Film, TV & Animation
1. James Cameron
Brings decades of filmmaking experience to Stability AI’s board and its conversations about creative tools and governance.
Edition 2026
The AI & Media List
The people shaping entertainment, creativity and digital culture.
Our 2026 editorial list, numbered across seven categories and selected for documented contributions to how media is made, distributed and understood.
Film, TV & Animation
Film, TV & Animation
2. Ben Affleck
Founded InterPositive, which Netflix acquired in March 2026, and now advises Netflix on its responsible use of creative technology.
Film, TV & Animation
3. Natasha Lyonne
Connects hands-on creative practice with the development of new production methods at Asteria.
Film, TV & Animation
4. Darren Aronofsky
Partnered with Google DeepMind on AI-assisted filmmaking experiments, including Eliza McNitt’s ANCESTRA.
Film, TV & Animation
5. Eliza McNitt
Combined live action with generated imagery in ANCESTRA, recognized in The One Show’s 2026 awards record.
Film, TV & Animation
6. Kathleen Grace
Oversees Lionsgate’s studio-wide AI strategy and its expanded partnership with Runway.
Film, TV & Animation
7. Dave Clark
Connects directorial craft with generative production workflows and projects including Battalion.
Film, TV & Animation
8. Bryn Mooser
Builds AI film and animation production with experience across documentary and immersive media.
Film, TV & Animation
9. Eline van der Velden
Produced Take the Lead and supplied performance capture for the virtual character Tilly Norwood.
Gaming & Interactive Worlds
Gaming & Interactive Worlds
10. David Baszucki
Connects generative models with playable worlds through Roblox Cube’s 2026 interactive object creation work.
Gaming & Interactive Worlds
11. Demis Hassabis
Leads research spanning game worlds, agents and simulation, including Genie, SIMA and work with EVE.
Gaming & Interactive Worlds
12. Kangwook Lee
Leads game-AI work including research around co-playable characters and developer systems.
Gaming & Interactive Worlds
13. Hilary Mason
Builds interactive narrative systems where players create and explore story worlds.
Gaming & Interactive Worlds
14. Julian Togelius
Researches procedural generation, AI game design and systems that adapt to players.
Gaming & Interactive Worlds
15. Kylan Gibbs
Builds conversational character systems used in research prototypes such as Ubisoft’s NEO NPCs.
Gaming & Interactive Worlds
16. Tim Sweeney
Sets Epic’s direction for AI tools, Unreal Engine and future connected creation workflows.
Gaming & Interactive Worlds
17. Matt Bromberg
Announced Unity 7’s direction for creator and AI-agent workflows, with release milestones extending into 2027.
Gaming & Interactive Worlds
18. Andrew Wilson
Shapes EA’s executive strategy around AI, connected entertainment and new forms of play.
Music & Audio
Music & Audio
19. will.i.am
Combines a musician’s creative practice with the building of AI products for collaboration and communication.
Music & Audio
20. Imogen Heap
Develops artist-led voice experiments and systems for creative identity and attribution.
Music & Audio
21. Holly Herndon
Explores voice, consent and participation through Holly+ and collaborations with Mat Dryhurst.
Music & Audio
22. Mikey Shulman
Builds generative music creation tools and participates in negotiations around licensed music uses.
Music & Audio
23. Robert Kyncl
Negotiates the music industry’s evolving relationships, safeguards and commercial agreements around AI.
Music & Audio
24. Grimes
Introduced an authorized voice model and royalty-sharing proposal for creators in 2023.
Creative Products & Platforms
Creative Products & Platforms
25. Cristóbal Valenzuela
Leads a creative video platform and partnerships connecting generative models with professional production.
Creative Products & Platforms
26. Fei-Fei Li
Advances spatial intelligence and generated 3D environments through World Labs and Marble.
Creative Products & Platforms
27. Cameron Adams
Shapes Canva AI around editable creative workflows and product design rather than one-click outputs alone.
Creative Products & Platforms
28. Mati Staniszewski
Builds voice, audio and dubbing tools alongside a marketplace for licensed voices.
Creative Products & Platforms
29. David Holz
Built one of the most visible platforms for generative image creation.
Creative Products & Platforms
30. Amit Jain
Develops generative visual production systems and their use inside agency workflows.
Creative Products & Platforms
31. Demi Guo
Builds accessible consumer tools for creating and transforming video.
Creative Products & Platforms
32. Jensen Huang
Leads the computing and AI-assisted rendering infrastructure behind games and creative production.
Creative Products & Platforms
33. Pinar Demirdag
Develops creative-control systems, generated environments and virtual-production workflows.
Creative Products & Platforms
34. Brooke Hopper
Designs human-centered creative AI interfaces and works directly with artists through research workshops.
Creative Products & Platforms
35. Alexandru Costin
Led the team credited with launching Firefly before moving to Adobe Builders Experience.
Creative Products & Platforms
36. Natan Castiel
Building the marketplace and checkout layer that helps AI-made products reach buyers and generate revenue.
Creators & Digital Culture
Creators & Digital Culture
37. Refik Anadol
Creates public AI artworks and museum experiences built from data, architecture and machine learning.
Creators & Digital Culture
38. Sougwen Chung
Uses drawing robots and the MEMORY project to explore human-machine collaboration.
Creators & Digital Culture
39. Niceaunties
Builds a distinctive world of AI imagery around aunties, family archetypes and Asian cultural memory.
Creators & Digital Culture
40. Malik Afegbua
Uses AI imagery in the Elder Series and an ongoing effort to explore and preserve cultural memory.
Creators & Digital Culture
41. Karen X. Cheng
Combines practical image-making, AI experimentation and public education for creators.
Creators & Digital Culture
42. Paul Trillo
Directed Washed Out’s The Hardest Part with Sora visuals and received a 2024 Golden Nica in AI in Art.
Creators & Digital Culture
43. Souki Mehdaoui
Documents a practical workflow combining generative video, cinematography and hands-on editing.
Creators & Digital Culture
44. Henry Daubrez
Develops and shares AI filmmaking workflows through Electric Pink, Flow collaborations and released work.
Creators & Digital Culture
45. Don Allen Stevenson III
Bridges practical production systems with hands-on education for artists and creative teams.
Advertising, Design & Brand Experiences
Advertising, Design & Brand Experiences
46. Pum Lefebure
Directs AI-assisted campaign imagery while grounding it in established art-direction practice.
Advertising, Design & Brand Experiences
47. PJ Pereira
Brings AI commercial production into agency creative leadership and client work.
Advertising, Design & Brand Experiences
48. Wesley ter Haar
Leads agency-scale deployment of creative AI across production and client operations.
Advertising, Design & Brand Experiences
49. Jessica Walsh
Combines creative direction with hands-on AI prompting in collaborative identity and campaign work.
Advertising, Design & Brand Experiences
50. Jason Zada
Develops hybrid AI production while training working artists in practical tools and workflows.
Research & Media Trust
Research & Media Trust
51. Tali Dekel
Researches layered video editing and contributes as part of teams building controllable generative-video systems.
Research & Media Trust
52. Hao Li
Advances digital humans, performance capture and AI media synthesis.
Research & Media Trust
53. Hany Farid
Studies digital forensics and detection methods for manipulated images, deepfakes and voice clones.
Research & Media Trust
54. Kory Mathewson
Served as ANCESTRA’s technical director and studies human-AI creative collaboration.
Research & Media Trust
55. Anastasis Germanidis
Leads research and company strategy around generative video and world models.
Research & Media Trust
56. Douglas Eck
Created Magenta and leads research spanning music, images, video and 3D.