--- title: 'Humans Are Still in Charge': Cannes Lions Leaders on Creativity in the AI Age description: At a TIME100 Talk in Cannes, industry insiders say AI is changing filmmaking, but humans remain the creative force behind the work. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/06/23/cannes-autodesk-time100-talk/ author: Ayesha Javed article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-06-24T16:04:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-26T19:49:12.982Z og:title: 'Humans Are Still in Charge': Cannes Lions Leaders on Creativity in the AI Age og:description: At a TIME100 Talk in Cannes, industry insiders say AI is changing filmmaking, but humans remain the creative force behind the work. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/06/23/cannes-autodesk-time100-talk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00b32f04fbd46b4f/6a3bff8105c818cc3d2aa6b2/time-100-talk-cannes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: time-100-talk-cannes.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Humans Are Still in Charge': Cannes Lions Leaders on Creativity in the AI Age twitter:description: At a TIME100 Talk in Cannes, industry insiders say AI is changing filmmaking, but humans remain the creative force behind the work. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00b32f04fbd46b4f/6a3bff8105c818cc3d2aa6b2/time-100-talk-cannes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Humans Are Still in Charge': Cannes Lions Leaders on Creativity in the AI Age > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: 'Humans Are Still In Charge': Cannes Lions Leaders On Creativity In The AI Age [Watch (HLS stream): 'Humans Are Still In Charge': Cannes Lions Leaders On Creativity In The AI Age](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wiG0LsnI.m3u8) (37:56)  _Published 2026-06-26. At a TIME100 Talk in Cannes, industry insiders say AI is changing filmmaking, but humans remain the creative force behind the work._  by [Ayesha Javed](https://time.com/author/ayesha-javed/)  ## Ayesha Javed Javed is a senior editor at TIME, based in the London bureau. Jun 24, 2026 4:04 PM UTC  by [Ayesha Javed](https://time.com/author/ayesha-javed/)  ## Ayesha Javed Javed is a senior editor at TIME, based in the London bureau. Jun 24, 2026 4:04 PM UTC AI may be playing an increasing role in filmmaking, but humans are the drivers of the creative process, a panel of industry insiders said during a TIME100 Talk in Cannes, France on June 23. “AI is raising the floor for everyone, but it's still human ingenuity and creativity that is going to vault the ceiling,” said Dara Treseder, chief marketing officer of Autodesk, which builds software for 3D design, engineering, and entertainment, and sponsored the event. It’s up to users to know when they should and shouldn’t use the technology, she said. “Our customers are not starting with an existing process and just layering AI on top of it, but instead they're being very thoughtful about ‘what is the outcome I want to accomplish, and how do I redesign what the process should be with the new tools and technology I have available?’” Lincoln Wallen, who leads technology for visual effects house Framestore, emphasized the distinction between syntax and semantics, when thinking about AI’s potential uses. “AI is an amazing technology for managing and accelerating the work that we do with syntax, and that's syntax in language and syntax in image,” he noted, citing the benefits and cost savings that the technology can provide. “When it comes to meaning, that's a whole other ball game,” he said, adding that the idea that AI can “work in a semantic world” was a “fallacy.” “We're the ones that determine what things mean, we read things, we write things, we're the ones doing the communication. So, the question is how much control you get” he said. “The current AI systems aren't controllable, which means they're not very good at allowing people to express what they want to do, what they want to say.” That creates more friction than benefit in the creative process, he said. Discussing whether AI could help to lower barriers to entry by taking on some post-production work and thus reducing costs, documentary filmmaker Lauren Greenfield said that most of the expenses are associated with the essential workers needed during the production process. “I think where you can save is organizing all of your footage and transcribing, and maybe a first cut.” She added: “I do think there are a lot of technical parts that will become more efficient, but I don't think it's going to change the human part.” Greenfield noted that in the age of AI, she believes that authenticity is “being valued more than ever.” “We're in the new industrial revolution,” said Treseder. “AI is here to stay, but AI is not replacing humans…AI is here to serve humanity, but humans are still in charge.” _TIME100 Talks: Creativity at Machine Speed: Keeping Brands Human in the Age of AI was presented by Autodesk._ **_Correction, June 25_** _The original version of this story misstated Treseder's title. It is chief marketing officer, not chief marketing and commercial officer._ ## Transcript We are talking about creativity, a machine speed, human expression in the age of AI. What is that? Let's talk about it. So AI is reshaping the creative process in all sorts of ways, especially in filmmaking. I think this is at the forefront of every conversation in Hollywood right now. Um, so tonight we're joined by Dara Treseder, who's the chief marketing officer at Autodesk. Hi, Dara. Um, the software company that is architecting and engineering new production processes. We also have Lauren Greenfield, an award winning documentary filmmaker, commercial director and founder of the production Company Institute, and Lincoln Wallen, who leads technology for Framestore, an award winning VFX house at the forefront of AI film technology. Welcome, everyone. So Dara, let's get into it. As CMO of Autodesk, you're working with some of the world's largest creative institutions, filmmakers, studios, animators all across the, the, the gamut, um, helping to develop the tools that shape their work. We've spent the last few years talking about pilots and experiments and AI is just kind of getting off the ground. But are we entering a new stage where it's really, uh, in the mainstream of the industry? It absolutely is. Now we're in a new stage. We're in a golden era where creatives who have excellent taste, all of our customers have amazing tastes, um, are now in the mastery of the technology. They are mastering the programming techniques, mastering AI and the different tools available so that they know how and when to use it, and also have the discernment to know when not to. Right. Because AI is raising the floor for everyone, but it's still human ingenuity and creativity that is going to vault the ceiling. And so we are seeing that our customers are starting to really implement this into their processes. And I think what's really interesting is our customers are not starting with an existing process and just layering AI on top of it, but instead they're being very thoughtful about what is the outcome I want to accomplish and how do I redesign what the process should be with the new tools and technology I have available and the amazing artists I have, because it's so important that creatives continue to have control of their art. So this is a tool like any other tool, right? I think I'm like, we're in the new industrial revolution. AI is here to stay, but AI is not replacing humans. It won't because AI is here to serve humanity, right? And humans are AI. You know, AI is here to serve humanity, but humans are still in charge. And so the conversation we're having with our customers is moving into the implementation phase of how do we design a new system with human and machines that allows our machines to take care of some of the automate some of the tasks, make the processes better so our humans can continue to be in control of making beautiful art. Awesome. Good answer. So, Lincoln, I want to hear a little bit about how this shows up in real life. Um, at Framestore, you're responsible for, uh, some of the most technologically ambitious movies we've seen. Uh, Wicked Gladiator two. We were just talking about gravity. Um, what has surprised you about things you can do with AI in film? What was a specific example of a really exciting moment for you? Uh, using AI in a movie. Uh, using AI in a movie. So first of all, I would say is, um, it's worth making a distinction when talking about AI between syntax and meaning. And AI is an amazing technology for, um, managing and accelerating the work that we do with syntax. And, um, that syntax in language and syntax in image when it comes to meaning, that's a whole other ballgame. And you know, the pros and cons of AI as it sits today. First of all, it's a technique for making things for technique, for making tools. It's a programming paradigm. And so one shouldn't be thinking as one goes into the future about which AI is better than the other. All organizations should understand how to speak and work with AI, how to engineer with with machine learning, because there are solutions that they can build. And so. so we've been extremely aggressive at using that technique to reshape the syntax of image production. Massive efficiencies, real change in process. And yes, it's taken really boring tasks off of the off the hands of some artists and allowed them to do more creative work. So it's incredibly exciting. And then there's the other side. When you get the idea that that AI can actually, um, work in the semantic world. And that's of course a fallacy. We are the ones that determine what things mean. We read things, we write things. We're the ones doing the communication. So the question is how much control do you get. And so I'm really excited about the syntactic side, massive benefits as companies get used to doing that. It'll be a big change economically. On the semantic side, we've got some problems. The current AI I systems aren't controllable, which means they're not very good at allowing people to express what they want to, what they want to say. So right now, they act as a bit of a friction on the creative process. Um, the promise is there, but the design is not yet right. So I don't have a great example where, um, you know, AI systems have really helped the creative side of filmmaking, but I have masses of examples where it's actually owned the syntactic side. Now you could say, oh, that's automation. It's a little bit more subtle than that. But I think if you start with that distinction work, you know, what are you talking about? Then one side is really good right now. The other side is still problematic. A lot of work to do. So I want to get into a little bit of what we were talking about before this panel about sort of the lines between truth and fiction. Um, with AI, there's a lot of, um, I mean, the example I'll give to give some insight into my personality is, uh, is um, mission impossible. You all know and love Mission impossible. I'm not an action movie person, but I love Mission Impossible because I love going to the theater and saying, oh my God, Tom cruise learned how to hang from a plane. Um, and I know that he really did that. Uh, and that feels amazing to me because it's a human feat and it feels true. And I wonder what it means for the viewing experience. If that becomes AI generated, the actor becomes AI generated. And you had some interesting thoughts on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, you said that to me and I said, yeah, but you don't realize how much of those images are manufactured, Crafted to have exactly the impact on you that they are having. That's a great sort of attribute to the to the artist, the filmmakers, directors and writers and so on that actually produce it and animators. Um, one of the reasons you put an actor in a physical environment is to get the right reaction out of them, because only real people can understand what you need to understand about being in that situation. They can channel what it would feel like to be thrown around like that or to be, you know, and so you marvel at the fact that he's not scared. I would be absolutely petrified, you know, so so you're, you're, you're relating to his humanity, really. So it's very important to put actors in that position. But once you've done that, you manufacture the rest of the message because, you know, if you saw that in real life, it would be like so fast, you wouldn't know what to look at. The way a film is made, is it? It's a selection. The directors make really careful choices about what is important and what is crafted, and they make sure you recognize that they give it time to sink in. And that's the beauty of art in general. But film in particular, timing is all over the place. It's not real at all, but it is real emotionally. The syntax is not the syntax of real life, but the semantics is what you feel. And that is the beauty. That's what directors. That's their superpower. They can see that distinction and they can work with it in an amazing way. So yeah, it's all manufactured, but you definitely put the human in that position to reflect the emotion and act. The actors are brilliant. They're not replaceable. So Lauren, you've built a career documenting real people, real stories. You do nonfiction documentaries, um, through documentaries like Queen of Versailles Social Studies, as well as through commercial campaigns like Dove and Lego, which we were talking about earlier. Um, nonfiction storytelling has very strict lines around conveying true subjects. Um, but obviously AI is taking over filmmaking. Um, how are you thinking about integrating AI tools into nonfiction storytelling? Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. I'm a huge fan of time magazine. I actually started my career as a photojournalist and worked for time magazine. I feel like this is the second revolution that I've been in, because I started in the time of print, and I remember when I went digital as a photographer, all of a sudden the whole world opened up, and I wasn't worrying all the time about the technical, but I was focused more on the creative. And I didn't have to kind of spend every moment thinking about f stops and shutter speeds. And there was all this new latitude. And of course, this is a much bigger revolution. But I'm not a technical person. I'm kind of a Luddite. I'm not an expert in AI, but I am an expert in culture and humanity, and I've been using AI to learn more about that. So, um, I found I did this project called the Beauty Machine for dove that's at the creators, um, area. And it basically looks at how the algorithm is promoting one face of beauty and what that means for people and how people's own self-esteem and own sense of their beauty is being affected by one face that's being delivered by the algorithm. And so I used AI to work on this experiment and plugged in like all of the ratios and all of the, um, kind of measurements to give the most popular algorithmic face. And then from this AI model. We made real faces with craftspeople at incredible craftspeople at a high end special effects house who made a hyper realistic mask, which we then put into a vending machine in a very provocative installation. And you had to pay with your face. We dropped it in Waterloo Station, and after a day of this kind of unbranded vending machine, all of the digital billboards in Waterloo Station were taken over by my photographs of real women. And it was a very exciting dialogue to be in. And I think one of the exciting things about AI is using it to look at technology and the culture, and to figure out kind of what. What's real, what's. Not, what's real, what's not, what is the matrix that we're living in and what are the kind of parameters. And then to have the opportunity to change those parameters. One of the things that happen with the beauty machine is it became a casting call for real people, regular women, to send in their pictures and start changing the algorithm. And so the whole thing was like, does beauty have to be defined by this algorithm? So it's been again, I'm not a technical person, but I made, uh, I made a face and I ended up making a sculpture. Um, and so it was so exciting also to work in experiential. It's almost like I find that people are so excited to have real human experiences that it was the first time that I built a machine that then lived in a public place, and we got to kind of film people reacting to it. So it's been exciting to kind of, in some ways critique technology with technology. Do you do we think there's a point or maybe this is a question for you. Do we think there's a point at which, you know, right now I think we can all, for the most part, tell the difference, right? We know that this is a mask that is sort of the AI Instagram face. And we know what is, quote unquote, a real face. And, um, I wonder if this is kind of like a moment in time that we're exploring and there's a moment which that exponentially gets closer and closer together to the point at which you can't tell the difference. Well, look, I think that people care a lot about truth and people do not like to be deceived. And I think that is a fact and a feeling that is not going to go away. So people want to know the truth. They want to know what you used AI for, and they want to know what you didn't use AI for. So Framestore is a long time Autodesk customer, one of our great customers. Uh, in fact, he was with our board earlier. A couple of days, you know, and they're using our technology. But you heard his distinction between syntax and semantics. And I think that is incredibly important. We're really focused on making sure at Autodesk, our media and entertainment technology that is used. It's been used in several of the movies done by Framestore. Wicked Barbie, Blade Runner, even the award winning Super Bowl ad. You remember the Pepsi ad where that polar bear had to talk about its therapy? You know how you know the coke polar bear had to talk about therapy, liking Pepsi. We can all relate to that. And it was an incredible ad. And so you can leverage AI, but people will want to know the truth. And so it's going to be imperative that brands and businesses are going to have to say, here's what I've done, here's what I haven't done. Even in the beauty industry, we're seeing that now where influencers are saying, here are the procedures I've done, and they're actually sharing it all online because they know that to maintain authenticity with their audience, they have to be honest and they have to say, look, I didn't get here. I don't look like this. I didn't come out looking like this. Okay. Here are all here are all the processes. I don't come out looking like Barbie. Another movie that Autodesk technology was here all. Here's all the work that I have done to look like this. And that is so important. I'm a mother of a ten year old girl and I remember, you know, I had to tell her because she, she is not she on social media. In fact, she doesn't have a phone. She doesn't have an iPad. She's one of the Luddite kids. I'm like, read a book, touch grass, honey, you'll be all right. And I was having to explain to her because she was like, what about my skincare routine? I said, sweetie, you don't need a skincare routine. And I had, you know, but I had to explain to her, like, some of these things you're seeing are not real. And I actually took her to an influencers page and showed her look at all the things that looks tedious. And she was like, yeah, I don't need all that, you know? But to explain to her, but why could I do that? I could do that because at the end of the day, truth still matters. So AI is going to be used. It's a technology, it's a tool. But people are going to want to know what's real. When I am watching wicked, of course, I know there are things about the scene that are created, but I also know that Cynthia Erivo sang longing, and I can't tell you how many times I've watched that BTS video. I'm like, look, girl was singing. I mean, I try to imitate it on the ground and it is not sounding good. So, so I think these types of things are going to you're going to continue to see where AI is used. But the storyteller, the directors remain in control and they help you separate fact from fiction like you have so brilliantly done. And more than the directors. I think the point here is, um, if you, if you end up with an image, if you end up with a building and you forget the stonemason. Yes. And the bricklayer and the electrician, you know, uh, and, and the person that dug the trench. What are you doing? And I think that is part of what we've developed. We've developed a sort of, um, emphasis on the end result. And we've suppressed all the people, at least in the movies. There's, you know, nobody sits through them, but there's hundreds and hundreds. Hundreds. Hundreds of. That is so critical. Nobody goes to a movie and leaves it without knowing that that's coming. And that tells. The best people stay till the end, don't they? Exactly. We want to see all the credits. We're not getting up until we see everybody. It's. It's rude to get up before the last thing went on the. You heard it here from Cannes, south of France. Sit through the credits. But to some extent I think these things start to become important because, um, you know, no disrespect to directors, it takes an army to produce a creative product, takes an army to produce a building. Everybody contributes and they contribute with their particular perspective. What they bring to that is more than an individual can bring. We've seen this in desktop publishing. Everybody can publish a book, but who can typeset properly? Who can choose the fonts? Who can choose the cover? You know, publishers actually know something about people. They know something about quality. Um, maybe they don't deserve the cut they get, you know, there's, there's something to be talked about, but nevertheless, there's, there's expertise, there's, there's craft. And I think you've just got to value the craft. Expose the craft. And then everybody can say, I want to be somebody like that. I see how this came about. And then truth emerges, even though the syntax is not is generated by machine and by people and so on, nobody will care if they can see that people have have put their heart and soul into it. That's what the consumer wants to know, and I. The fear I have is this is such a fantastic technology. Um, but I mean, we're sitting in France actually, and, um, I'm old enough to remember Monsanto. Anybody remember that? Okay. There's a GM food, um, cliff approaching. And if we don't navigate this well, AI will become, you know, mind anchor. It'll be like anything that touches AI will be impossible and it'll go underground. It'll be not talked about. And that further suppresses the artists that actually make things. So it's, it's important that we get the people out into the spotlight. Yeah. So what's. What's that messaging challenge? Because I, I also have a young daughter, she's seven and she, um, you know, she almost uses AI as a shorthand for that's fake. She'll say, oh, she'll see a picture and say, oh, that's, that's AI. And you know, she did this even with an issue of Architectural Digest, which was a real photograph, but it's just so perfect that she looked at that and said, oh, that's AI. And I had to explain that. No, it's just very good photography. Um, and, uh, so, you know, there's almost a, there's a messaging challenge with the younger generation also not even that young, you know, we've seen the, the college graduation speeches where people are getting booed for mentioning AI. So what's the messaging challenge there? Um, if you see it as a messaging challenge. I mean, one of the campaigns that I worked on that I talked about today was for Lego education. And it was a very kind of positive view of AI from sixth graders who basically in the US, there's no single policy around AI at schools. And so a lot of kids can't use it at all because administrators and teachers are afraid. And so in this Lego education piece, it was about what if kids got a chance to design AI policy at their school, and the stuff that they came up with was around no cheating. Equity. Everybody should have access to the same tools, like amazingly responsible AI policies that you just wish, okay, if these kids are in charge, life would be better than the doom and gloom that we're kind of feeling heading towards. But Lego doesn't even use, um, generative AI. It's, it's, it's practical AI. And it was so interesting to hear kids just completely fresh and intuitive talking about how they really want to play in that sandbox, and they want to make the rules that would make it safe for them. And most of what they said would also apply to the adult world. Yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. I was just going to follow up on that, that we've obviously talked to the studios or our clients. Um, but we've sort of helped them understand the distinction between what we call directed AI and generative AI. So directed AI is here is a great engineering technique where when you put data in and you get data out, you know exactly what it's going to do. It's predictive. This is what automates and accelerates and produces most of the commercial value. And then there's generative AI, which has come into the world with a thesis that it can replace people. That's, that's, that's a choice of how to use the underlying technology. And it's been chosen for specific commercial reasons. It doesn't have to be like that. It can be built in in a different way. So there's a difference between the underlying technology and what most people call AI today. And it's that latter which is causing all of this disruption. It's the hype around it. It's the, you know, the the fallacies around what it is and what it isn't, that causes a lot of confusion. I wouldn't say I'm fantastically confident that we're going to be able to win this communication battle. There are very powerful voices around that have a vested interest in convincing us that these things are alive. So, you know. Yeah, I, you know, I, I have hope and I have optimism. Uh, I'm the marketer and the technologist, you know, here, here, here, here we are. It's great. And, and, you know, one of the things, why am I hopeful? I'm spending a lot of time with the next generation. I'm spending a lot of time with students around the world. At Autodesk, we have over 150 million students and educators using our software in over 160,000 education institutions, including K through 12. So everybody from PhD students to my, my, my eight year old are using Autodesk software. And one of the, one of the things that has been incredibly powerful is the understanding of what you've just talked about of, hey, this is just a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for greatness and for good, and it can also be used in a way that is not advantageous to society. At Autodesk, our mission is to empower everyone everywhere to design and make anything. Our purpose is to design and make a better world for all. So as we have been having these discussions with amazing customers like ours, we've been talking about what is missing from this conversation. And something that is missing is we're not preparing the people enough. There's so much obsession with the AI and the technology and the tools, and not enough obsession with the people and the people is where the magic is at. You know, we are we are actually we love at Autodesk. We're obsessed with the credits because a lot of our customers are in the credits, right? The, the, the visual effect artists, it is art. Look, I mean, I'm a Game of Thrones fan. You've seen those dinosaurs, those those those dragons. It's like it's art creating these things. It's art bringing these things to life. Honing that craft takes years of experience, having that judgment and the discernment. And so preparing the next generation is a top priority for us. And we have invested we just committed $350 million to train students, educators, job seekers to prepare them for jobs of the future. It is. Access to technology shouldn't depend on your zip code. It's training. Making sure that 60 million people are trained. It is also providing the credentialing that is critical. So I think that the messaging starts to work when we as the technologists and, you know, we start to say, hey, we understand that there are two sides of this, and we're willing to do the work to make sure that we end up on the right side and not neglecting that. That's really interesting. So it sounds like you're drawing a little bit of a line between generative AI and broad. The term AI people kind of misuse the term AI as in a broader, broader strokes. Well, you might have noticed that even the AI industry has recognized that the generative approaches are failing. Um, and they fail in, in, in, in two critically important areas for creativity, consistency and coherence, direct ability, essentially, you can't tell them, you can't craft a design process with a generative tool. Um, you can get ideas from it. They're very good. Um, they're like a compositional database lookup, but as soon as you say, oh, I like this, but I, I just want to change it a little bit, you're in a world of pain because it doesn't do that. Okay, so that controllability is missing from the architecture of these models, of these generative models. AI industry is industries recognized, as you've seen Yann LeCun, Fei-Fei Li, various other sort of leaders, thought leaders in the in the core that brought about these generative systems in the first place. Say, hang on a minute, this isn't going to work. I need to be doing something different because this is going to crash and burn. So that's a problem. I mean, because as it crashes and burns, the financial industry will sort of go, go lose their so-called, you know, ****. And, uh, and, and that may, that may sort of put a very, a big damper on the whole area. Um, unless we can sort of build better generative systems. I know Autodesk is involved in this. We're involved in this, um, controllable AI using the in a generative form has yet to be built. When that is built, it'll be very obvious humans are in control because it'll be tools for expression. It'll create the ability to craft what you want to say to break the rules. If you want to break the rule or to follow them, if you want to follow them, not to just put something in a slot machine and see what comes back. So we're not there yet. Even though the industry will want to tell you we are, we're not. It's going to change. So Lauren, along those lines, filmmaking is so expensive. There are, I don't know how many documentarians who probably were never able to get their film off the ground because it was very grassroots. They, you know, didn't have the funding, especially for up and coming filmmakers to pay for DPS editors, uh, graphics, um, colorists. Do you think AI will create a more democratic system in nonfiction storytelling or even, uh, filmmaking as a whole? I mean, yes and no. Like the show that I did, social studies was 150 days in the field to two years in the edit. Most of the expense are the humans, and I don't think the photographers or the sound people or the editors are going to. You still need all of those people. Um, I think where you can save is like organizing all of your footage and transcribing and maybe a first cut or like they'll, but it probably will be the same amount of human time. Um, I judged the young directors here today in the last couple weeks and the work is just phenomenal. So I do think for young directors, they're getting their hands on the tools and they can. I mean, what I love is being able to be more directly involved. Like when I did the Beauty Machine, I did what I would have hired a researcher to spend three weeks on. I did myself in three days, and it was better because I was driving the research. Same with like we hired a big company to make the the face and I liked mine better. The one that I made on with AI. So I think it does bring you as an artist closer to the tools. And I can't wait for when because I hate that I. Sometimes I get lucky in the first thing comes out, but I like want. I can't wait for that to happen. And I do think there are a lot of technical parts that will become more efficient, but I, I don't think it's going to change the human part. And one of the things that seems like it's happening alongside, you know, all of these panels about AI that we're hearing is all of a sudden we're in great demand for truth telling and authenticity. And I think a couple of years ago, people were like more interested in like kind of slick things. And now, I mean, when I did Lego, they were worried that the lighting was too beautiful. And we put a lower third saying it was unscripted. Like I think trust is so important. Authenticity is so important. And in a way, in the time of AI, it's being valued more than ever. So I think there is a kind of return to the human part. But I agree, a lot of the kind of technical administrative, you know, part is going to be able to be handed off. Can I say something about time? Because I think it's quite an interesting property. Um, before I was at Framestore, I was CTO for Dreamworks and, um, we did a big transformation technology, Autodesk, uh, deeply involved in that, um, to change the economy and the scale and the cost of movies. But Jeffrey Katzenberg, um, was absolutely adamant. The one thing we were not going to change was how long it was going to take a movie to make that was sacrosanct. Creativity takes time. It takes reflection. It takes iteration, it takes consideration. Maybe it doesn't take as many people, maybe certain things can be done more effectively. But the thinking involved takes time. It's like saying, I can make a fantastic meal in a second. Well, actually you can't. You know, things take time. Things, you know, have to they have to brew. And creatively, like, I love the iteration. Like my work is very iterative. And in the past I might have to hand something off to somebody else and not get it back for a week. Now, for me to be able to see and learn from it, it reminds me of when I went to digital photography, and all of a sudden I could see, oh, I don't want this, I want this. And it just completely like the growth is just exponential. Speed of seeing things, but not necessarily speed of producing things. So artists rely on feedback and the quicker you can get feedback, the the more you can sort of adjust, which is where the controllability comes in. So if you have to wait a long time before you see it and it's like, oh no, what was I thinking? That's, that's inhibiting. You can see instantly, that's great. But that doesn't mean to say you want to decide instantly. You want to live with that. You want to sort of feel it and then decide in the right time for the product. And I think separating those two things, the two notions of efficiency, I think it's quite important, especially with AI. So I could talk about this all night, and we certainly can after this, um, over some wine. Uh, but to wrap it up, I think, you know, I'd love to hear from each of you about, uh, what you think young filmmakers should prepare for. As they're graduating and entering the the marketplace. What skill do you think is most important for young filmmakers who are getting into this business? I think having a story to tell. I mean, I remember when I did filmmaking at Harvard, which is not very usual. And I remember my mom coming and seeing the films and being from LA, and she's a professor at UCLA. She said they were so different because we didn't have all the technical stuff, but there were a lot of really interesting ideas. And I think having a story to tell is the most important thing. And following your heart in terms of that story, and then the tools are the tools and you need to learn them, but they're changing very fast. And it's not, I think people make the mistake in filmmaking of thinking. It's about the tools, when really it's about the ideas and the expression. Lincoln. So not being a director or an artist, I have an advantage. Um. All directors that I've known have had a particular artistic skill. Not the same one. Some are scriptwriters, some are actors, some are photographers. Um, and it sort of doesn't matter in the end, but they all have a core way of looking at the world and then they become directors. And that way of looking at the world comes through in their, in, in what they create. So I would say to somebody who wants to be an aspiring filmmaker, a director is you need an artistic point of view. It's almost like a musician needs an instrument. You could be a pianist, you could be a singer, you can be a violinist or a guitarist. You need you need an instrument because you need a way in which you can connect what you feel, what you see with the outside world and other people. If you can communicate in that way, you can graduate to being a director, you can graduate to making a whole thing with other people's help, but you need a view. And so core understanding of an artistic approach that that would, you know, you can't get away from animating, you can't get away from photography. You can't get away from graphic design. Do one of them. It doesn't matter which. And I would say, I think in light of that, hone your craft to pick something and then become excellent at it. Don't be a jack of all trades. Right? Really hone your craft. There's not enough time and interest being spent on honing craft today. Everyone wants to get it done really fast. That time and investment in honing your craft will make you stand out. Then develop your taste, right? Once you. And you can't really develop your taste until you've honed your craft. But once you've honed your craft, you can start to see what's unique about me. What is that thing that what is going to be my unique vantage point? Like every time you see, you know, they're great artists and when you see their work, you know, it's their work. So develop a taste. And then last but not least, I said this. It's incredibly important. Be loyal to the truth. So be loyal to the truth and the truth about what you're doing, but also how you're designing and making it. Be clear on how you're using the tools because then you will be able to develop and earn trust. Trust is one of the things that's so important for artists because your fans, they love you because they feel like they know you and you don't want to break trust. Trust is earned in draw and lost in buckets. So it's so critical that you're loyal to the truth, especially when it's inconvenient. And that will help you stand out. I love to end on that note. 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