Press Kit

Bio:
Steven Potaczek is Associate Professor and Founding Director of the Commercial Music program at Samford University, USA. An award-winning songwriter and music producer, he has written several Billboard Top 40 hits, placed songs on shows like Parks and Recreation, New Girl, and America’s Next Top Model, and collaborated with brands like MTV, National Geographic, and the NBA. He is the author of the Bloomsbury book, Fear Not, Creative: How to Futureproof Your Artistic Career in the Age of AI, and lives in Birmingham, AL with his wife, dog, and a decent-sized menagerie of pinball machines.

• Media Sheet

• Book Reviews

• Sample Chapter

• Sell Sheet

• Contact Information:
  Prof. Steven Potaczek
  Samford University
  800 Lakeshore Drive
  Birmingham, AL 35229
  steven@stevenpotaczek.com

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Potential Interview Questions:

• Your book is called Fear Not, Creative. Why are so many creative people afraid of AI, and are those fears justified?

• AI feels like an overnight success story, but you’ve written about its long and often disappointing history. Why is that important for people to understand today?

• Have we seen moments like this before, where a new technology convinced people that entire professions were about to disappear? What can we learn from those moments?

• Many artists feel their life’s work has been appropriated to train AI systems. Are they right to be angry, and realistically, can this genie ever be put back in the bottle?

• What qualities will become more valuable as AI becomes more capable?

• If AI can generate songs, paintings, novels, marketing campaigns, and videos in seconds, what is left for human creators to contribute? What is the difference between “content” and art?

• Why do you think being human may become more valuable, not less, in the age of AI? What does that practically look like?

• You write that “craft is the new currency” in the AI era. Why does developing skill matter more when machines can imitate the finished product?

• What advice would you give a young songwriter, painter, filmmaker, or author entering the industry today? Which creative skills should students focus on developing in the AI era?

• What makes you so optimistic about the future when the media hype surrounding generative AI is so ubiquitous?