Around 120 of us filled a room in Shoreditch for the second London Post Club event: freelance retouchers and digital artists, studio teams, a few studio heads and owners, and some producers. We came to hear Matt Morgan, joint founder of WeAreHumain.ai, on where AI production stands right now.

On stage, with his work projected behind him, Matt gave a version of the pitch he takes to agencies, reshaped for the people who make the images. His message was that AI production is already here and can be done ethically. Humain’s models are trained on licensed source content, within a policy built with AI legal experts and copyright lawyers so original creators are paid.

He showed key frames from a motion piece that was AI-animated and comped in After Effects. The tools were new, but the process was familiar. He also argued that retouchers and digital artists are in a very strong position, because technical skill, artistry and taste are what turn AI output into finished work.

The room’s reaction was lively and honest. There was excitement and plenty of healthy scepticism, including the familiar and reasonable concerns about craft and jobs. Most people agreed it was better to see this first-hand than to hear about it second-hand, and Matt spent the rest of the night surrounded by people asking questions and swapping views

Find out more about Matt’s work at WeAreHumain.ai..