This piece provides a look at our three focus pillars and our submission for this season of the Artizen Fund.
Over the last two and half years, we have witnessed the remarkable rise of Artificial Intelligence and a significant cultural shift from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) to JOMO (Joy of Missing Out). This has given birth to new movements, including the "slow AI" movement. This transition from urgency to strategy reflects an evolving relationship with technology—one that emphasizes mindfulness and thoughtful engagement with new advancements.
I helped create the first text-to-image tool on the blockchain in 2022, nearly 12 months prior to the commercial release of DALL-E , ChatGPT, and OpenAI. During these early days, we saw not only the joy and surprise that visual AI could create but also experienced the challenges and transformative potential of Generative AI, particularly within the creative industry. As a result of these findings, the last year my focus has shifted to building real-world solutions for creative professionals. You can read a recent interview I did for Music Ally, about how I'm approaching this challenge.
“If we can have more collective workshops or educational experiences for the public, as they’re touching it, I think it will help demystify it in a way that makes it exciting and not abrasive.”
At ORIGIN STØRIES, our primary focus is on educating ourselves and others, fostering collaboration, and demonstrating real-world use cases for emerging technologies. We strive to bridge the gap between art and technology, showing how these powerful tools can enhance — not hinder — the creative process.
What if the endgame for AI is not to replace artists but to equip them with indispensable tools that amplify their creativity and make them irreplaceable in this tech-centric era?
The introduction of AI can preserve traditional artistic expressions and inspire capabilities that were previously unimaginable.
We believe that by combining technology with artistic talent, we can delve into bold new artistic directions that respect, celebrate, and extend the bounds of human creativity.
This is why we are participating in Season 4 of Artizen Fund.
Over the next ten weeks (approximately), we are competing in this important, community-driven initiative that supports groundbreaking projects in art, science, technology, and design. Fund awards match funding to innovative creators across a series of categories including the Common Goods Fund for Public Goods Pioneers and AI Filmmaking Fund for Generative Storytellers.
Our Main Focus
AI Literacy
AI literacy is continually mentioned as a vital part of this transformational period. But who is providing these workshops? Sure at enterprise level there might be internal workshops or paid for upskiling. But most creatives will not have access to these or the bugdget to attend the "expert" workshops or webinars that are being held. Some progressive societies, such as Sweden will bring AI into the classroom, but for recent graduates or working creative professionals, these opportunities will not be prevalent.
To assist in these efforts, we plan to host a series of free workshops and to create online resources that bridge this gap.
Research and Development
Research is crucial to truly understand what's possible with AI and how it can be best used. We start this fall as an invited guest to MTFLabs for a deep collaboration on data and AI in the EU Capital of Innovation, Linköping. This includes workshops to help collectively brainstorm an executable roadmap for AI literacy, lead by research team from Delft University of Technology. Our focus this fall is to continue to understand how to best serve the music event market and creative professionals. This includes testing and implementing new workflows that serve strategic use cases. We've already been doing this working through both co-owned and co-created mobile experiences, as well as partnering with festival experiences like Archetypes in Poland this September to create a personalized generative experience for all guests.
We are also focused on our next phase of development on our product, VPM. We will be working heavily on agentic workflows, to cultivate efficiency and refine our fine-tuned prompting frameworks. After finishing the Livepeer AI program we are currently participating in, we will also continue to push the possibilites of generative video, focusing on features like directional control and stylistic consistency.
Creating Public Experiences
We are dedicated to designing interactive public experiences where audiences can engage directly with emerging technologies, exploring how AI and other advancements can enrich creativity. Our goal is to make cutting-edge technology accessible and inspiring for everyone, allowing people to witness and participate in the future of art. We were able to showcase this in Stockholm this past June and look forward to continue this in the future, hopefully with the help of brands and partners who understand the value this can provide for them and their key target audiences. You can read more about this case study in AI Sweden.
How to Support Us in Artizen Season 4
By purchasing our cultural artifacts, you'll also help unlock additional match funding for our project and and support our mission and continued development. Your contributions will directly fund initiatives like AI literacy workshops, development of curatorial AI agents, and live experiences. We will also be unlocking access along the way to some of our projects that are currently in the works.
Plan for Season 4 Funding
AI Literacy and Brand Rollout at ADE
Amsterdam Dance Event is the largest dance music in the world. In our effort to educate artists and teams, as well as showcase the potential of our products we are focusing our efforts on AI literacy and brand awareness during this year's October Event. We will also participate in ADE Startup Day. Your support will help us to execute this first initiative in our initial go-to-market strategy.
Devcon
We want to further encourage and provide spaces for artists as builders. In addition to aiming for a creative tech workshop we are also looking to host a public performance to showcase the potential of AI and Blockchain to unlock new revenue models and new experiences.
Plan for Match Funding
We will use match funds in tandem with our roadmap for 2025, which includes large-scale collaborations and a roll-out of a v3 of our tool VPM.
Artizen Season 4 starts today and kicks off our fundraising initiatives to grow ORIGIN STØRIES. You can purchase artifacts here, or reach out if your interested in learning more about what we're building.
