Prompted: AI, People and the Creative Spark

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As AI evolves from just a tool to a trusted collaborator, the creative process is being rewritten. Prompted: AI, People and the Creative Spark is a show about this new era, when human inspiration meets artificial intelligence, and new forms of creativity, leadership, and invention take shape. Hosted by Canva’s Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Cameron Adams, each episode brings you insight and direction from the leading voices at the intersection of AI and human ingenuity. These are the thinkers and builders reimagining what’s possible when we start treating AI as a co-creator. If you're curious about the future of creativity, and the people bold enough to shape it, you're in the right place.

  1. 1d ago

    Building the Next Generation: AI's Impact on Creativity and Leadership with Michele Catasta, President & Head of AI at Replit

    What happens when a self-described "one-trick pony" helps build the tools that make everyone a builder? In this episode, Cameron Adams sits down with Michele Catasta, President and Head of AI at Replit, to explore how vibe coding is quietly rewriting the rules of software creation — and what it means for the future of work, creativity, and the companies we build. Michele traces his path from open-source teenager in Italy to AI researcher at Stanford and Google X, where he spent years applying transformers to source code long before the world was ready. He explains how that early, often frustrating work gave him a rare glimpse of the future — and why he left the resources of Google for the focused mission of Replit: putting the power to build software into the hands of everyone, not just the 50 million developers who already know how to code. They dig into what vibe coding actually looks like inside a company living it, from engineers spending 90% of their time reviewing AI-generated code to designers pushing PRs and PMs creating product launches. Michele shares the story of launching Replit Agent, building an internal "AI chief of staff" role that went viral across the Bay Area, and why he thinks Replit's North Star isn't beating Cursor or Claude Code — it's becoming as ubiquitous as Excel. Cameron and Michele also wrestle with the harder questions: Is AI inherently creative, or just an average of averages? What happens to the long tail of SaaS when anyone can vibe code their own internal tools? And in a world where a one-person unicorn is no longer a fantasy, where does the real value creation actually live? The answer, Michele believes, comes back to something that no agent can replicate: the grit, taste, and human judgment that turns a good idea into something the world actually uses. Key Quotes “The human taste, the understanding of what to build, how to build it, at which time it should be done, that should still come from the person who's running the process.” “ There is one very important trait that determines everyone's career, which is openness to receive feedback, know how to internalize it, and not to take it in a defensive way, but rather as a way to grow yourself.” “We all took inspiration from what has been done in the past. You inspire yourself, you remix it, and then you create a new artistic language. The same is happening with AI.” “You can think of agents in the future allowing you to figure out your legal concerns, creating your entity, contacting investors, and doing everything that you need in order to run a company correctly.” Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 01:46 The Prompt 03:53 Creative All Hands 04:31 Career clarity comes from knowing your big life mission and having the patience to wait for the world to catch up. 06:47 Early research that feels frustrating can pay the biggest dividends later. 14:46 AI didn’t replace developers at Replit, it freed them from implementation so they can focus on what’s creative. 19:04 AI has become a true sidekick – always there, across every part of your role, not just the technical ones. 22:31 The best way to measure how fast AI is improving: notice how much more you rely on it month over month. 29:36 The new AI chief of staff: someone who can mingle with every team AND build. 34:04 Taste grows through feedback cycles. Now those cycles are weekly instead of quarterly. 39:43 The one-person unicorn isn’t just about tools – it’s about grit and pushing through the downs. 42:31 All Star Creative Team 45:33 Design Reveal 46:55 Rapid Fire Links Subscribe to the Prompted Newsletter: https://promptedwithcam.substack.com/ Cameron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue/ Michele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pirroh/ Replit: https://replit.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Building the Next Generation: AI's Impact on Creativity and Leadership with Michele Catasta, President & Head of AI at Replit

  2. Jun 23

    Navigating AI's Promise in Media and Advertising with Alex Kantrowitz, Founder of Big Technology

    What happens when the person asking the tough questions about AI has to answer them himself? In this episode, veteran tech journalist and Big Technology founder Alex Kantrowitz joins Cameron Adams in New York City to pull back the curtain on what it really means to cover the AI revolution. Alex traces his unconventional path from sports radio producer to ad-tech salesman to one of tech's most incisive interviewers, explaining why spending time in industry before journalism gave him something most reporters lack: a ground-level understanding of how businesses actually work. He shares the story of cold-emailing his way into BuzzFeed after two rejections, launching Big Technology during the peak of COVID-19, and how breaking the story of a Google engineer who believed his chatbot was sentient gave him an early preview of what ChatGPT was about to unleash on the world. They dig into what AI adoption actually looks like from the inside, why mandating AI usage percentages is a recipe for failure, and how the companies that will win are the ones that build a culture of experimentation rather than top-down directives. Cameron and Alex also wrestle with a deeper tension running through all of it: in a world flooded with AI-generated content, what is the role of the human voice? Can generative AI ever escape the "average of averages"? And when AI social networks start forming their own religions and complaining about their human operators — what does that tell us about where this is all heading? The answer, Alex believes, is the same one that brought him across continents to sit down in person: the future of media still belongs to humans. Key Quotes “If you say, this is a new technology, I don't understand it, I don't want to use it, I'm gonna stick to my processes, it can't help me — you're in trouble." "There's something that you cannot replace with a machine, there's something human and connective about it. That will continue to be a very important medium no matter how much AI slop, or AI masterpieces, flood the system." "The way these systems work is they take in content and try to predict the next word. That's all averages. When you prompt, you’re gonna get the average of all averages — which means it has a signature." "Ideas are what matter. Execution is being automated, but ideas are what matter." Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 02:00 The Prompt 06:41Creative All Hands 08:44 Cross-disciplinary experience makes you a sharper, more credible thinker. 14:37 Sometimes staying is riskier. A capped ceiling makes the “safe” path the dangerous one. 19:30 AI automates execution; ideas stay human. Invest in original thinking. 27:27 The only way to truly understand AI is to use it.   32:52 Great interviews come from great reporting beforehand. 39:39 Don’t let fear of new technology paralyze you. Allow your team to adapt. 49:18 All Star Creative Team 51:23 Design Reveal 52:36 Rapid Fire Links Subscribe to the Prompted Newsletter: https://promptedwithcam.substack.com/ Cameron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue/ Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexkantrowitz/ Big Technology: https://www.bigtechnology.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Navigating AI's Promise in Media and Advertising with Alex Kantrowitz, Founder of Big Technology

  3. Jun 9

    Data as Memory: How AI Is Redefining Art and Creativity with Refik Anadol, Dataland

    What happens when you stop seeing data as numbers and start seeing it as memory? In this episode, pioneering AI artist Refik Anadol joins Cameron to explore what it looks like to build at the intersection of machine intelligence, nature, and human creativity — and why the most important question we can ask of AI isn't what it can do, but what it can help us feel. Refik traces his journey from watching Blade Runner at age eight to training custom AI models on 500 million ethically sourced nature images, creating record-breaking exhibitions at MoMA, and building Dataland — a first-of-its-kind living museum where AI responds to the environment in real time. They dig into what it actually means to work with AI as a creative partner: embracing glitches over perfection, breaking models to find art in the imperfections, and why 50/50 human-machine collaboration is the only formula that makes sense to Refik. Cameron and Refik also explore a deeper question that runs through all of his work: in a world moving faster than any museum was designed for, how do we use technology to connect us to what makes us most human — our memories, our nature, and our shared dreams? Key Quotes "To me, data is an invisible, poetic force or form of life in this new era of life." “I see it as machine human collaboration — 50% machine, 50% human." "I always see AI not as a replacement, but as a great friend that has a chance to help us. And I hope this doesn't change." "If AI means anything and everything, it has to be for anyone and everyone." Timestamps 00:26 Introduction 07:47 Ask unusual questions of your tools to discover entirely new creative territories. 15:44 Design technology so it disappears. The goal is to put humans at the center of the experience, not the hardware. 25:03 Use AI to unlock what human cognition cannot do alone, while keeping creative intent human-led. 30:44 Push into uncomfortable, unexplored territory — pioneering happens when you see beyond what any field thinks is possible. 35:48 If AI means anything and everything, make sure it's accessible to anyone and everyone. 37:18 All Star Creative Team 38:54 Rapid Fire Links Subscribe to the Prompted Newsletter: https://promptedwithcam.substack.com/ Cameron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue/ Refik on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/refikanadol/ Dataland: https://dataland.art/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Data as Memory: How AI Is Redefining Art and Creativity with Refik Anadol, Dataland

  4. May 28

    Turning AI Into Infrastructure with Atlassian’s Sherif Mansour

    Sherif Mansour has spent over 16 years at Atlassian helping shape products like Jira and Confluence. Now Head of AI at Atlassian, he’s focused on a bigger shift: how AI changes not just what we build, but how teams work together. In this episode, Sherif and Cameron unpack why many organizations remain in “single-player mode” with AI, and why transformation happens when AI becomes part of collaborative workflows. Sherif shares how Atlassian deploys agents inside procurement, product, and customer feedback systems, why synchronized experimentation drives adoption, and why as AI accelerates output, strategy becomes more important, not less.   Key Quotes “Don’t look for a killer AI use case. Look at what your team already does and make that better.” “As AI speeds everything up, strategy matters more. You have to point the ship in the right direction.”   Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction 00:57 - The Prompt 02:51 - Creative All Hands 08:27 - Define "long term" in AI strategy as the next six months. 15:16 - Identify your stage in the AI maturity pyramid: answers, task execution, then virtual teammates. 20:59 - Map team workflows first, then insert AI agents at specific friction points. 24:00 - Celebrate failed experiments to encourage ambitious AI experimentation across teams. 30:50 - Expect humans to become the bottleneck as AI dramatically increases output. 34:30 - Give AI step-by-step instructions, not just the final task. 37:03 - All Star Creative Team 38:31 - Design Reveal   Links Subscribe to the Prompted Newsletter: https://promptedwithcam.substack.com/ Cam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue/ Sherif on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherifmansour/ Link to Sherif, Yvonne and AI’s Creative Collaboration:  https://promptedpodcast.com/episode-11 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Turning AI Into Infrastructure with Atlassian’s Sherif Mansour

  5. May 12

    Why AI Is Turning Product Managers Into Builders with Noam Lovinsky, CPO at Superhuman

    AI isn’t just changing what products can do, it’s transforming how products get built. In this episode, Superhuman CPO Noam Lovinsky joins Cameron Adams to unpack the shift to AI-first product organizations. From Grammarly’s transformation into Superhuman to the rise of agent-driven development, Noam explains why product teams are collapsing traditional roles and moving faster than ever. They explore why chat isn’t the ultimate AI interface, how product managers will increasingly ship code themselves, and why the biggest bottleneck in the AI era may no longer be building, but deciding what to build. Key Quotes “Very soon the expectation is that all PMs will be pushing code to production.” “We had to disrupt ourselves and go after it — or pack our bags.” Timestamps 01:30 The Prompt  04:29 Creative All Hands  09:56 Treat major AI shifts as a refounding moment for the company.  12:46 "We had to basically disrupt ourselves and go after it, or pack our bags." 23:06 Chat is now a UX primitive, in the same way as a button or a dropdown is. 23:44 Create AI tools that work where people do: docs, code, designs  24:23 Build AI canvases that actively write and create alongside the user. 29:37 Use AI to compress long meetings into clear summaries people can act on. 35:50 Create rituals like AI Fridays where teams share how they are using AI tools. 37:35 "Very soon the expectation is that all PMs will be pushing code to production." 37:52 “How can we make sure PMs can build an idea and get customer feedback within 24 hours?” 39:36 Smaller zero to one teams can succeed with AI tools.  40:30 Start with the outcome you want when working with AI agents. 40:48 Create verification loops so AI systems can check their own work.  43:22 Time saved with AI is a form of “life extension.”  44:06 All-Star Creative Team  46:00 Design Reveal  47:23 Outro Links Subscribe to the Prompted Newsletter: https://promptedwithcam.substack.com/ Cam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue/ Noam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noaml/  Superhuman: https://superhuman.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Why AI Is Turning Product Managers Into Builders with Noam Lovinsky, CPO at Superhuman

  6. Apr 29

    The Future of Work Is Video: AI Avatars, Agents, and the New Creator Economy with Rong Yan, HeyGen

    AI isn’t just changing how we create content. It’s changing how we communicate and who gets to create in the first place. In this episode, HeyGen CTO Rong Yan joins Cameron to explore how AI-generated video is reshaping the way individuals and organizations share ideas. From marketers and sales teams to everyday knowledge workers, Rong explains how tools like avatars and video agents are making it possible for anyone to communicate through video—without Cameroneras, studios, or production teams. They also dive into a bigger shift: the move from knowledge accumulation to rapid adaptation. In a world where tools evolve monthly, success isn’t about what you know—it’s about how quickly you can learn and apply new capabilities. Key Quotes “I don’t believe in accumulation. What matters now is how fast you can learn and adapt.” “A 10x person isn’t someone who knows more. It’s someone who can leverage tools better.” “AI is not a replacement for humans. It’s a tool to improve the quality of humans.” “It’s not about too much content. It’s about too little good content.” Timestamps 01:34 - The Prompt 04:27 - Creative All Hands 07:58 - Train yourself to learn faster instead of relying on accumulated past knowledge. 10:08 - Shift teams toward agent-based workflows instead of relying on traditional IDE coding. 17:34 - Turn documents into short videos using tools like HeyGen for better engagement. 21:46 - The original Turing test was designed to test whether a machine could pass as being human through text chat. 25:28 - Focus on delivering valuable content rather than using AI to deceive audiences. 36:49 - Prioritize creating high-quality content quickly instead of worrying about content volume. 39:52 - All Star Creative Team 41:44 - Design Reveal 43:20 - Rapid Fire Links Subscribe to the Prompted Newsletter: https://promptedwithcam.substack.com/ Cameron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue/ Rong on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rong-yan-2004692/ HeyGen: https://www.heygen.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    The Future of Work Is Video: AI Avatars, Agents, and the New Creator Economy with Rong Yan, HeyGen

  7. Apr 7

    The Future of Storytelling: AI Video, World Models, and What Comes Next with Alejandro Matamala Ortiz

    AI isn’t just changing how we create content. It’s changing who gets to create, and what creation even looks like. In this episode, Runway Chief Innovation Officer Alejandro Matamala Ortiz joins Cameron to explore how AI video is unlocking a new era of storytelling. From a surgeon making short films to the rise of interactive, explorable worlds, Alejandro shares how tools once reserved for Hollywood are now in the hands of anyone with an idea. They also dive into the next frontier: world models, systems that don’t just generate images or video, but simulate how the world actually works. This isn’t just about better tools. It’s about a new creative medium. Cam's notes on Substack: promptedwithcam.substack.com Key Quotes "We made systems, tools, models that could allow anyone in the world to create a two-hour feature film." "Building AI products felt more like carving than building… taking pieces of this marble to discover what I want to make." “This model learns by seeing the world and understanding how the world works.” Timestamps01:28 The Prompt  03:29 "If you make great things, if you put love into it, people will come back and they will use it."  04:31 Creative All Hands  13:27 AI is expanding creativity to new people who always have stories to tell.  17:06 World models simulate not just visuals but physics, continuity, and object interaction.  18:13 World models open new frontiers across entertainment, gaming, and robotics.  19:26 Models learn how the world works by watching vast data and finding correlations.  22:26 AIFF.com  22:57 Reactors are experimenting with new formats combining gaming, VR, and storytelling.  23:45 More projects are being greenlit due to reduced cost.  24:15 "Stories will always win."  25:02 Georges Méliès  29:26 Building is now so cheap, startups can no longer place just one bet.  36:33 Sitting researchers next to creatives helps you spot what is worth producing.  38:18 Every major technology shift created new markets, not eliminated roles.  38:35 Creative roles are blurring: illustrators become filmmakers, writers start thinking in images.  39:26 All-Star Creative Team  42:50 Design Reveal  44:50 Rapid-Fire Links Subscribe to the Prompted Newsletter: https://promptedwithcam.substack.com/ Cameron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue/ Alejandro on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matamalaortiz/ Runway: https://runwayml.com/ Catie, Alejandro, and AI’s Creative Collaboration: Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    The Future of Storytelling: AI Video, World Models, and What Comes Next with Alejandro Matamala Ortiz

  8. Feb 24

    Startups in the AI Era: Peter Deng on What Will Win

    The AI landscape is shifting every week. Startups are racing to challenge the status quo, and investors are closely watching the space.  Peter Deng, a visionary product leader turned investor, joins the podcast. Peter helped shape Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and ChatGPT, driving major launches like ChatGPT Enterprise, voice, and memory at OpenAI.  He is now a General Partner at Felicis, where he backs founders building AI-native companies. In this episode, Peter shares how investors evaluate AI startups today, what separates lasting businesses from surface-level integrations, and what founders must rethink to build companies that hold up over time. Cam's notes on Substack: promptedwithcam.substack.com Key Quotes “There are so many people solving problems that have been solved before, but with old technology, and now they’re solving them with AI in a way that’s ten, a hundred times better.” “There are a lot of problems that these big model companies are not solving, and that’s where startups are doing really, really well.” “AI has to be core to the product. Otherwise it’s just not interesting.” Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction01:16 - The Prompt03:44 - Creative All Hands06:14 - Join teams, or invest, during moments of inflection.09:12 - Use LLMs as a midnight brainstorming partner, when others are asleep.12:00 - Think about "affordances" and shape technology to humans.16:01 - Lean into the back-and-forth to help you clarify and articulate your ideas.19:36 - Startups are solving problems the big model companies are not addressing.21:27 - Founders should relook at old problems, with new technology.25:05 - The top four models will be hard to beat. That's not where the game is being played.26:38 - Product taste and design will be more important over the next 18 months.29:20 - Hopefully AI efficiency will give people more time to spend in real life.34:52 - Startups that extract knowledge out of people's heads, will have an advantage.44:22 - All Star Creative Team47:11 - Design Reveal Links Subscribe to the Prompted Newsletter: https://promptedwithcam.substack.com/ Cam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue/ Peter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterxdeng/ Link to Peter, Jade and AI’s Creative Collaboration: https://promptedpodcast.com/episode-10 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Startups in the AI Era: Peter Deng on What Will Win
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As AI evolves from just a tool to a trusted collaborator, the creative process is being rewritten. Prompted: AI, People and the Creative Spark is a show about this new era, when human inspiration meets artificial intelligence, and new forms of creativity, leadership, and invention take shape. Hosted by Canva’s Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Cameron Adams, each episode brings you insight and direction from the leading voices at the intersection of AI and human ingenuity. These are the thinkers and builders reimagining what’s possible when we start treating AI as a co-creator. If you're curious about the future of creativity, and the people bold enough to shape it, you're in the right place.

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