Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In 1838, a camera for the first time captured a blurry, grainy human image. Within a generation, photography had matured. Every city had photo studios where ordinary people could afford a professional portrait. Painters panicked. The new technology seemed poised to kill off portraiture, a mainstay of their business. But painting didn’t die–it evolved into new forms, giving us an entirely new universe of visual storytelling, on both canvas and film.
What does that creative Cambrian explosion tell us about the AI era that’s now unfolding?
In this finale to the AI Mindset series you’ll explore:
- The birth of portrait photography
- How competition from photography revolutionized painting
- The unpredictable web of innovation that sprang from the first crude cameras
More resources on learning with AI: mru.org/courses/everyday-economics/learning-with-ai
Watch the rest of the AI Mindset series:
Part 1: 200 Years of Tech Panics: From Bicycles to AI - youtu.be/7-RzQxuBsQ0
Part 2: Pedal to the Metal: The Possibility Mindset - youtu.be/RuLHKnHn3dY
This video was produced in partnership with the Institute for Global Affairs (instituteforglobalaffairs.org/), a nonprofit research organization that works to increase awareness and understanding of geopolitics and global affairs.
In 1838, a camera for the first time captured a blurry, grainy human image. Within a generation, photography had matured. Every city had photo studios where ordinary people could afford a professional portrait. Painters panicked. The new technology seemed poised to kill off portraiture, a mainstay of their business. But painting didn’t die–it evolved into new forms, giving us an entirely new universe of visual storytelling, on both canvas and film.
What does that creative Cambrian explosion tell us about the AI era that’s now unfolding?
In this finale to the AI Mindset series you’ll explore:
- The birth of portrait photography
- How competition from photography revolutionized painting
- The unpredictable web of innovation that sprang from the first crude cameras
More resources on learning with AI: mru.org/courses/everyday-economics/learning-with-ai
Watch the rest of the AI Mindset series:
Part 1: 200 Years of Tech Panics: From Bicycles to AI - youtu.be/7-RzQxuBsQ0
Part 2: Pedal to the Metal: The Possibility Mindset - youtu.be/RuLHKnHn3dY
This video was produced in partnership with the Institute for Global Affairs (instituteforglobalaffairs.org/), a nonprofit research organization that works to increase awareness and understanding of geopolitics and global affairs.
