AI won’t replace storytellers — it will give them superpowers, says film director Jason Zada. Showing how new technology allows creators to turn wild ideas into cinematic worlds at warp speed, Zada and the TED audience dream up the premise for a new sci-fi short film live from the stage, and then get to see the results three days later. (Recorded at TED2025 on April 8, 2025)
Join us in person at a TED conference:
Become a TED Member to support our mission:
Subscribe to a TED newsletter:
Follow TED!
X:
Instagram:
Facebook:
LinkedIn:
TikTok:
The TED Talks channel features talks, performances and original series from the world’s leading thinkers and doers. Subscribe to our channel for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.
Watch more:
TED’s videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: . For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at
#TED #TEDTalks #AI
@Xiph1980
August 18, 2025 at 11:41 am
No. This is not the way. Stop it with the AI.
@JorikDozy
August 18, 2025 at 12:09 pm
I keep wondering, who is this AI content for? Who actually wants any of this?
@zlSteinchen
August 18, 2025 at 1:34 pm
I just started to binge some TED Talks until here. What did i just see? o.o If AI SLOP even conquered even TED Talks – lets go netflix, by youtube
Yeah, in a few years that could be good. But not for us. The already big companys will make the most money out of it, why dont you talk about that TED?
@kredgen
August 18, 2025 at 9:21 pm
The weird sock character gives it this dirty Innuendo that doesn’t really work. Maybe that’s the point, but it’s kinda gross. I understand that he is showing us the capabilities of AI, but is it really an art if it’s just a bunch of prompts?
@nandinidash3195
August 19, 2025 at 6:45 am
😀
@architecturesupport
August 19, 2025 at 6:14 pm
It’s also worth noting that the AI slop will feed into the training of future AIs. And I don’t think this feedback loop will be beneficial for the quality of output… I fear we have already shifted our baseline to accepting lots of this crap: just look at social media feeds and all…
@JulyareJuly
August 20, 2025 at 1:47 pm
i really think its not about only AI. It’s about our big kind of power we have with current technologies
@fbrann_
August 21, 2025 at 2:18 am
AI turns small ideas into big screen magic ✨
@bilawalsidhu
August 21, 2025 at 6:48 pm
It’s kind of nuts what a small but talented team can accomplish