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Forbes
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Taking Back Creative Control In The Age Of Generative AI
Ira Belsky, Artlist cofounder and Co-CEO. getty When AI first came into our lives, it did so with a bang, not a whisper. In every creative field—from design to filmmaking to music—we were told AI could do what we do, only faster, cheaper and, often, alarmingly well. The result? A quiet panic. The kind creatives rarely talk about openly. But the real gut punch isn't just that AI can create. It's that suddenly, anyone can call themselves a creator. The tools promise instant expertise, and the market rarely questions it. Creative work is starting to feel like a race, and everyone else seems to have a head start. If you're a creator who has spent years honing your craft, developing your eye and building your instincts, then you understand the feeling of losing control—not just of your tools, but of your profession, your identity, your value. Here's what I've learned: Creativity has never been about speed. It's about vision and turning an idea in your mind into something tangible and meaningful. That's where current AI tools, despite all their promise, still fall short. The technology is impressive. But the control—the ability to direct, shape and fully own the output—is where it's still playing catch-up. Creativity Is A Translation, Not A Shortcut At its core, creativity is the act of control. Whether you're writing a song, directing a film, designing a landing page or editing a reel, it starts in your head, with a deeply personal vision. The work of a creator is the work of translation: from intangible to tangible, from idea to artifact. So far, AI has largely skipped this crucial middle step. It spits out results based on prompts and patterns—often incredible, sometimes uncanny, but rarely fully aligned with what you had in mind. Your role as the creator shifts. You go from making to tweaking, selecting, settling. That's not control, that's compromise. AI breakthroughs are real. But the tools built on them haven't kept pace. Most have been designed to dazzle, not to collaborate. Take video production, where this disconnect is especially clear. Traditionally, shooting a video meant managing tight budgets, complex logistics and precise timelines. Scripts mapped every moment. Storyboards visualized every shot. Shot lists defined camera angles, lighting and movement. Control wasn't optional—it was essential. A single day of shooting could cost thousands, so reshoots could derail entire projects. Creative control became a discipline. Now, AI video tools promise to eliminate those constraints. No crews. No costs. No timelines. Just prompt and generate. But in removing logistical friction, they've introduced creative friction. They've stripped away the very craft that made great video possible. This is where AI disrupts the deeply human process of translating vision into output. The technology can generate stunning visuals, but it still struggles to honor the creative decisions that give meaning. It's not enough to just generate. We need tools that let us direct. Learning From The Old To Build The New This isn't the first time creators have faced constraints and fought to preserve creative authority. The history of every medium is one of working within limits, without compromising vision. Early digital artists developed iconic styles using limited machines. Indie filmmakers made magic on tiny budgets. Game developers turned low memory into immersive worlds. Constraints didn't stifle creativity; they shaped it. The pattern is clear: Embrace limitations, but never surrender control. Consider desktop publishing. When software like Illustrator and Photoshop became widely available, many designers feared their craft would be devalued. Some worried that mass access would lead to amateur work or a drop in quality. But over time, these tools proved empowering, offering professionals greater flexibility, precision and creative freedom. Desktop publishing was the creative tech revolution of its time, and it's a strong analogy for how we can view AI today—not as a threat, but as a tool to evolve the craft. Today, creative technology companies such as Adobe are following a similar trajectory with AI. Features like Generative Fill don't overwrite your process—they extend it. You can define where AI acts, refine results and remain the author of the work. This approach treats AI as a collaborator that enhances creative workflows rather than replacing the creator. This is the blueprint for the future of creative AI. Now is the time to build a 'controllability layer.' AI shouldn't be a black box delivering finished products. It should respect and mirror how creators think and work, opening new possibilities while preserving creative authorship. Now Is The Time To Shape The Future Building that controllability layer is just the start. The choices we make now will determine whether AI becomes a blunt instrument or a precision tool in the creative process. For creators, the path forward is about clarity. Don't get distracted by viral AI content that prioritizes novelty over nuance. Focus on tools that amplify your voice, not replace it. Look for applications that preserve your creative decision-making while handling the technical heavy lifting. Experiment with intention. Stay grounded in your principles. For those building the tools, this is your moment. The foundation exists, but the next phase requires creative partnership. Study how creative professionals work. Understand the micro-decisions that happen throughout the process. Design interfaces that honor those workflows and extend creative reach. The Road Ahead We're at a turning point—a chance to move from fear to fluency, from reacting to leading the charge. AI tools don't just help you create—they collaborate. They enhance creativity and return agency to where it belongs: in the hands of the creator. Every creative revolution has been powered not by tools that replaced artists, but by those that empowered them. AI is no different. The future belongs to those who take back creative control and use these tools to amplify their unique vision. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ixigo's AI Mindset: Use Tech Instead of ‘Just Hiring More People'
Ixigo's quarterly results were strong, but during an earnings call Wednesday, Group Co-CEO Rajnish Kumar spent much of his time talking about AI. And he's especially focused on revenue per employee as a key metric to measure whether the company's efforts to embed the tech throughout the organization are working. For the quarter, Ixigo reported annualized revenue of INR 22 million ($255,000) per employee. Revenue rose nearly 40% in fiscal 2025, while the employee count grew by less than 10%. 'This is only possible if the mindset inside the team is to use technology and AI instead of just hiring more people,' Kumar said. Ixigo began investing in AI in 2017, Kumar said, when it launched a virtual travel assistant that could track a user's travel history, loyalty programs, and preferences to suggest personalized plans. Today, AI agents run much of the background work, helping with tracking prices, predicting fare shifts, sending boarding passes to wallets, and interfacing with external platforms in real time. Non-tech teams like HR and marketing use these tools to automate workflows or produce content. Voice bots are being used for tasks that once needed human follow-ups. 'Today, more than 60% of our customer support voice interactions are handled end-to-end by fully autonomous AI agents,' Kumar said. 'These voice agents don't just respond, they proactively call customers to deliver critical travel updates, collect NPS scores or feedback and even follow up with business partners on behalf of our users or internal teams. This is saving time, improving service levels and enabling proactive customer care at scale.' This kind of automation came in handy during a rough first quarter for Indian aviation. Between temporary airspace shutdowns in May, the tragic AI 171 crash in June, and fallout from regional tensions in the Middle East, travel was volatile. Talking about the first quarter, Group CEO Aloke Bajpai said the team saw spikes in customer outreach for reschedules, cancellations, and alternate arrangements. 'With the help of our AI augmented customer support and newly launched voice AI capabilities, we got the ability to go above and beyond for our customers, and we were able to demonstrate more agility and responsiveness in these situations, helping us to continue to gain market share.' Revenue from operations rose 73% to INR 3.15 billion ($36.5 million). Gross transaction value increased 55%. Profit before tax rose 76% to INR 287 million ($3.33 million). Adjusted EBITDA was up 54% to INR 314 million ($3.6 million). After Elevation Capital offloaded over 21.5 lakh shares for INR 382 million ($4.4 million), asset management company Schroder International Selection Fund made an investment in Ixigo last month. Ixigo has historically avoided big ad spends, said Bajpai. For almost a decade, growth had been organic, led by product improvements and word of mouth. That changed last year, when the company began experimenting with brand campaigns. The strategy is still lean. Campaigns are backed by AI tools to keep costs low. Bajpai said, 'Our AI video production cost is 0.1% of what it would be with traditional campaign production.' Recent efforts include partnerships with cricket teams and regional festivals, such as tying up with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Tamil Nadu Premier League. The focus, according to Bajpai, is not on splashy spending but on smarter engagement. 'Our biggest achievement has been our ability to maintain leadership in the OTA category in terms of user base, not by outspending competition, but by continuing to see a lot of organic product-led growth as well as word-of-mouth about the overall customer experience we've built,' Bajpai said. What am I looking at? The performance of travel tech stocks within the ST 200. The index includes companies publicly traded across global markets including both online travel booking companies and B2B travel tech companies. The Skift Travel 200 (ST200) combines the financial performance of nearly 200 travel companies worth more than a trillion dollars into a single number. See more travel tech financial sector performance. Read the full methodology behind the Skift Travel 200. Get breaking travel news and exclusive hotel, airline, and tourism research and insights at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
14-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
5 Ways Strategic Philanthropy Can Stay Agile Without Government Funding
Jessica La Mesa is the Co-CEO of The Life You Can Save, a charity evaluator focused on eradicating extreme poverty. The global philanthropic landscape is at a turning point. Recent sweeping cuts to U.S. foreign aid have left high-impact organizations without the resources they need to deliver life-saving services. In this shifting environment, the future of philanthropy will depend on how philanthropic leaders adapt. We must be willing to evolve, respond with urgency and tolerate more impact risk around the changing global conditions and act strategically with how we interact, communicate and call on donors. It's about rethinking how we collaborate, invest and innovate across borders and sectors to ensure that progress is not only preserved but accelerated. Whether you're leading a foundation, managing a high-impact program or directing a nonprofit organization, now is the time to reimagine what effective philanthropy can look like. Identify the immediate and most critical gaps. As federal funding remains uncertain, the giving community needs to work together to identify the programs with the greatest funding need and highest impact on the largest number of beneficiaries. In order to identify these funding opportunities, major funders need to collaborate at a scale not seen before. They must implement ways to cross-share diligence and evaluation across their granting portfolios, discussing the best methodologies to prioritize funding across all of the highest-impact granting opportunities. And then they must coordinate funding to avoid over- and under-funding critical organizations and programs in the ecosystem. For instance, there are still major gaps in funding for health programs addressing malaria, tuberculosis and maternal health that could have catastrophic effects on the poorest communities. These areas, which saved millions of lives in the previous decade, are now threatened. By focusing on the most vulnerable groups, organizations can direct philanthropic resources to those places where they may prevent doomsday reversals for those groups and the world. Know your donors. Knowing your donors—and not just their capacity to contribute—is arguably the most fundamental component of effective philanthropy now. What moves them to give? What's the impact that drives them? As the philanthropic sector becomes increasingly uncertain, nonprofit organizations must engage their donor base substantively and reliably. By establishing relationships based on trust, impact and values, nonprofits can form long-term relationships that drive effective and impactful change. Reaching donors can take many forms depending on how your donor base likes to be interacted with, which may take trial and error. For example, when the USAID freeze and then permanent cuts were first announced, our team at The Life You Can Save, which primarily works with the most impactful global charities fighting extreme poverty, pivoted quickly to reach our donors. Increasing our newsletter cadence, cold calling donors and initiating even more personal face-to-face interactions with larger donors have helped foster relationships and trust-building across our benefactors. Work together and collaborate. I often think about how scientists and governments across the world collaborated to an extent never seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, enabling the production of vaccines and a return to normal life in record time. We need collaboration of this scale on both sides of the aid ecosystem. There has always been competition for limited resources, but to maintain and grow levels of service delivery and impact, it may be necessary to ideate partnerships, collaborations or even consolidations that will enable their work to continue. For example, the Rapid Response Fund—a partnership between our organization and Founders Pledge—brought together several different donor types to raise millions for high-impact foreign aid organizations. I remember the day I went to Dominic Finelli at Founders Pledge with the idea of uniting our organizations to bring this fund to life, right when our donors were looking for a way to help nonprofits facing funding cuts. From large-scale philanthropists to charitable startup founders to retail donors, funds created in partnership bring together more donors of different backgrounds, bringing in more capital for causes in need and making a deeper impact than if we all worked alone. Act urgently. Now is the moment that everyone needs to accelerate their contributions and get their capital off the sidelines, as this is a moment we can come together and demonstrate that we want to live in a more just and fair world. The velocity that is required to save lives and maintain critical programs requires donors to move quickly with rigor and balance. It also requires funders to be more flexible than they were before and consider relinquishing capital allocation decisions to experts in the space who have done the research to understand where capital can be most effective. Be flexible with shifting landscapes. The problems facing philanthropy today are huge, but they are not insurmountable. The approach you took last year may not work the same this year. The donors who showed up for you in the past may need more convincing now. Be flexible to adapt to the changing behaviors, giving patterns and financial aid that may no longer be available. By focusing on the most pressing gaps, knowing donors, building strong alliances, acting with a sense of urgency and possessing a clear plan for grant distribution, philanthropy can still make a difference even in a post-government era of funding. Nonprofit executives and philanthropic organizations must stay nimble, flexible and innovative to continue their effectiveness in this new landscape. To those committed to ensuring the world becomes a better place, these strategies are not just convenient—they are essential. With the right plan, we can ensure the work of stopping poverty, cutting disease and empowering communities is a continued success no matter what challenges come our way. Forbes Nonprofit Council is an invitation-only organization for chief executives in successful nonprofit organizations. Do I qualify?
Forbes
20-06-2025
- Forbes
The Rise Of Autonomous Cyber Agents
Ronen Cojocaru, Co-CEO and Co-founder, Imperative Inc. getty Artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving from passive tools into autonomous "agentic" systems capable of making decisions and taking actions without direct human input. These AI agents are already proving valuable as co-pilots to human analysts, enhancing threat detection and speeding up incident response. Yet their growing autonomy is a double-edged sword. As these agents gain more power, ensuring they remain secure, transparent and reliable becomes paramount. Early examples of agentic AI in cybersecurity, from automated threat-hunting bots to self-driving network monitors, demonstrate huge potential. However, they also highlight new vulnerabilities. AI agents can, unfortunately, be easily tricked or influenced by bad data, sometimes resorting to biased or incorrect assumptions, and users may place misplaced confidence in their outputs. In short, agentic AI is a force multiplier for cyber defense, but without proper safeguards, it can just as easily multiply cyber risk. Despite the promise, security leaders must grapple with several emerging risks from agentic AI systems. Notably, model drift, malicious manipulation and operational reliability issues are front and center: Model Drift Over time, AI models can become misaligned with reality as their input data changes—a phenomenon known as 'data drift.' This natural degradation in data characteristics means an AI that once performed well might start making errors as its environment evolves. For example, an intrusion detection model trained on last year's network traffic may gradually falter as new apps, devices and attacker techniques appear. Such drift opens up new attack surfaces if not caught and corrected, undermining the model's effectiveness. Recognizing this, recent joint security guidance from the U.S. and allies urges companies to monitor AI performance closely and treat drift as an expected challenge. Agentic AIs are vulnerable to adversarial exploits. Hackers can attempt to manipulate an AI's inputs or training data to distort its behavior. Tactics like data poisoning and feeding incorrect or malicious data into an AI's training pipeline can wreak havoc on its decision making. Imagine an attacker subtly corrupting the data that trains a spam filter or fraud detector—the AI might then start letting threats slip through or flagging the wrong items. Officials worldwide are increasingly fearful of hackers manipulating AI systems, especially those deployed in critical infrastructure. A poisoned or manipulated model not only makes bad choices; it erodes confidence that AI outputs can be trusted at all. Operational Reliability And Trust Like all AI, autonomous agents suffer from issues of hallucination, bias and erratic behavior, which can be amplified by their autonomy. Without proper governance, an AI agent might confidently produce incorrect analyses or take unauthorized steps. These problems aren't just theoretical—early deployments have shown that AI assistants can 'go rogue' or output toxic content if misused. Businesses have learned that an unsupervised agent's mistake can lead to serious harm, reputational damage or compliance violations. Moreover, when AI agents act unpredictably, humans tend to either over-trust them or distrust them entirely—both scenarios are risky. As one expert noted, current AI agents are still 'easily tricked' and prone to biased assumptions, yet people often trust their answers when they shouldn't. Ensuring reliability means building in rigorous testing, guardrails and oversight for AI decisions. In practice, companies are putting 'human in the loop' controls on critical uses and instituting AI red-team exercises to probe for failure modes. The goal is an AI that operates responsibly and transparently, earning trust through consistent and correct performance. Future Outlook: Roadmap For AI-Powered Cybersecurity While today's agentic AI is still maturing, the coming years promise a dramatic expansion of AI's role in cybersecurity. In this phase, organizations move from experimentation to real deployments of agentic AI for security. AI co-pilots become common in security operations centers, handling routine tasks and assisting human analysts. For instance, autonomous AI agents might triage alerts, scour logs for threats or automate responses to basic incidents. These early agentic systems are generally narrow in scope and operate under human supervision, reflecting lessons learned about governance. Shadow AI agents (unsanctioned bots running without oversight) emerge as a concern, prompting companies to institute AI governance programs. Industry experts emphasize the need for visibility into all AI agents in use and strict alignment with security policies to avoid 'rogue' deployments. Notably, businesses begin to treat AI agents much like employees: vetting their 'credentials,' monitoring their activities and granting only least-privilege access. As one analysis put it, AI agents can indeed augment overworked cyber teams, but only if we ensure these agents are deployed in a secure, explainable and reliable manner. Looking a bit further out, 2026 is expected to usher in swarm intelligence and collective defense enabled by networks of AI agents. Rather than working in isolation, multiple AI systems will increasingly communicate, collaborate and even negotiate with each other across networks. Cyber defenses could be handled by fleets of specialized AI agents, with one set watching network traffic, another analyzing user behaviors and others managing endpoint security—all sharing intelligence in real time. This coordinated 'swarm' of AI agents can respond to threats faster than any single system, mimicking a colony of ants or bees that collectively defend their nest. A new challenge will be understanding the emergent behavior of interacting AIs. When dozens of semi-autonomous agents interconnect, unexpected dynamics may arise not unlike complex financial markets or ecosystems. By the late 2020s, the industry anticipates a transition from narrow AI tools to cognitive cybersecurity ecosystems. In practice, this means AI systems with advanced reasoning capabilities are deeply integrated into every facet of cyber defense. For example, cyber defense systems will leverage AI that emulates human-like thinking and learning processes. These cognitive SOCs can ingest vast, diverse data streams, network logs, threat intel feeds, user activity and more to make connections that human analysts might miss. Cybersecurity ecosystems will become adaptive and self-optimizing. AI will not just react to attacks but continuously learn from them, evolving its defenses. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FirstFarms' top management is in position
The board has recruited internally for the CEO position. After a thorough assessment, the Board of Directors of FirstFarms A/S has appointed Søren Bredvig and Michael Hyldgaard as permanent Co-CEO's of FirstFarms with immediate effect. Søren Bredvig and Michael Hyldgaard have served as interim Co-CEO's since 1 May 2025. Both have, for a number of years in their respective roles as COO and CFO, demonstrated strong commitment, solid business understanding, and excellent leadership and collaboration skills. They will continue in their roles as COO and CFO while also taking on the overall responsibility for leading and operating the company. Chairman of the Board Asbjørn Børsting says:"We are pleased that it has been possible to recruit internally for such an important position. Søren and Michael are, with their deep knowledge of operations, organisation and economics, the right people to ensure the necessary continuity and continued operation of the company. Including not least the extensive reconstruction of milk production, which was hit by foot and mouth disease in the spring." In a joint statement, Søren Bredvig and Michael Hyldgaard say: "We thank the Board of Directors for the trust shown to us and look forward to continuing the close collaboration. We also look forward to continuing the collaboration with all our talented colleagues. Together, we will show that we are among the best operated companies in Europe, and we will build on the strong foundation that has been created in recent years." Best regards,FirstFarms A/S For further information:Please visit our website or by contacting chairman Asbjørn Børsting, Co-CEO's Søren Bredvig and Michael Hyldgaard on phone +45 75 86 87 87. About FirstFarms:FirstFarms is a Danish stock exchange listed company. We operate FirstFarms with responsibility for the surrounding communities, and we deliver highest quality which is primarily sold locally. We act on new opportunities, that create value for our investors and for the surroundings. Every day, we work on creating a more sustainable company. Attachment (24) FirstFarms top management is in positionError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
