The AI professor at the crossroads of creativity and innovation

Most speakers on AI found the topic in 2023.

Maya Ackerman got a doctorate in machine learning in 2014.

That decade of head start shapes how she talks about AI — the opportunities, the limitations, and the parts that matter for organizations trying to stay creative when the tools keep changing. I've been a fan of her work for a while, and I'm thrilled to share that she's now joining Silicon Valley Speakers as an exclusive speaker.

🏆 Speaker Spotlight: Maya Ackerman, PhD.

Maya has been researching generative AI since before most people were familiar with what AI was. She co-founded WaveAI, a pre-LLM AI startup, and built LyricStudio — an AI songwriting assistant used by millions of people. She launched a product with real users, built from scratch, before the generative AI boom made it fashionable.

She's also an AI Professor at Santa Clara University, where she teaches Machine Learning and Computational Creativity. Her research sits at the intersection of both: how do you design AI systems that genuinely collaborate with human creativity rather than replacing it or getting in the way of it?

She's brought that question to the United Nations, Google, IBM Research, Microsoft, Oxford, and Stanford. The Silicon Valley Business Journal named her a Woman of Influence. She has over 50 peer-reviewed publications and just published Creative Machines: AI, Art & Us (Wiley, 2025).

What she talks about:

Her keynotes focus on what creativity and innovation really mean in an age of AI — and how organizations hold onto their creative edge when the tools are moving faster than strategy can keep up. She's not here to tell you AI will take your job. She's here to help audiences think clearly about what human creativity does that AI can't replicate, and how the two can work together to make both better.

The framework she laid out back in Issue 01 stuck with me: AI isn't successful when it creates without us. It's successful when it elevates what we're already capable of.

The thing that surprises every audience:

Maya is also a trained pianist and opera singer. She doesn't just talk about the intersection of AI and human creativity — she demonstrates it live, weaving performance into her keynote in a way that makes the whole argument land differently than words alone can.

It's one of those things you have to see to understand why it works. And it works.

If you're planning an event and want a speaker who brings genuine academic depth, real startup experience, and a perspective on AI that goes back further than the hype cycle — Maya is the real deal.

You can learn more here or reply to this email directly if you want to explore booking her for your next event.

Till next time,

Noah Cheyer

Do More With Less Using AI

PS: Know an event planner who's been searching for an AI speaker with actual substance behind the slides? Forward this one their way.