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www.postmagazine.com 25 POST JAN/FEB 2026 OUTLOOK A.I. WILL GO FROM TAKE OUT TO THE CHEF'S TABLE hen I look at the current land- scape of visual effects and the undeniable impact and influence of artificial intelligence on our industry, what first comes to mind is the way in which we view this disruptive new technology. On one hand, we can see the po- tential for the elevation of our medium, if used properly. However, in these still-early days of AI, more often than not what we have experienced at Lola is that too many producers and facili- ties are using AI as a standalone cost- and time-cutting maneuver. A "take out" version, rather than a tool used as a fraction of a greater whole. In the past year, we have seen a massive rise in demand at our facility com- ing from producers and studios asking, "Can you fix this?" regarding the bad AI-led work done by other venders. The problem is: there is no easy fix. Bad AI isn't a pig you can put lipstick on and have a workable, believable end product in high definition. You have to simply do it again from scratch. The analogy I like to use about AI is that it's a lot like baking a cake. If you use too much AI, it's like adding too much salt to your cake. You can't fix it with frosting. This isn't to say all AI is bad AI. Like all new technology, it's a tool that can be very powerful when applied in the right way, but goes very wrong when used thoughtlessly. AI is viewed as this "magical tool," and it can do great imitations, but companies are putting way too much trust in it way too fast. Simply look to the legal field, where lawyers are being disbarred because Chat GPT and others are providing wholly fabricated "ghost cases" in response to prompts that legal professionals falsely reference in court. At Lola VFX, we do use deep fakes, but as a rough template, before turning our artists loose to do the real work with traditional artistry, or by using Unreal Engine and Metahuman. An artist has to drive that process. An added issue with AI is that it's hard to manage. The first pass is easy, but to fine tune the look is much harder. Changing the background for example — it's like rolling the dice. You never know what you're going to get. You have to do 1,000 iterations, and simple fixes can take forever. People will still lean in, because it's cheap, but the quality of the product will drop. This can play in the commercial world where there is more latitude with a :30 spot. Coca Cola recently showcased an AI-generated spot over Christmas, which still had its warts and inconsistencies. But they can get away with it. With feature films, how do you keep continuity between the scenes for the character? How many iterations will it take to get the desired result when a director is looking for the perfect shot, with perfect timing, lighting, sequenc- ing and more? There is no stopping artificial intelligence. But what we will see in the com- ing years is a massive divergence in traditional VFX and AI-generated effects. The best companies will use a mix of both, but using traditional artists will make all the difference in the final product, with glaring chasms apparent to viewers when a lower standard is used. The "take out" version of AI visual effects will carry water for cheaper, shorter content, but the true VFX chefs of the industry will utilize it to take us to new heights. Edson Williams is Founder and VFX Supervisor at Lola VFX (https://lolavfx.com). W A.I. HELPS ARTISTS SHAVE TIME OFF PRODUCTION t's been interesting to see over the last year or so how AI tools have shifted from niche experimental tools that generate meme-able content to operating at a level where they can be inte- grated into professional workflows. But it's clear that they're not taking on the bulk of the work in real world production workflows. Instead, they're helping with automating tasks and improving the process. It's now most useful in things like iterative development and previs, in upscaling content or au- tomated masking. So instead of replacing artists, which was rightly many peoples' concerns, where AI is actually valuable now is helping to shave time off production schedules. This is giving artists that extra 10 percent of polishing time, which can make a huge difference in making their final output even better, instead of having to deal with laborious processes. What we like to call "digital drudgery." For where we're headed, Sora's latest release has set something of a new benchmark in what's expected from AI. But if these tools are to be employed for more parts of the professional production landscape, we'll need to see them do a few things better. As artists, we need to have better control over consistency in content produced, and it needs to be done faster, all while making sure there isn't degradation in the results it's putting out. I'd also expect to see AI tools get better at generating more convincing 3D assets with clean topology. And I suspect both of those things will happen. But how long it will take? I'm not sure. As an artist myself, I, of course, see a world in which some content pro- ducers want to produce media — whether it's film, TV or online content — as cheaply as possible. But they're not the producers who care about delivering quality, and are just looking for short cuts to make the bottom line look as good as possible. But for those who do care about delivering something of quality, the outlook for AI adoption should be considered and thoughtful. And most importantly, it needs to A: keep creative humans at the forefront of the development and production process; or B: give others who don't have the resources or the physical ability to 'create' something an opportunity to share their creative passions. The passion for what you're creating, as well as the judgement and intuition needed to produce something genuine, are after all, the things that can't be replicated by AI. Sami Ling is a GenAI Generalist at Dimension Studio (https:// dimensionstu- dio.co), which has locations in London and Rome, as well as a mobile stage. I ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE