NEW YORK, Nov. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Following the success of its November Los Angeles summit, Artist and the Machine has announced that its next gathering will take place on May 14, 2026, in New York City. The bi-annual event, which has been established as the premier convening for decision-makers at the intersection of creativity and artificial intelligence, brought together handpicked leaders from Fortune 500 companies, major studios, and pioneering creative enterprises at The Preserve in Hollywood.
The LA summit featured executives and innovators from Mattel, Coca-Cola, AWS, Cosm, Adobe, Lovable, alongside Emmy-winning filmmakers, visual artists, and AI pioneers like Grimes and Shantell Martin. The event sparked critical conversations about how AI is reshaping not just creative production, but the very nature of meaning, authorship, and human expression in the digital age.
Three Defining Themes Emerged from the Summit
- Creativity at the “Speed of Culture”: Artists highlighted AI’s role in enabling unprecedented creative velocity. Emmy-winning filmmaker Jason Zada produced a music video with will.i.am in three days that gained 30M+ views in a week, noting, “For the first time, we could move at the speed of culture.” Visual artist Shantell Martin noted that AI systems allow her to circumnavigate traditional linear workflows and explore creative directions simultaneously. Mindaugas Petrutis, Creator Lead at Lovable, summarized the democratizing potential: “Only 1% of people in the world can code, but 99% of us have great ideas, and AI tools are finally empowering that 99% to create things themselves.”
- The Human Fingerprint – Intentionality Over Output: As AI raises baseline production quality, speakers emphasized that human choice has never been more crucial. Matt Zien articulated what he calls the emerging “meaning economy”: Artist and musician Grimes called for “approaching it with moral philosophy” as artists navigate new tools, while Christopher Sinnott, Spatial Computing and Immersive Technology at AWS, observed: “The best of AI has human fingerprints all over it.”
- Design Thinking: Building New Worlds: Summit speakers outlined a blueprint for creative leadership in the AI era that emphasizes building over consuming tools. Dom Heinrich, Global Head of AI Design at The Coca-Cola Company, and other speakers championed purposeful expansion of cognitive scope to shape new cultural experiences. The focus shifted from mastering specific platforms to cultivating a builder mentality, asking not “how do I use this tool?” but “what do I want to build, and what will allow me to do that?”
“We are at an urgent moment when AI is profoundly impacting our self-perception as humans, leaders, and creators,” said Dani Van de Sande, Founder of Artist and the Machine. “The LA summit proved that when you bring innovators across disciplines into the same room for human-centric, creative-first dialogue, you unlock insights that go far beyond efficiency narratives. We’re excited to continue this conversation in New York.”
“At Lovable, we’re trying to make software creation feel as natural as picking up a pen or a brush,” said Mindaugas Petrutis, Creator Lead at Lovable. “For years, there’s been this idea that physical art and technology live in separate worlds, and that AI threatens what artists do. What we’re seeing here is the opposite. Lovable gives artists a way to extend their work into new spaces, without losing the soul of what makes it theirs. Watching Shantell M and Moral Turgeman bring a piece they’ve been dreaming about for a decade into an interactive, living environment has been incredible. What we wanted to show with this collaboration is possibility, that artists can use tools like Lovable to expand their practice, invite people into the work, and feel empowered rather than replaced.”
New York Summit: May 14, 2026
The May 2026 New York summit will build on the momentum from Los Angeles, convening another carefully curated group of creative leaders, technology innovators, and brand executives to explore the evolving relationship between human creativity and machine intelligence.
For more information about Artist and the Machine and to apply for attendance, visit https://artistandthemachine.com/
About Artist and the Machine
Artist and the Machine is the leading Summit at the forefront of AI & Creativity. The bi-yearly gathering in LA & NY is known for its elevated, thoughtful curation that fosters inspiration and partnerships across creative innovation leaders, artists, and founders pioneering the future of creative Human-Machine collaboration. The LA AI & Creativity Summit on November 19, 2025 at The Preserve Hollywood gathered 300+ handpicked leaders in the space, featuring a Main Stage, bespoke breakout sessions & workshops, and interactive demos. If you’re exploring how AI is transforming creative work – you’ll want to be in this room.
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