About the Episode
About The Episode:
Dave Hunt sits down with Lori Mazor—architect turned author, innovator, and CEO of Synthetivity—to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping creativity. Lori, author of TEMPERATURE, Creativity, and the Age of AI, breaks down how thinking differently about creativity, control, and collaboration with AI can lead to more human-centered, purpose-driven innovation. Whether you're a skeptic or an AI evangelist, this conversation will challenge your assumptions and reframe your role in a future shaped by intelligent tools.
Perfect for creative professionals, higher ed leaders, and AI-curious marketers, this episode highlights how AI can be a partner in expanding—not replacing—our humanity.
Key Takeaways
- Creativity isn’t magic—it’s synthesis. Lori’s concept of synthetivity reframes creativity as the combination of synthesis and imagination, not just inspiration from nowhere.
- Temperature is a framework for creative thinking. Borrowed from AI modeling, temperature describes the spectrum between order and chaos—and where human creativity can thrive.
- AI isn’t your competition, it’s your collaborator. Co-opetition, a blend of collaboration and competition, allows humans and machines to do what each does best.
- Letting go of control creates space for magic. Creativity thrives in uncertainty. Lori challenges professionals to relinquish control and embrace AI as a tool for exploration.
- Federated AI adoption beats top-down strategies. Lori encourages organizations to empower everyone—from the boiler room to the boardroom—to use AI tools in daily workflows.
- Creativity isn’t limited to the arts. Whether it’s problem-solving in a spreadsheet or generating music with Suno, creative output happens across every role and discipline.
Episode Summary
What is “synthetivity” and how does it redefine creativity?
Lori Mazor coined the term synthetivity—a blend of synthesis and creativity—years before AI became her focus. Rather than thinking of creativity as a mystical burst of genius, synthetivity frames it as the act of drawing connections from existing knowledge, experiences, and observations. For Lori, all creativity is built from something else—it’s never truly from scratch. This idea underpins her philosophy, her company, and her book.
What makes synthetivity relevant now is its alignment with how generative AI models function: synthesizing vast amounts of information to generate something new. Lori argues that AI doesn’t diminish human creativity—it actually mirrors and enhances it. It gives creatives a tangible way to understand that all output is derivative, even their own, and that this realization should be liberating, not limiting.
Synthetivity also encourages a shift away from romanticizing originality and toward embracing iteration, remix, and collaboration. Whether you’re designing buildings, crafting marketing copy, or producing music, creativity is about making meaningful connections. With AI, those connections are more expansive than ever.
How does “temperature” help us understand the creative process?
In her book, Lori applies the AI concept of temperature—a parameter that controls the randomness or predictability of AI output—as a metaphor for the creative process. Low-temperature environments (order) favor structure, repeatability, and precision. High-temperature environments (chaos) invite randomness, experimentation, and breakthroughs. Most human creativity, she argues, exists somewhere between those extremes.
This framing helps demystify creativity as something fluid rather than fixed. You can be analytical and imaginative. You can follow rules and break them. Lori’s temperature spectrum challenges the tired left brain/right brain binary and replaces it with a more dynamic understanding of how creativity actually works in practice.
She also introduces the concept of “co-opetition,” borrowing from game theory to explain how AI can be a partner rather than a rival. In this framework, creativity isn’t about conflict—it’s about negotiation and synthesis. As Lori puts it, “Red and blue don’t have to be at war. Together, they make purple.” This idea of harmony within creative tension is especially helpful for marketers and educators navigating the rapid evolution of AI tools.
How can AI make us more human—not less?
While there’s no denying AI can replace certain repetitive tasks, Lori is more interested in how AI can reclaim our time and reawaken our humanity. By handing over low-impact, high-effort work to AI tools, professionals can focus on the kinds of things only humans can do—connecting, reflecting, and creating with empathy and intention.
Lori’s “human-AI framework” helps organizations map out their workflows and identify where human involvement is essential, where automation is optimal, and where AI can assist without replacing. Whether it's a financial approval process, a patient-care moment, or a classroom interaction, the key is clarity: knowing when to lean in and when to let go.
This mindset also supports healthier work habits. In a striking example, Lori describes using AI to generate ideas for a project while she visited her father in the hospital—illustrating how technology can expand human presence, not diminish it. AI gave her the freedom to step away from the keyboard and be where she was needed most.
Why should everyone—from entry-level to executive—learn to use AI?
One of Lori’s strongest recommendations for organizations is to adopt a federated approach to AI training. Don’t wait for the enterprise-scale solution; start small. “From the boiler room to the boardroom,” she says, everyone should be using AI in some way—just like everyone learned to use Microsoft Office.
Her advice: pick a tool (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot—it doesn’t matter), use it daily for 30 days, and build muscle memory. She even suggests putting a sticky note on your computer that asks: Could I use AI for this?
Rather than investing months planning abstract enterprise use cases, Lori urges teams to experiment now and let ideas surface organically. The magic of AI adoption happens at the ground level—when employees are empowered to explore, remix, and create on their own terms. It’s not just about boosting productivity; it’s about cultivating a culture of curiosity and innovation.
Can AI-generated art still be “real” art?
In the final stretch of the episode, Dave and Lori dive into the emotional impact of AI-generated music. In a recent Humans of AI newsletter, Lori shared how she discovered another user’s song on Suno that moved her deeply—despite being made with AI. That moment prompted her to reflect on how we define authenticity and artistic value in an AI-powered world.
Her take: if a piece of work carries empathy, love, or meaning, it doesn’t matter how it was made. Whether it came from a brush, a brain, or a model doesn’t change the way it makes us feel. “You cannot steal what was never yours to possess,” she writes. In other words, creativity belongs to everyone—and perhaps, to no one.
As AI tools become part of the artistic process, Lori envisions a shift toward open-source creativity: a remix culture where attribution matters less than impact. It’s not about ego. It’s about resonance. The future of creativity may be less about who made it and more about why it was made—and how it moves us.
Enrollify is produced by Element451 — the next-generation AI student engagement platform helping institutions create meaningful and personalized interactions with students. Learn more at element451.com.
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