Follow, Listen, Rate & Review (thank you!) in Apple Podcasts
Subscribe & Listen in Spotify
Subscribe & Watch clips on Youtube
OR listen in your favourite podcast app
In the ever-evolving landscape of art and technology, the fusion of creativity and artificial intelligence is opening new horizons for artists worldwide. In a recent episode of Creative Genius, host Kate Shepherd engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Troy Plota, the visionary behind Plotaverse, exploring how AI can serve as a powerful ally in the creative process.
The Intersection of Art and Technology:
Troy Plota's journey from a seasoned photographer to the founder of a groundbreaking digital platform exemplifies the transformative potential of embracing technological advancements. Plotaverse, his innovative app, brought motion to still images, captivating audiences and achieving remarkable success with over 10 million downloads.
Democratizing Creativity:
A central theme in the discussion is the democratization of art through AI. Troy emphasizes that AI tools can empower individuals with creative visions but limited resources, enabling them to bring their ideas to life without the need for substantial budgets or technical expertise.
Spiritual Insights and Creative Inspiration:
Beyond technology, the conversation delves into the spiritual dimensions of creativity. Troy shares a profound personal experience where he was inspired by a dream, awakening with a complete screenplay in mind. This narrative underscores the mysterious and often transcendent nature of artistic inspiration.
Building Creative Communities:
The episode also highlights the importance of community and service in the artistic journey. Troy discusses how platforms like Plotaverse can foster connections among artists, creating supportive environments that nurture creativity and innovation.
The dialogue between Kate Shepherd and Troy Plota offers valuable insights into how embracing AI can enhance, rather than hinder, human creativity. By viewing technology as a collaborative partner, artists can unlock new realms of expression and contribute to a vibrant, inclusive creative landscape.
To explore more about Troy Plota's work, visit Plotaverse
Key Topics:
The inception and impact of Plotaverse
AI as a tool for creative empowerment
Balancing technology with human artistry
Spiritual insights and their influence on creativity
Building communities through shared artistic endeavorsLinkedIn
Notable Quotes:
"Creativity is a universal calling."
"AI can enhance creativity rather than replace it."
"Community and service to others can help combat fear and anxiety."
Resources:
Guest Bio:
Troy Plota is a seasoned photographer and digital artist with over 30 years of experience. He is the founder of Plotaverse, a platform that revolutionized digital art by animating still images, garnering over 10 million downloads and reaching #1 in the App Store. Troy's work has been featured in prominent publications like Vanity Fair, GQ, and Rolling Stone.
Episode Highlights:
Discussion on the role of AI in democratizing creativity
Insights into the development and success of Plotaverse
Exploration of spiritual experiences influencing artistic endeavors
Emphasis on building supportive creative communities
Subscribe to Creative Genius, leave a review, and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/creativegeniuspodcast.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
You're taking a lot of responsibility for the downfall of what's been happening in
humanity and with all these things. I don't think it's so much we as much of them.
And as artists, we're always on the forefront of humanity. We are that pureness of
humanity. It's just the people running the show. There seems to be an agenda to
keep us in fear because we're way easier to control. From one artist to another, we
are all one and we're born to create. It's our duty.
Hello there. Welcome to the Creative Genius podcast. This is a podcast about how
humanity may be glitching, but creativity is the answer. We delve into the heart of
creativity. We talk about intuition and gut instinct and desire and innovation in the
human spirit. I'm your host, Kate Shepard. And today we're exploring a topic that's
both exhilarating and for many artists and probably For many people, a bit daunting
and that is the intersection of creativity and artificial intelligence, or AI.
Joining us today is Troy Plota, a visionary in the world of digital art and
technology. With over 30 years as a professional photographer, Troy's work has graced
the pages of Vanity Fair, GQ, and Rolling Stone. He transitioned to the tech world
by founding Plotiverse, a groundbreaking platform that brought motion to still images.
His app amassed over 10 million downloads and at one point was the number one app
in the App Store. Troy's journey is a testament to the power of perseverance and
innovation. After launching his app, Apple took notice within two weeks,
leading to discussions about integrating his technology into iOS. In our conversation
today, I bring to Troy some of my concerns and maybe even fears about AI and how
it relates to art and creativity. And he shares some really passionate and
enlightening ideas worth considering about how AI can actually be a tool that
democratizes creativity. Allowing artists who don't have big budgets to bring big
visions to life. Troy's belief, and he believes this so strongly and passionately,
is that AI is not a replacement for human creativity, but it's a facilitator that
can enhance our own innate artistic abilities. According to him, it really is just
another tool that can help us access the incredible ideas and visions that live
inside of us. There's a part of the conversation where Troy touches on something
I've been thinking about lately as it relates to AI in general, which is about that
this tool will become how we use it. That is to say,
the questions we ask it, the content we put inside it to populate it as we ask it
to help us generate new things, will flavor and influence what it becomes.
We almost have a responsibility to engage with it so that we make sure that that
heads in the right direction. If it's used for evil, it'll be a powerful tool for
evil. But if it's used for good, it will become a powerful tool for good. And
that's just something I've been playing around with. We also delve into the spiritual
aspects of creativity. And Troy shares with us a pretty profound experience that he
had over 20 years ago that led to the conception of an entire screenplay overnight.
I got the chills when he was telling me that story. Before we dive in, quick
reminder from me, if you love listening to this podcast and you find value in what
I'm creating for you here, please make sure you hit subscribe. You can leave a
review for me in Apple Podcasts and Consider supporting me on Patreon, which you can
do by going to patreon .com /creativegeniuspodcast. I've created an incredibly rich and
ever -growing library of resources to support you as you delve even deeper into your
own inner landscape of creativity and possibility. And when you support me,
you help me to continue to bring these inspiring conversations to light. Now, Let's
embark on this enlightening journey with Troy Poda. Thank you for waking up early to
have this conversation with us. Oh gosh, you're welcome. I'm excited about it. I
know you had some fairly significant adversity in the earlier part of your life that
you had to struggle through to get to the place where you've created what you've
created. Help us get to know you a little bit more so we know who this Troy
character
Yeah, it's a true character. I've been an artist also my whole life. I remember
like maybe it's like a second grade There was a girl in our class who was just
this amazing Artist as far as she was really good at drawing and she did horses.
She loved horses. Wow I had that like wow factors like what an amazing artist.
She's I wish I can do that. I can't
You know what It's like, y 'all have been through things. Like, what is the art
though, in what particular way?
So, you know, when I was like, a kid I was like, oh, be a sculptor maybe or all
of these sort of things. And then I picked up a camera when I was 13 and then
that was it. That was like, that was my expression. Like photography, darkroom. I
was never in the most scholastic child. We made it through another grade. So I
found photography in high school. And when I was a senior, I had seven classes,
and five of my seven classes were in photography. I was a photo editor for the
newspaper, photo editor for the new year book, photography class, and then like a
couple classes of assisting the photography teacher. So it was just literally like
everything was photography, and that's what kind of got me through school. And then
finally, my dad was like, You're you want to do what?
Vietnam vet, you know That's real sort of guy. He's like get the heck out of my
house kid. What do you mean? You want to be a photographer? And so get get a real
job, but I was like so I left at 17 That's all I've ever done, you know up until
about nine years ago. I started an app I had an idea for an app and I got five
patents on photo animation. And so if you've ever seen a still photograph with parts
of it moving, very psychedelic sort of feel and became very popular. I had the
number one app in the App Store with my first app. I took photography and just
kept going into digital.
So I launched an app called Photograph. So it's this new expansion of photography.
We released a desktop version. It blew up. I mean, it was just like, and you talk
about adversity, we got down to like, we're in LA, my kids were sleeping on the
couch of a friend's house, and we're getting down to like counting change for food.
And then we finally were like, okay, we've got to release our beta. We released our
beta. We did a quarter of a million dollars in the first two weeks of Yeah,
so it just blew it blew up and I just knew like I'm putting everything into this
Like I'd stopped taking photography jobs. You know, like I said, I was a slow
photographer for a long time So we went all in in this blew up Apple calls me in
and they're like we want you to come build that for iOS So fast forward now.
I Just released an all AI social platform. What does that mean an all AI social
platform? It means that all the content that will be posted will be some kind of
AI component. Okay. Whether it's AI photography, the video, or whatever it might be.
So I've been in production for many, many years. And so what this is doing, the
tools that are coming along now are enabling just anybody with a computer to create
Hollywood professional content. So now if you think it,
you can produce it with the help of AI. You don't need the actors, you don't need
the models, you don't need like the wardrobe, all these very expensive things that,
you know, it took, you know, a lot of money, if not millions of dollars to produce
some of these. Now it's like, it's like, if you, if you could think it and you
learn the prompting, which is what we're teaching people to um, you can create it.
So people who have all of this knowledge, um, it's no longer going to be stuck.
So my job is to like, Hey, let's, let's bring this information that you have into
the light. It's so interesting because what's coming up for me as you're telling me
that is like super like excitement and I can feel this, that sort of spidey sense
is tingly feeling of like when you don't totally understand something, but it's
coming into view about the possibilities of what what you're creating could allow
because I do feel like there is so much intelligence and wisdom and vision trapped
inside the human psyche for all the reasons you know we've shoved it down to be
accepted to be liked to be all I mean all the things for thousands of years we've
you know we've stopped expressing these amazing things and on the other side of that
there's this concern for I mean I I live in Vancouver, where there's tons of
productions that happen Hollywood North, right? And so the other side of me is like,
"Oh, but wait, what about, you know, I'm a jeweler, and actually so much of my
jewelry has ended up in like yellow jackets or, you know, in Disney shows." And
what about the art that goes into, like I've really appreciated how production teams
really actually care about what goes on the wall behind the person having dinner in
the scene that they're shooting and then the artist gets to say, and that can
launch whole careers. So like what, how do we balance those two things? They're both
important, like they're both so important. - Right, well, just because somebody's not,
you know, not hanging that piece of art on the wall and you know, even with your
jewelry, I actually have a friend that I'm doing a campaign for right now where she
makes hats, custom -made hats, and they're amazing. So that hat,
there's no difference, other than you don't need the stylist to go, maybe go put it
on, but so what you want to do is really befriend anybody within the realm of what
it is that you're interested in. Like for example, you're really interested in
inspirational sort of content, and you have a content creator who sort of thing. So
now instead of like having to like have the jewelry go over there, I've done many
shoots actually where we've had guards off to the side because we've had millions of
dollars of jewelry. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like diamonds or whatever it
might be. Now you can shoot your jewelry and you have all the branding stuff and
you can just send the files over and they can put the jewelry on. It's literally,
it's the same exact thing. - Yeah. - Wow. - And of course you get credit, now easy
credit. So now before, in the movie, who would know who jewelry there is? Now you
know. Now it's actually a clickable link that you can go. And like, by the way,
what was that? - That's always been such a miss for me. Like I'm such a magpie for
beautiful things. And I watch, you know, sometimes I watch whole series just because
I love how they dress a character. Like I watched all of Grace and Frankie. Because
the cashmere sweaters that they put Jane Fonda in were like, they made me salvate,
but every time I tried to find one I just couldn't. So that's always been a miss
for me. That's really cool that that could connect. Because I think the
misconception, maybe you are better at telling me about the misconceptions, but I
know one of my sort of objections or concerns is like AI is just gonna replace
everything. Replace the artist, replace the human, the humanity of the whole thing.
And from the example you just gave me, that actually doesn't sound like it's totally
accurate. - It's just gonna change in some ways. And it will replace some things,
but whoever dives in and gets into this and understands the tools and the power of
the tools, then those jobs are created. - Right. - I always like to use the analogy
when Digital first came about and there was a lot like maybe half the photographers
were like digital will never replace film and film is like You know got the
saturation and all this stuff. And so the whole the day it came out. I was like
order I had the first billboard in Times Square shot with a digital camera.
Actually, it's back in the fall Yeah, so but then you have these photographers who
were left out because they're like they're shooting film You know, You know, but
what did that do instead of having like some of the, you know, meeting format
cameras we're using only get 10 frames per roll. So we've got, you know, and then,
you know, switch cameras out or switch the rolls out. Now it's like, like, you
don't even eat, it's just, there's you that. So it gives you the tools to kind of
create even better. And that's what AI is doing. But what's really fun is with AI
guys, you can still do video, you can still do photography of, you know, people and
that sort of thing, but now you can just change the background, you can have it
very super professional, as professional as Hollywood. So, you know, so it's, it's
really exciting. It opens up more channels for creativity. I'd love to hear what
your, what the objections to AI are. Like what are the ones you hear the most that
you just think, oh my gosh, that's so not that's so not accurate. Like, what are
the big objections you hear? I think so many people who have a rudimentary
understanding of it, which is me, I'm one of them. I hear AI and I love it, like
I talk to chat GPT all the time and I've gotten so much value out of it and
blah, blah, blah, blah. But then I think back to like the Stephen Hawkin interview
where he was like, yeah, I could destroy humanity. Like I think a lot of people
who have this deep information about how it is and what it is and how it works
and who's in charge of it are scared. I think it is a little bit of a scary
because it's such an unknown. We're like that always with unknown stuff. - Right, so
it's a really good point because that's for me the whole point. So I have a show
called "The Y of AI." And so one of the things that I wanna do is exactly what
you're talking about is bring people in who aren't quite as familiar and so they're
not afraid of it. But it is whatever we feed it. Okay. And so that's why if we
if we don't jump in, you know, and that's why I'm like Pied Piper style, come on
AI, you know, it's really amazing what you can create. We don't want just the
powers that be to be in charge of this, right? We all need to be a part of what
we're feeding it and to understand that yes, I mean, there could be some dark sides
of AI. But as long as we're educated on what's happening and we could feed the
systems ourselves and be a part of it and understand it's a tool to help us, it
is what we feed it, basically. So who, I mean, that is especially right now in the
current climate of things. I think a lot of people feel like big business is
definitely the enemy. And we're scared of big business probably now more than in my
lifetime and maybe maybe my parents' lifetime. So when we lump AI into that equation
and we think that AI is being part of big business, the whole thing adds up to a
pretty scary scenario. Well, I've had my issues with Apple for sure.
Here, I was going into Apple like, "Oh my gosh, I should have been like a fanboy
for decades." Never Realizing that what they do to artists, you know,
it's it's unbelievable. So what you said is very true It's very right but another
reason why it's important for us to be a part of it and for us to to dive in
and Feed the AI and learn it as well. So that way it's not just them running it,
right? So we see the competition right now with China and what's happening with
different models and that sort of thing So I don't know. I just I'm just so
excited about it, But I think it's where the robots is a different.
Yeah. And I do, I think the very kind of broad strokes for people who don't
understand lots about it are like, AI is going to take away my job as an artist
and make me obsolete as a creative human. And then on the other side, the robots
are going to come and be strangling me to death while I'm desperately trying to,
you know, make my own eggs because I can't afford eggs in the store anymore. You
know, like, I think people, there's a very dystopian kind of vibe around all of
this stuff. And I'm really curious, I've had some really amazing conversations
actually in the last week just with chat GPT about the political, you know, going
to it saying like, "Hey, I'm Canadian and like my 12 year old kid "the other day
came to me with tears." And as I saying, "Mama, where we're going to hide from the
tanks when America invades us. And I was like, whoa, hold on, like, I know you're
hearing that stuff. And people do that, right? Like we hear, we hear something scary
and we go to the worst case scenario of it. And anyway, so I was talking to chat
to you about that. And I actually got like really, I felt, I felt better in that
conversation than I had with any news story I'd read, or any, you mean, because It
was very balanced. It was like, here's what's happening, and here's the history of
what's happened when things like this have happened in the past, and here's what you
could do. And here's how you need to resource yourself right now, because this isn't
going to end tomorrow. And I think it was just this, it blew my mind, this
conversation blew my mind. So I do feel like there are incredible opportunities for
us to engage with this intelligence in healthy ways. That's the part that's happening
is you have the press that just Just try scaring us all the time. Yeah. Yeah.
And so now we have new press. We have, you know, these podcasts, like you're doing
these amazing podcasts, and we've got, you know, individuals doing news on social
media. One of the things that I'm really excited about on Plotiverse is having
people create content and actually tell stories and actually talk about what's going
on in more of a positive way as well. So we have, we call it-- - What is
Plotiverse? Tell us about Plotiverse. I don't think we've, you've to explain that to
us yet. - Oh, okay, okay. Yeah. So my first app was Plotograph and that was the,
the photo animation app. So as I went along, so I, so I took the funds, but I,
you know, cause I'm so, I'm like, I'm so sick of Zuckerberg world over here, you
know? - A lot of people are, yeah. - Oh my gosh. And even back then. So I was
like, okay, Okay, I'm gonna create my own social platform. The heck with this,
right? Initially, actually, we were the top five recommended apps for Facebook, for
their whole ad platform. And then when I started my own social platform, they
canceled us and then they shouted me and me. (laughing) - Uh -huh, okay. - And so
I'm like, okay, I'm all in on this, right? - Yeah. So what is it, how does it
work? - Okay, so basically it's just a, it's a social platform. I've redesigned it
super clean it's made basically for content for artists a lot of times when you're
on these other platforms like Tiktok and they in Facebook that they're not if you
see the way it's designed now It's meant to keep you on the feed scrolling Mm -hmm
and then hitting the ads to where I've designed are a platform social platform for
people to engage to
And what's interesting, even though it's AI, and we have all these computer things,
it's like my job is to help people connect. So, Plotiverse, we have ambassadors all
over the world. We have, like, it's like my second family, basically. This is some
of the nicest people who are really amazing content creators.
I've relaunched Plotiverse for all AI. So, what I'm doing is I'm creating niche
platforms. So, the first one is for all AI for artists, and then teaching them how
to create, and then we're going to take this niche as well for fashion, for travel,
for any other vertical there is, so people can kind of really dive in, and also
we're not tracking anybody. So a lot of times people say, "Well, how are we going
to monetize?" Well, we're going to have ads on here for the different niches
because, you know, with AI, you already know who the customers are. They're content
creators who either love love content from AI or creating it. So we know who the
advertisers are for this. We don't track anybody. And the way that we do the feed,
also, there's no algorithms. You can actually select yourself what kind of content
you want to see anytime and any day. So it's all made for, you know, you kind of
tell it what it is you want. And one of the things that I do want to say is
A lot of people who are coming in, they're like, "I just want to do everything for
me." That's not what I'm promoting, actually. What I'm really promoting is, I want
it to be a combination. It's not just like, "Give me a popular video that will go
viral." A lot of people want that, that is not our platform. I want it to be a
lot more of really even creating short Stories, inspirational things,
news, whatever it is that you want, but it has a lot of the artistic elements as
well. So how much of what's being created is coming from the human versus the final
product that's being shared across the platform? Great question. A lot, actually. So
you can dictate, once again, you're saying you really like that sweater or you like
the piece of art, you could actually prompt that in, you could put the elements in
now. And actually, as the AI gets better, it gives you more ability to really tell
it what it is that you want to include these things. Right. So it's bringing your
vision to life. Yes, exactly. You said something a minute ago about connection with
people, with to each other. Why is that important to you. What does that mean to
you? Oh gosh. That always has been important to me. You know, so even ever since I
was a kid, bringing beauty into the world was always my thing, and I've always been
very social. So I just love connecting. It's just my natural ability to kind of,
you know, connect with people and to lift them up and to kind of get them in a
place of creation because that's what we're here to do is to create. How is AI or
digital art or the two together maybe even allowed you to deepen your own creativity
and or maybe even giving you some insights, you know,
self awareness insights like how what are the big gifts you've already reaped from
your relationship with these tools? I've been working on a play for 25 years.
You know, you have that project that you're like, I've been writing this and I'm
like, I want so and so to direct it. And at one point, when I get there, and I
do that one thing that's going to be, you know, put me in a position to go to
Hollywood to create this film. It's my life's goal, actually, is to create this
film. It's like it was channeled through me, actually.
So I do this call the other day my friends like Troy, this is going to change
everything the way that they've developed this so the The CEO who actually created
the matrix video game He said just on the fly. I wasn't even I wasn't even
planning on doing this He was give me a concept for a film real quick and I'm
like, oh my gosh I'm like my mind went blank. I'm like the only one that I know
it's like An angel comes down from heaven to bring humanity together like you know
I literally like this whole screenplay that I've been writing
While we're talking is alright. I'm gonna I'm gonna prompt He's he's prompting as
I'm talking and then we do the meeting in about 30 minutes later into the meeting
He goes here's our first sample. He's let's let's watch it So he did a minute and
a half trailer of just the verbal like 30 seconds that I gave him. It had pieces
of my screenplay that I didn't even mention in the prompting of this.
How? I don't know. But it was just like, and I actually haven't even talked about
that. I said, "We're going to talk another time. I'm going to actually show you,
you know, what I'm working on." So imagine, I mean, imagine if you fed it all of
that as the prompt is kind of what you're saying, too, right? I know. - Well, I'm
going to, that's the thing. So when you say, "No, is it changed?" Like to know,
"I'm gonna do my film." - So interesting, 'cause I would be terrified.
Like if I was in that meeting, I know, and I don't know why I would have done
this, but I probably would have frozen and been like, I can't give him my sacred
idea 'cause I need to do that myself. I feel like I need to curate all the
details. I need to, I don't wanna put that out, you know, sometimes I talk about
that as like passing the baby around the party. Like when a baby is really little,
you don't give it away to everybody to hold it. You need to take care of it while
it's little. I'm impressed and I'm a little surprised that you gave him the idea.
Like now, now where does it live? Well, well, the thing is, it's not my idea.
Who said who even says it's my idea? I had, I had like a really kind of spiritual
experience years ago. Um, and it was given to me. Like I had,
you know, something happened in the next morning. I had this whole entire screenplay
with details and book like completely in my head. Tell me that story. What happened?
What was, tell me that story. Okay. So I was laying in bed. Um, I was with my
wife and all of a sudden my cat was like making like hitting the blinds or
something like that. And I opened my eyes and there was this being in the room. I
had a studio in Atlanta with very tall ceilings. It was a woman, it was an angel
floating above the bed off to the side. And I'm like, I always have goosebumps when
I tell a story and I'm like, I'm not making this up. Like, I couldn't stop looking
and I was like, I wasn't afraid, but it was like, Oh, you know, I never really
had an experience like this. And I tapped my wife and I go, "Baby, there's a ghost
in the room right now." And she's like, "Oh, whatever, like you're just, you're
scaring me." And I'm like, "Oh my gosh." So for a while, I just sat there and
looked at her and it was really amazing. It was like this older woman and then she
floats up out of the room. And then I was like, "Oh my gosh, that was crazy." I
went to bed, I woke up the next morning. I have a whole entire a movie, book of
how to help save humanity, blah, blah, blah, blah, all this that literally is like,
it's my goal to do this. And I keep my whole life making excuses of why not to
do it. I'm going to be a celebrity photographer. I'm going to create the world's
number one app. I'm going to create a social platform. So when this guy asks me
what my idea is, it's a nudge from, it's a nudge from the heavens being like,
"Come on, let's go. 25 years, it's time to roll. I think that really needs to be
put out there." But anyways, I think that even he was surprised as he prompted it
in what came out of it. So I'm more than likely going to work with that company,
because if I would have given him some other random idea, it would probably, you
know, who knows, it wouldn't have been so from the heart, right? This episode is
brought to you by my art. Beautiful jewelry made with objects from nature that bring
you that feeling of wonder and aliveness you have when you're out in the wild. I
also make a very special series of necklaces called pebble bellies. These are smooth
dark stones that I gather with permission from a beach where the Orca whales rub
their bellies right up on these smooth dark stones. It's a part of their culture
and their tradition. These pieces are infused with magic. They look beautiful layered
together. I wear one for each of my children and I call it my little pod. If you
want to see what those look like, then get yourself on the waiting list. I only
make a certain number of them every year. Go to pebblebellies .com. Also find them
on katecheppardcreative .com or on lovemorningmoon .com where you'll also find all of
my nature jewelry. Sign up for each of my newsletters on those websites for behind
the scenes content discounts that aren't available anywhere else. And it's a really
wonderful way for me to share with you some of the best things that I'm discovering
in my little corner of the world that pertain to creativity and beauty and joy that
I want to share with you. I also do an incredible giveaway every month on both of
my websites for a piece of my work and it could be you. So sign up for the
newsletters while you're there.
Were you somebody at that time who was like asking for visions or were you a
particularly spiritual seeker at that time? Like what do you think prompted that or
made you open to that? - I've always been a spiritual seeker my whole life. I grew
up Catholic and I've kind of dabbled in different religions and read every book
imaginable being a fashion advertising photographer, body language, communicating, all
these sort of things were really important and then higher powers and God and all
these sorts of things. But at the time, I don't, it wasn't anything specific.
It was just that, you know, I was kind of on fire with my career. I was at the
time I was like the celebrity photographer of Atlanta back in the, I think it was
late 90s. I was shooting Rykeri and Usher and Steve Harvey,
all these amazing musicians and actors and stuff. So I don't know why that came to
me. It just, it just did. And the funny thing is, another part of that is the
name of the book is called, the character's name is Gray. And the name of the book
that I named it was Shades of Gray. Oh my God. So when Shades of Gray came out
years later, the universe like, come on, come on. All right, you already lost that
one. Let's go. It's, you know, I was like, oh my gosh, no, not this day. - You
snooze, you lose. I mean, that's-- - You snooze, exactly. - Elizabeth Gilbert talks a
lot about the muse, you know, coming in. Idea is not being these things that are
floating out there and that they don't really care. It's not personal. They're not
like, oh, I'm gonna pick Troy and then I'm dedicated to Troy until he brings it to
life. It's like, no, I'm gonna tap him and then I'm gonna tap Kate over there and
I'm gonna tap Sue over there. And whoever decides to say yes to me, that's where
That's where I'll go and then all sudden you see your idea kind of come to life.
I'm really curious if you have any insight for you about why those 25 years went
by before you if it that mean that is a What you experienced is a profound Thing
how are you able to look away from it? How are you able to even focus or think
about anything else for all those years and why maybe Why do you think, what's your
armchair psychologist idea of why you haven't done more to bring it to life yet?
Until now. Until now. I think it is because it's meant to be now and I,
so three, three kids later, my youngest is now 21. Now I'm in a position of my
life where it's like, you know, I had a little fire in my butt to have a
production company and like I said, I got distracted in so many different different
things. And, you know, Tim, I want Tim Burton to direct it. I wanted certain actors
or actresses. And I'm like, Oh, gosh, now those actors that I wanted, you know,
that wasn't an old person that I casted.
Yeah, time marches on, my friend, for all of us. Exactly,
exactly. Yeah, yeah, I get you. But now I can. I can, but who thought you could
prompt all this and then just create characters? It's a miracle, like what's
happening? What I'm seeing right now, and this is where most people don't understand
how incredible it is, it's just amazing. So what do you think now you could
actually create visuals of and movies and inspiration or whatever it might be?
This is very, very high level now, but like the, when I think about the
intelligence that's animating the universe, right? Like the thing that is from,
from the thing that's peering out of my eyes, looking at you, having this
conversation, then in you that's peering back at me to the little molecules in the
microphone that are like agreeing for long enough, like we're a microphone and then
form exists. Like exists. There's an intelligence that has to be at play to create
that.
Intuitively, I don't feel like any of those things can be separate. I don't feel
like, "Oh, yeah, but trees aren't part of that." AI can't be separate from that
either.
Right. The other question is, "What is AI and where's the information coming from?"
We've created these tools now to into the universal intelligence. Okay, so let's talk
about that because I feel like a minute ago we said that AI is just what we feed
it, but actually what feels more intuitive is that it's that, which is what we feed
it, but also this other volume of information. I mean,
I just got the chills. That's a crazy thought to think about that this is a way
like AI could possibly be a way to talk to God. It's kind of another way of what
we're saying. Yes. And I think there is God in AI for sure.
And vice versa. Say more about that. Say more about that. Okay. When you have the
dark and you have the light, right? Yeah. So we can't just talk about just the
light and think that there's no dark. We have a duality in our universe.
So that's why what you feed it, right? That's why I'm saying if there are dark
forces, we can't let them just have the AI and feed the AI. So us,
as humanity, need to come in with God elements and particles within all of us and
feed it the light and it becomes it is and we get out of it what we put into
it.
- I've been thinking a lot lately about and what keeps coming to me in my
meditations every day is that there is this, there's this energy in the universe and
our free will, like the definition of free will, is simply that we get to decide
whether we want to animate it for good or evil. I mean, that's a very rudimentary
way of putting it. Really, essentially, when every single person wakes up every
morning, they get to wrap their arms around as much energy as they can in all the
projects that they're doing and all the things that they speak and think and do,
and they get to choose whether that's gonna be from a place of love or fear. And
that is, I mean, we're doing that every time we honk at someone in traffic or hug
our child, like, and everything in between. - Right, exactly. So good point.
So now, what is Plotiverse? Plotiverse is somewhere where you can go to express
yourself. I'll have the tools to create it, all these things I'm telling you will
have the tools, the APIs built into it. And as the founder and the creator of
this, I'm really pushing for elements that are on the light side. I don't really
care to scare people. I want to bring more hope to humanity through my platforms.
How can we balance that to think? Even just the other day, I was like,
all my life, not all my life, but ever since I've been using tools like Google or
Apple or even ordering shit from Amazon, I've often thought like, "Oh, I hope these
guys are good guys." We don't really know what's under the hood at that level of
these companies.
It's starting to seem like under the hood of a bunch of them anyway, it isn't
good. They're not good guys. I actually really fear that there's a lot of people
are going to be really, really harmed if they continue to amass this power. And so
what comes to me in my meditation every morning these days is tip the scales. Your
job right now is to tip the scales. So every decision that you make, absolutely,
whether that's to get up off the couch and stop being completely overcome with worry
and go and paint something or go for a walk and look at a leaf or whatever it
is, that is our power right now is to tip the scales. Right.
So when we were kids, we had ABC, NBC, CBS, we had the a few channels, and that's
what they've done. Now all of a sudden we have Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, you
know, so they're just once again wanting to keep us bunched up into these platforms
that we know kind of who have their eyes on it, who even created these in the
background, right? I've had a lot of, a lot of pushback on what I'm doing.
They do not want me to do what I'm doing. Like, you know, there's a reason that
I'm not in the States actually, and putting this together in a really beautiful land
here, right? So what I'm doing is I'm creating niche platforms for people who have
these, you know, ideas that they have or these things that they really love in
preparation to put all these niche platforms together as one bigger one. So I tried
doing this a few years ago with just one big platform and the pushback that I got
is significant. So I'm like, don't look at me, I'm just creating this cute little
niche platform. (laughs) And so with my first niche platform, I'm teaching you how
to make the content. I'm providing the tools for you to make the content. - So the
content, so I think for a lot of my listeners anyway, I'm assuming that when you
refer to a social network that's based on creating, generating AI content, they're
thinking about those kind of crappy graphics that you get when you go to Canva and
you ask it to paint a studio, you know, here, paint me a watercolor studio or
whatever prompt you give it. And it gives you like a person with four fingers and
to people, I think to a lot of people, that's what AI content is. But that's not
what you're talking about, people are creating in these channels in the bloodiverse.
They're creating other. That was a few years ago. So I think that that's the thing,
of course, it takes a while, but some of the models now that are out there are
incredible. Yeah, first, we're getting four fingers and we're getting three arms.
Occasionally, you do get that, but the models keep getting better and better and
better. Yeah. So that's what I'm doing is I'm creating, I'll have all the API is
actually of the best tools. And that's my job is curate the best tools. So that
way, when you go to do something, you spend your time putting this together, you'll
have something that is really lifelike. But there's a lot of photographers and
directors out there who, and actors as well, you can use yourself. You could
actually go on. But once again, you don't need to have a whole crew shooting you.
You could even use your phone to shoot the content and then have the AI clean
everything up. It's just a tool to make things better. - What is your favorite or
what is a piece of content that has had the most profound impact on you? Like
something that you just has moved you. - Okay, move me in a really kind of funny
way. There's a group called the Door Brothers, D -O -R Brothers.
- Okay. - And they And before the election last year, they did a video of all of
the leaders of the world. And I'm not sure if you've seen this video, but it's
called Eyes Wide Shut. I have to get this video through our brothers,
Eyes Wide Shut. And they just did a spoof, basically, of
Hillary, you know, and I've shot all these people, by the way, I've shot Trump
multiple times I've shot Hillary. I've shot Bill Clinton You know,
I so when I saw that what they put together with AI, it's just it's it's funny.
You know, it's just kind of like
Brings a little bit more humor to the situation. Yeah, you know, we've just come
together. We have all the strength they just want to keep us in fear, you know,
the powers that be. And so we're like, okay, let's create things that keep us not
in fear. And I think things are really going in a great direction right now. Seems
like people are really opening their eyes to kind of what's happening. We're in the
year of the snake now, right? We sure are in so many ways.
I feel like, so two things, I feel like
This is a side note about politics and then I'll drop it But I feel like a lot
of the times when these really huge challenges come up that threaten us and make us
feel really scared and push Us to the brink are actually when the greatest part of
our depth is called to the surface And we get to repair the ways that we were
broken because the truth is actually the world that we created was very broken And
it was it was it wasn't serving everybody and that little girl, you know when I
was eight years old and I looked around. I used to live, you know, there was a
forest behind me with a little stream that trickled down to a lake. And I just
came into the world thinking like, it's a beautiful place and what miracles abound.
And then I kind of grew up and was like, are there any grownups who know what
they're doing? Like, what is this world? That was true, that intuitive inkling I had
that things were broken and glitching was true. And I feel like, so I just wanted
to to say that. I feel like there's blessings in everything coming to a head. So
I've heard you say several times "we," okay? Like you're taking a lot of
responsibility for the downfall of what's been happening in humanity and with all
these things. I don't think it's so much "we" as much "them," okay?
And as artists, we're always on the forefront of humanity. And you're like,
"Something's tapping me on the shoulder. What's wrong? I'm, you know, that little
girl with the stream. No, we, we are that, um, that pureness of humanity.
It's just the people running the show. They purposely, there seems to be an agenda
to keep us in fear because it's way easier to control, right? So as artists,
it's, for me, this is what drives me is I want to get these tools of creation of
people who really understand what humanity is supposed to be doing and what we're
like and actually even make things easier so we can get out in nature. That's one
of the things I talk about on Polariverse. Actually, great, use the tools, then get
your butt out there and go for a walk and go in for a hike and all that other
kind of stuff. So we made it easier so now you can actually spend more time with
your friends and in nature and actually connecting through the community so you're
not just doom scrolling.
What is your vision for healthy, happy humanity? What I see, I'm not sure if this
is, once again, it's my vision, but what I see is the answer is different cultures
have different keys to unlock, so it's bringing the different cultures together,
and so the only way that I can see to do that is to create a social platform for
everybody to come together. Right now, I'm on this little island coping on in
Thailand. And we have a Jewish community, we have a Russian community,
we have a Ukrainian community, like literally it's a melting pot of the whole world.
And everybody's in love with each other. And there's no problems here. And you know,
the Thai people are some of the sweetest people on earth. So that's, I find that
I'm creating a lot here and actually being able to work, you know, getting done.
It's just it's the governments who are the problem. In my opinion. I think it's I'm
very grateful that you pointed that out because I do think I do I do take on a
lot I mean I carry a lot of it personally I feel like I must be contributing to
this somehow and I'm sure that there are ways that that's true but but I really
love that distinction that it is okay actually to say that there is a them and
that they don't have our best interests at heart, and that it is okay to be an us
and find a ways to join together in. I interviewed somebody the other day who wrote
a beautiful memoir called My Mother in Havana. Her name is Rebe Huntman.
But when she was in her 20s, ended up in Cuba because she was just fascinated with
dance. And she learned, she thought dance, oh, to that point was this performative
thing in what she'd learned. She went on this profound spiritual journey where she
realized that actually dance is about summoning the gods and connecting with the
mother and like all this amazing wisdom that is absolutely missing from Western
culture. And it's why we're sick. Like we need that mythology. We need those
rituals. We need our ancestors. We need to believe that it's possible that an angel
could visit us in the ceiling of our room while we're sleeping. Like we need to be
open to those things and we're totally not. And I think believing that you feel
like you're this fair level person on this team and you have to be fair and that
everybody has. No, there is forces at play trying to prevent us from having that
and we need to combat that. We need to find ways to express more of this magic
'cause it's magic, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, exactly. And when you are connected
spiritually and you get the understanding that It's just a game.
This is just a game, right? And once you realize it's a game, you're like, oh,
okay I'm gonna play this game and there's the there's good guys and there's bad
guys and there's reasons for both But you can't win at the game unless you know
the rules Right. What are the rules? Tell me the rules. I've been wanting to know
the rules of my whole life. Tell me, what are the rules? How does this all work?
Well, the rules are to maybe in some ways not take things so seriously, actually.
That's the way, that's one of the things that I've learned is that, you know,
the press really kind of, you know, we're more easily controlled through fear. So
when we get into a space where we meditate and we kind of get into that zone of
connecting with God, connecting with our higher selves, connecting with all of our
chakras of our body and just being one. And then realizing we all are one,
you know, and then that's the state of like a bliss and creation. That's where you
can really create from, from that space. And then the next day, you know, you only
have, need a few things to happen. And all of a sudden you're like triggered back
into like the fear of the world. So it's either love or fear.
So just in helping each other stay in the love space and staying in our heart and
not in our head so much. And so then you have the masculine and the feminine. So
that's one of the things that I've been studying quite a bit for over the past few
years. I've been running men's groups and letting men know also, hey, it's good to
be being your masculine. You know, it's okay to be in your masculine. You know,
it's, it's your place of strength. And for women to know femininity, once again,
also is in their place of strength as well. And we have both sides and both of
us, but embracing it. I feel like you and I share an intuition around us being at
the birth moment of an incredible revolution. And I've talked to a lot of guests
who've said this in their own voices and in their own ways, but there really does
seem to be creativity seems to be stirring. You know, if she was a God,
I feel like she's just like waking up and like, "Okay, rational mind, you had your
turn and look where you did." No, we're going to do this. We're at the beginning
of a creative revolution. When I touch into creativity and she feels, she does feel
feminine to me. And I feel like she's been kind of very patiently like a mother
tiger with her cubs, like letting them play, letting them hurt each other, letting
them hurt themselves, letting them fall off the little down the hill, like letting
them mess up in all the ways they've messed up. But now they've kind of gotten
lost. And now they are at actually risk of killing themselves because they're not
hunting or eating or doing any of the things that you need to do to really survive
and thrive as a species. So now she has to wake up and go, "Guys, okay, I'm in
charge. I'm going to tell you how to become the best of you." And I feel like
creativity has kind of done that. She's sort of waking up going, "Look at what you
guys built when we just left the rational mind alone to run the show for all these
centuries." That energy feels really powerful. And I feel that presence,
like it's here, it's awake. It's so wise and poised and not doubting itself and
like, but very benevolent, but also doesn't really take any shit.
So there's going to be some stuff that gets destroyed, you know, stuff,
the stuff that didn't serve the highest and best good of ever. That's going, that's
going down. So it's this thrilling time of like, oh, what survives?
What doesn't, what's gonna happen? How is this gonna look like a new world is being
born with this intelligence driving it? That's my take on what's happening. What does
that mean to you? What do you, and what do you hope is happening? And what are
you most excited about seeing and where do you see yourself fitting into all of
that?
- Right, okay. So we just came out of COVID. Like we just came out of this time
where the whole world was locked down. We're all in fear. And so yes, so there was
that. And even a couple years ago, for me, I'm like, you know, I'm in court
battling Apple and these big corporations of the world and these sort of things.
So yeah, I was in fear a few years ago, and I was like, what's next? "What am I
going to do?" And so maybe about a year ago, I really kind of like after losing
all of these,
somehow miraculously losing these lawsuits of battles of my pathogens and all these
other sort of things and really learning that the whole system is rigged. (laughing)
You go, "All right, Plota, you got to get back to work. "You got to do it, you
got to do it." And then so what a gift though like what what a gift that was
because it woke me back up And now I'm in this creative space where I'm about that
I just launched another social platform here that can very much help humanity.
God's like listen here No, you're not gonna sit back on your lounge chair and Maui
You have more work to do there mister including this screenplay. So Yeah,
you are coming into a space of, you know,
releasing and once again, from one artist to another, it's our duty. You know, we,
for history, have always kind of led humanity. And for some reason, we need things
to crash in order to fix them. Then things are just going along perfectly.
It's just easy to kind of sit back. So now we have a little bit of a duty to
kind of move forward. And you have this podcast and you're bringing on all these
incredible speakers. And so you're doing your part very much. And then you're
creating with your own art and your jewelry and these sorts of things. - Yeah, I
think it's-- - Feel into that, feel into all the amazing things that you're doing.
- Yeah. And so it's easy to forget that. I think it's easy. So I wanted to ask
you, what have your practices been to keep yourself out of fear or because it's got
this kind of gravitational pull, right? Like you can feel yourself being pulled into
fear, and it's very seductive. And sometimes it even makes you tired. So you fall
asleep to it and then you're in it. So what are the things that you do in your
life to neutralize that or to pull yourself out of fear and remember to choose love
instead?
After going through my whole life and reading self -help books and studying different
religions, all these sort of things. The answer is helping others. The more that you
go into Pandora's box, it's never ending. It's never ending.
Interesting. I think that's the answer. And they said the indigenous cultures never
thought about themselves. They're all in service to the group, to the tribe. There
was podcast that one of my friends, uh, told me about called the Emerald podcast.
He's like episode one of the, it's called the Emerald. Okay. And after all these
decades of studying, this guy nails it. He's like, blah, blah, blah. And the answer
is of all of this is, uh, it's very narcissistic. Once again, even to focus on
yourself, to just sit there and kind of like, okay, what am I kind of do to
improve myself or whatever. No, it's in service. Actually, the answers come, and the
healing comes in service to others. That's really beautiful. That feels so true.
That really does feel so true. You might really like, there's a book that I read
called The Gift by a guy called Lewis Hyde. It's an older book, but it's like an
anthropological look at a lot of different cultures and gifting culture as opposed
to, you know, like all the examples of all the indigenous cultures around the world
who actually measured wealth by how much you gave away versus where we live, which
is, you know, and how beautiful and how much wisdom there was. And that's like,
that's a gorgeous book. I think you might really love. Ah, thank you. At the end
of every interview, I always ask everybody to answer the billboard question. It's the
idea is If you had this magical, and maybe it's an AI billboard, but if you had
this magical billboard and you knew that whatever Message was on this billboard would
reach into the hearts and the beings of all of these amazing human beings that are
out there right now feeling Lost or like any kind of attempt at being creative is
futile or Meaningless or worthless or and are really getting caught up in all those
limiting beliefs that hold us back as creative beings. And you knew that reading
this billboard would do something and crack something open in them.
What would you put on the billboard?
The first thing that comes to mind is we are one. We are all one.
I did a journey about two years ago, actually, I was out here,
I was in Thailand, and I'm in the ocean is a full moon, and I'm just leaning
back. And all of a sudden, I got this question. And the question was,
like, like, like, God, who are you?
And I was like, Oh, what? Goosebumps even say this, right? I'm like, Okay, this
isn't an immediate are like, okay, I'm going to think of this one. Who am I? And
I was laying back in its full moon. I'm like, the most bad, you can't even make
up how beautiful this is, right? And who, who am I? My answer was I am nobody.
And it was like ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And then the, the answer back
was you are everyone.
And that was like that you, who am I? I am nobody like even this screenplay that
I have who's who The answer is you are everyone we are all one and we are born
to create so the billboard is we are all one and we're born to create Oh I loved
this conversation Troy. Thank you for making the time. I'm so happy to have this
conversation with you. It was a lot of fun Thank you again for joining me on
another episode of the Creative Genius podcast. I hope that listening to Troy spark
something in you, broadened your own concept of what's possible for us with AI.
If you take one thing from this episode today, I hope it's this. There are always
tools we've never tried before, and embracing them can lead us to new perspectives
that can amplify our own creative potential and allow us to express the depths of
our humanity and our creativity in brand new ways.
And remember to subscribe, leave a review, and support me on Patreon at patreon .com
/TheCreativeGenius podcast. And as always, drop me in line if you heard something here
that you want to talk about with me in person. I love hearing from you. It
actually fuels my mission to explore the boundless realms of creativity and create
this podcast for you in a way that is hard for me to describe. So be in touch.
Until next time, keep creating, keep trying new things and stay tethered to your
inspiration. It's taking you somewhere amazing.
Make sure you're signed up for my newsletter. I pick a random person from my email
list once every month and send them an original piece of my artwork. It's one of
my favorite things to do. It takes a lot to put together the show. Please consider
supporting me to do it. You can visit patreon .com /creativegeniuspodcast to find out
more and please keep my jewelry or paintings and especially gratitude birds which
keeps selling out in mind next time you're looking for a treat for yourself or for
a loved one. You can find everything I've mentioned on kchepardcreative .com. Thank
you for being here, for opening your heart and for listening. My wish and intention
for this show is that it reach into your heart and stir the beautiful thing that
lives in there. May you find and unleash your creative genius.
Leave a comment