milestone is a little better than the previous one,” he advised. However, Scott also challenged the “winners never quit” mentality: “If you're thinking, 'I would never have done this knowing what I know now,' then pivot. There's no shame in quitting and trying something different.” Staying in touch with empathy for your end user can help preserve this balanced perspective of knowing when to persist and when to pivot.
♟️AI doesn’t have taste, people do.
As AI makes building software and generating designs easier, the real value lies in making intentional, differentiated design decisions. Great "taste" becomes a competitive advantage. Taste isn't just a skill; it's shaped by experiences—both positive and negative—that inform our design choices. As designers can get leverage on their rote tasks, they can increase impact by harnessing taste, discernment, and decision-making moreso than pushing pixels.
Scott mentioned an example from when Pinterest was struggling with speed issues. Instead of waiting for complex technical upgrades, the design team created colorful screens that loaded before the actual pins. Overnight, users raved about how much faster the site felt, though nothing had technically changed in performance. “It perfectly illustrates how designers can solve technical problems more quickly than engineers sometimes,” Scott shared. “Having designers at the table throughout product development has consistently helped me find better solutions throughout my career.”
👀 Embracing discomfort is a sign of innovation and change
When encountering something new—whether it's a new brand book or UI—if it feels immediately familiar and easy, it may not be pushing boundaries. True innovation often comes with a bit of discomfort, requiring us to challenge existing norms and think differently. This discomfort is a sign that something fresh is being introduced. Finding those moments that require customers to rethink and retrain their expectations is a key to standing out. Cultivating good taste can help discern these opportunities for change, even if they make us feel uneasy at first.
If you’re interested in listening to the full conversation, respond to this email, and we’ll share the recording.