Is This a Turning Point in AI?

I’ve just come back from the Kinsale Sharks Festival, where each year some 400+ people descend on a tiny town in Ireland under the pretence of advertising and craft. Over a 100 of them even left the pubs for an hour to watch me and Guy Soulsby ramble on about AI. We ran over our slot by 30 minutes because the questions simply wouldn’t stop. And when I finally made it back to the pubs after the panel, I couldn’t get more than a few minutes without someone pulling me aside for another debate.

Why? Because we staged an experiment called A Bloody Mess.

This wasn’t a slick 'look at my shiny AI reel' presentation. We handed the steering wheel to the audience. They threw us their wildest prompts - definitely not the kind you’d dare put in a pitch deck, and we built a film live, in real time, with AI tools. It was chaotic, a little scrappy, and completely dependent on the humans in the room. That’s what made it important. It proved something central to how we think at Made By Humans: AI is not the story. The story is what happens when people get involved.

Between prompts, the questions fired at me came thick and fast - and some stopped me in my tracks.

The Questions That Stuck

The first one:

“If AI keeps getting better every year, will there come a time when Made By Humans isn’t needed at all?”

That one hit me square in the gut. For a split second I thought: what if all this work we’ve poured into pipelines, workflows, and signing the world’s best AI artists is just one update away from redundancy?

And the devil on my shoulder didn’t help: agency creatives or even someone brand-side who fancies themselves a director could direct a film using AI if it gets good enough… why would they need you?

But here’s the truth: craft matters. Perspective matters.

Agencies have had creatives, cameras, and budgets for fifty years – but they didn’t suddenly start making all their TV ads in-house. And those that did open in-house arms still struggle to make anything of quality. Why? Because execution is its own craft. And when it comes to the creative leaders shaping film, lived experience matters even more.

The films you grew up on, your first heartbreak, your cultural background - those shape the way you tell a story. AI doesn’t have that. It never cried at The Lion King or was forced to watch The Sound of Music well over 50 times growing up (thanks Mum). That’s why we’re building a roster of wildly diverse artists at Made By Humans. Because stories only resonate when told through human lenses.

And it’s exactly why Hollywood is in uproar about 'Tilly Norward,' an AI-generated 'actor.' She has no backstory, no lived experience, no heartbreak, no triumph. How can she possibly represent humanity on screen? It’s absurd.

The second question:

“What about morals and restrictions, shouldn’t AI platforms allow total freedom?”

This came up when the audience wanted to see a certain political figure in a compromising scenario with a lady of the night. The platform (wisely) blocked it. Cue debate about censorship and free speech.

Here’s my take: guardrails aren’t a limitation - they’re a responsibility.

AI platforms must restrict harmful or illegal use. That means no exploitation, no harmful disinformation, no deepfakes. And here’s the nuance: yes, there are AI platforms out there, particularly some Chinese models, that allow almost anything. If someone is determined, there will always be ways to make the extreme. But in our world, a world of advertising, culture, and influence - we have a duty to set guardrails. Because when your work can reach millions, those safeguards aren’t about stifling creativity, they’re about protecting people.

Creativity thrives within boundaries. That’s why screenwriters still work within acts, painters work within frames, and advertisers work within briefs. Guardrails don’t kill creativity… I have always found they sharpen the focus for creatives.

The Turning Point

Kinsale made one thing clear: the conversation has shifted again.

Two years ago it was: “How dare you open an AI arm, it will destroy our industry.”

This June in Cannes, I sat on panels with other AI leaders, debating how incredible generative AI had become.

And just last week in Kinsale, the conversation had already moved forward again: How do we use AI responsibly, creatively, and without losing the human touch?

That’s the turning point.

And that’s exactly why Made By Humans exists. Not to replace creativity, but to push it further. Not to pretend AI is perfect, but to show how powerful it can be when crafted by humans with lived experience.

Because until AI can stumble out of a Kinsale pub after three Guinness's and still tell a great story, I think we’ll be just fine.