Welcome to the Imagination Age

What happens when intelligence is a commodity?

For centuries, economic value was built on what could be owned—land, machines, data. But now, generative AI is fundamentally reshaping how we create, making the production of content, art, and ideas faster, cheaper, and more abundant than ever.

This transformation raises profound questions:

• When AI can generate any form of media on demand, how do we define and value human creativity?

• As creative tools become democratized through AI, does this truly empower more voices or dilute the creative landscape?

• In a world of infinite AI-generated content, who captures the economic and cultural value?

We’ve now entered the Imagination Age, where creativity is no longer valued based on its output, but by vision—our ability to guide AI systems, curate possibilities, and infuse meaning into the creative process.

The Imagination Age Is Here

Throughout human history, each era has been defined by what drives progress. The Agricultural Age was built on farming and land ownership. The Industrial Age was powered by machines and mass production. The Information Age was driven by knowledge and digital networks.

Futurist Rita J. King originally coined the term "Imagination Age" and framed it as a bridge between the Information and Intelligence Eras. But the Imagination Age isn't just a bridge—it is the Intelligence Era, defined by its most valuable output: human imagination.

What was once humanity's greatest advantage, our ability to process information and apply intelligence, is no longer uniquely human. As AI commoditizes intelligence itself, our capacity to imagine, to envision what doesn't yet exist and dream up new possibilities, emerges as the defining force of progress. This makes the Imagination Age — and the true unleashing of human imagination — not just a transition, but humanity's next great leap forward.

This shift fundamentally rewrites the rules of value creation. Just as the Industrial Revolution transformed physical labor and the Information Age revolutionized knowledge work, the Imagination Age represents an economic revolution that makes human creativity the core driver of value and progress.

The New Creative Economy

The Imagination Age is not just a shift in technology—it is a catalyst for the next economic revolution. AI is no longer just a tool; it is an amplifier of human imagination, reshaping who can create, what can be created, and how creativity is monetized.

This shift is driving three fundamental transformations:

1. Creative Inclusion

Generative AI levels the playing field by dramatically lowering the barriers to entry for those who aspire to create. Just as social media toppled traditional gatekeepers, AI now removes creative barriers, empowering everyone to generate, remix, and refine their visions—making imagination the only constraint. In addition, where traditional creative tools often impose rigid workflows that cater to specific skill sets and/or linear thinking, AI shifts this paradigm with conversation as code and by adapting to natural human thought patterns. This empowers those whose artistic processes never fit conventional molds, ushers in new waves of creators, and fosters a more inclusive and diverse creative landscape.

2. Creative Liberation

For those who already identify as creators, generative AI makes it possible to reach an entirely new paradigm of creative liberation and expression. Generative AI is not just a new tool for an existing creative reality. It unlocks a set of entirely new artforms based on the endless possibilities one can derive from its various features. From rapid prototyping and iteration, to immersive and context-aware virtual worlds, hyper-personalization at scale, infinite and real-time content generation, interactive and adaptive media and so on. While the abundance of AI generated content can certainly dilute artistic integrity on the one hand, the opposite is also true. Generative AI will undoubtedly uplevel artistic realities. It will amaze, delight, and inspire us in ways we couldn’t have ever imagined.

3. Creative Monetization

Perhaps most revolutionary, generative AI has given rise to creativity as a new asset class. Creativity now is modular, scalable, and monetizable in new ways. AI enables the fragmentation of creative identity, allowing everything from facial expressions to artistic styles to creative identity to be valued independently and exponentially expanding the economic potential of creativity. When training data is intellectual property, and any creative component can be fragmented as its own data set for training, and the output of that training can scale infinitely and indefinitely, new economic models will emerge that have the potential to expand the livelihoods of creators everywhere.

Why I’m Writing This

Over 15 years, I've worked at the intersection of technology, media, and the creator economy, witnessing firsthand how creativity scales in the digital world:

In digital media, I helped pioneer viral storytelling and audience-driven content strategies. In the creator economy, I developed new models for monetizing influence and creative work. Now with generative AI, I'm working with creators and businesses to harness these revolutionary tools and realize entirely new possibilities.

These experiences have given me unique insight into how creative value evolves—from social media's rise to the creator economy's emergence to today's AI revolution. Through this newsletter, I'll share perspectives and insights on what's next.

What to Expect

The Imagination Age will examine the transformation of AI-powered creativity through:

• Visionary Essays - exploring the future of creativity, culture, and commerce in an AI-driven world

• Spotlight Interviews - with pioneering technologists, founders, creators, and artists

• Deep Dives - analyzing emerging trends, technologies, and business models

• The Future of X - examining AI's long-term impact across industries

• The Imagination Report - curating essential news and developments

This isn’t about taking sides in the techno-optimist vs. techno-pessimist debate. Instead, we will approach AI with a techno-realist lens—thoughtfully examining how it is reshaping human potential, creative work, and cultural production by analyzing both its opportunities and challenges.

If you're curious about how AI will transform creativity, business, and culture, subscribe to the Imagination Age.