Creativity is the last best competitive advantage you have. This is David Usher’s message for individuals and organizations alike in the age of AI, especially as agentic technology promises to automate more and more tasks. What will set us apart isn’t processing power or productivity. It’s our distinctly human ability to collect ideas, synthesize them, and make something truly new.
David has worked at the epicentre of creativity throughout his career — first as the frontman of the multi-platinum, four-time Juno Award-winning band Moist, and now as founder and CEO of AI venture studio Reimagine AI.
Creativity, he says, is not an innate gift reserved for a few — it is a methodology anyone can learn and apply. In his keynotes, he helps audiences lean into this uniquely human skill as one of the most powerful tools we have in our fast-moving world.
From the Stage to the AI Frontier
David’s fascination with AI began with music — a natural fit for this award-winning singer-songwriter. His first project was with Google, building AI agents that could collaborate with humans to write song lyrics. From this, he caught the AI bug and opened Reimagine AI in 2018.
Today, David’s company designs and builds real-world AI systems at the intersection of creativity, healthcare, and digital identity — developing interactive AI platforms, virtual companions, and digital beings that help people preserve memory, improve well-being, and engage with technology in more human ways. David also recently founded Second Echo, a platform dedicated to helping people preserve their thoughts and memories before they are lost. This venture was inspired by his mother’s diagnoses with Alzheimer’s.
David’s journey from Moist to AI CEO mirrors the journey every person and organization must now undertake. The question isn’t whether to engage with this technology. It’s how.
The Power of Creativity
David recently joined tech journalist Amber Mac on her podcast, The AmberMac Show, to explore the power of creativity in the age of AI — and what it means for the way we work, create, and compete.
“When old models crumble and disappear, people are going to need new models — new ways to see the world, new ways to work within it. That’s going to take a lot of creativity,” he said.
We’re already seeing this happen. As AI-generated content floods every channel, people are pushing back and building something new in response. For example, iHeart Radio recently launched human-only content streams in direct response to the rise of AI-generated music. The same is true in unexpected places — chess has never been more popular despite computers having beaten every grandmaster for decades. Nobody wants to play a machine. Human versus human is the game that matters. These are new models emerging, built on a simple human instinct: authentic human creativity and connection have value that cannot be replicated.
AI won’t kill creativity. It will make human creativity more valuable. And that is exactly what organizations need to be investing in right now.
How to Flex Your Creative Muscle
David describes creativity as a methodology. It’s not something you do or don’t have. It’s a muscle and the more you use it, the stronger it gets.
You can start flexing that muscle by getting curious, he said. As we move through school, then work, we tend to settle into comfort. Curiosity gets buried. But when you reignite it, something shifts. Learning becomes exciting again. The world opens up and ideas start connecting in ways they didn’t before.
Start small. Set aside time every day to learn something new, follow an idea, explore a tool. It doesn’t matter where you start. What matters is that you start. And right now, there is no better place to put that creative muscle to work than AI.
How to Lean Into AI
The question David hears most after his keynotes is: where do I even start? It starts with building AI literacy, he said — not at a technical level, but a practical one. What can these tools do? Where do they create leverage? How do you direct them? “If you don’t know the language of artificial intelligence, it’s really hard to partake in the conversation.”
YouTube is a great starting point to learn about AI tools. Then, play around with them in your actual work and pay attention to where they free up time and energy. Don’t get hung up on mastering any one tool, David added. “I’ve been running an AI company since 2018. And what we were using seven years ago, six years ago, five years ago, three years ago — it’s all old tech.” The tools will keep changing. What matters is staying curious and engaged.
For anyone willing to do that, the opportunity is enormous. AI gives everyone the ability to do more, build more, and compete on a completely different plane.
Ready to Embrace the AI Revolution?
David has spent the last eight years at the frontier of AI. Through sharing his story, he empowers audiences to join him in this technological revolution, leveraging his experience as an AI CEO, musician, and bestselling author. He not only illustrates why audiences need to embrace new technology but lays out a roadmap to actually doing it.
His keynote, Artificial Intelligence and the Power of Creative Thinking, is a dynamic, interactive experience featuring live music, technology, and humour that has inspired audiences at Google, 3M, Cisco, Pepsi, Rogers, and SAP. If your organization is ready to embrace creativity and AI, David is the person to show you how.
Contact us to learn more about David Usher and how to book him for your next event.
