DMS 2026 — Featured Session | Lars Bastholm

From Threat to Dance Partner:
Rethinking the AI-Creative Relationship

Session Overview

A year ago, the conversation was dominated by fear. Would AI replace copywriters? Kill the craft? Turn creativity into commodity? Those questions haven't disappeared, but they've been overtaken by something more interesting: reality.

This talk examines what happened as AI moved from headline to workflow. We'll explore the emerging dynamics of human-AI collaboration — not as a utopian vision, but as a practical working relationship with real tensions, real trade-offs, and real creative upside.

You'll learn why the teams treating AI as a junior partner are outperforming those who treat it as either a magic solution or an existential threat.

The session also offers a philosophical framework for understanding the deeper relationship between human creativity and machine capability — helping you make better decisions as the technology continues to evolve.

Speaker

Lars Bastholm
Lars Bastholm
(Former) CCO, Google
Founder & CCO, Bastholm Creative Consulting
Lars Bastholm is a creative consultant working at the intersection of storytelling, technology, and emerging media. He advises brands and agencies on translating generative AI into meaningful creative and commercial outcomes. His career spans senior creative leadership roles at Google, AKQA and Ogilvy. Based in Copenhagen, he continues to explore the future of creativity through global platforms and initiatives.