Almost a decade before San Francisco ’s streets were dotted with billboards urging business owners to “ Stop Hiring Humans ,” Dr. Maya Ackerman began working in generative AI — at the time, a niche field of about 100 academic researchers.

A lifelong pianist and singer, she founded one of Silicon Valley’s first generative AI startups, WaveAI, in 2017. One of its products, LyricStudio, offers a sounding board for songwriters, with brainstorming prompts and rhyme suggestions. But ever since generative AI exploded in 2022, Ackerman has noticed a trend: Investors tend to fund companies whose tech increasingly cuts humans out of the creative process altogether.

In her new book, Creative Machines: AI, Art & Us , Ackerman calls for a paradigm shift in the industry. “We’re fighting agains

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