TheWrap hosted its inaugural AI Creator Day on September 29 in Los Angeles, a full day of panels and conversations about where artificial intelligence is taking the creator economy. Presented in partnership with What’s Trending, the event brought together YouTube pioneers, Hollywood executives, AI filmmakers, and the founders of creator-led companies for a look at how AI is reshaping the way content gets made and distributed.
I was in the room for the day’s key sessions. Here is what went down.
From AI Tools to Audience Hits: Building What’s Next
TheWrap founder and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman moderated one of the day’s central panels, “From AI Tools to Audience Hits: Building What’s Next.” She was joined on stage by actor, producer, and director David Bianchi, pocket.watch founder and CEO Chris M. Williams, and Fairground founder and CEO Colin Petrie-Norris.
The conversation centered on creator-led companies and AI-native platforms building new models for entertainment, and on moving creator content from digital platforms to the biggest screens in the home. Bianchi brought a filmmaker’s perspective to the discussion. He is an actor, producer, and director with more than 140 film and TV credits, has produced nine feature films and the Primetime Emmy-nominated series “RZR,” and is now working in AI filmmaking through a creative partnership with Higgsfield.ai, through which he is producing an original episodic series. He also recently directed a fully generative-AI music video for Don Diablo.
The OGs: YouTube’s First Wave Takes On AI
One of the most anticipated panels of the day was “The OGs: YouTube’s First Wave Takes On AI,” moderated by What’s Trending founder, CEO, and host Shira Lazar. The panel featured Bernie Su, head of creative at Pickford.ai, and DeStorm Power, the entrepreneur, creator, and innovator.
Su is a true YouTube pioneer. His series “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” and “Emma Approved” won YouTube’s first two Primetime Emmys, and his live interactive series “Artificial” became Twitch’s most decorated original. At Pickford.ai, he showruns “Whispers,” an interactive mystery in which audience prompts shape scenes in real time. The panel got specific about the AI tools the creators actually use, what is working, what is overhyped, and how they are rebuilding their businesses around AI.
Rewriting the Studio Model: Upskilling Talent for an AI-Powered Future
Another standout session was “Rewriting the Studio Model: Upskilling Talent for an AI-Powered Future,” featuring Jon Flynn, head of FoxNXT at Fox Entertainment. The session explored how studios are rethinking their models and preparing their talent for an AI-powered future, a topic on the mind of everyone in the room as AI tools move from novelty to core production infrastructure.
The Bigger Picture
AI Creator Day opened with a look at how AI is putting studio-level creative power in creators’ hands, led by Stability AI CEO Prem Akkaraju, the former Weta Digital CEO whose company developed the Stable Diffusion models. Across the day’s sessions, a clear theme emerged: the barrier between independent creators and studio-scale production is collapsing, and the creators who understand AI workflows are the ones building the next wave of entertainment companies.
The day also featured sessions on AI brand partnerships with creators like Maverick Maltin, a behind-the-scenes look at Artlist’s first original AI series “The Arc” with director Darin Stewart and executive producer Simone Ferretti, and a live workflow session with visual artist Dorothy Pang and CapCut’s Ana Kley.
The Sponsors and Partners
AI Creator Day was backed by a deep roster of sponsors and partners from across the AI entertainment world.
Sponsors
Native Foreign – The Los Angeles-based, woman-owned creative agency behind “bringing entertainment into the AI era.” The studio is behind many of AI’s firsts, including AI work for Delta and Virgin Voyages, and the Toys”R”Us brand film made with OpenAI’s Sora.
Artlist – The royalty-free music, sound effects, and footage platform creators rely on. Artlist premiered its first original AI series, “The Arc,” with director Darin Stewart walking the room through how it was made.
Cantina – The AI character creation platform. Comedian and impressionist Vincent Marcus uses Cantina to bring his characters to life, and Cantina’s Katherine Rundell joined him on stage for a session on who controls a character once a creator builds it.
Fairground – Fairground Entertainment, the AI-native entertainment company founded by CEO Colin Petrie-Norris, who spoke on the day’s central panel about moving creator content to the biggest screens in the home.
pocket.watch – The kids’ entertainment powerhouse founded by CEO Chris M. Williams, also on the central panel, building new models for creator-led IP.
UTA – United Talent Agency, one of Hollywood’s major talent agencies, backing the creator economy’s leap into AI.
Wispr Flow – The event’s official voice partner. Wispr Flow is the AI voice dictation app that turns speech into polished text across Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android in more than 100 languages.
CapCut – ByteDance’s video editing platform. CapCut’s Ana Kley led a live session breaking down visual artist Dorothy Pang’s AI filmmaking workflow in CapCut Video Studio.
Community partners
Machine Cinema – AI cinema community. AI on the Lot – The largest AI film conference in the world, drawing 2,460 attendees to Culver City in 2026. Co-founder Mike Gioia led the “What’s Next” future-trends session at AI Creator Day. REACH – The creator-connecting community. W|D|M Westside Digital Mix – Westside digital media community. The Social Lady Club – The women’s social club.
Food and glam
Thrive Market – The online organic grocer kept the room fueled with snacks. sweetgreen – The salad chain provided lunch. Glamsquad – The on-demand beauty service was the event’s official glam partner.
For anyone watching the intersection of Hollywood and AI, AI Creator Day was a clear signal: this is no longer an experiment. It is the business now.
David Christopher Lee is a Los Angeles photographer and editor-in-chief of David’s Guide.
