It was a week of two very different rooms with the same question in them: how do we adopt AI responsibly when the technology is moving faster than the guidance around it?
On Thursday 8 October, AIMICI Managing Director Kathryn Webb moderated a panel at INsight ‘26, UK Screen Alliance’s inaugural conference for VFX and post-production professionals. Later in the week, Sam, our AI Governance Lead, and AIMICI founder Ahsan Mallick led a training session on adopting responsible AI at the Future Wales: Development and Creativity Workshop, hosted by Pact and sponsored by Creative Wales.
INsight ‘26: AI where business strategy meets the pipeline
INsight ‘26 took place at the Courthouse Hotel in Soho. Unlike many technology-led conferences, it centred on data and business strategy. The programme looked at how the VFX and post market is evolving, what commissioners need from suppliers, and how to manage cybersecurity and risk in an AI-enabled world.
Kathryn moderated ‘Integrating AI: Practicality over hype’, with Steve MacPherson (Milk VFX and Lola Post), Andy McNamara (Outpost VFX), Saint Walker (University of Hertfordshire) and William Bartlett (Framestore).
Some of the themes that came up:
- AI is already mainstream. It now features on most productions across film, TV and advertising. Long-form work still tends to run on a traditional pipeline with lighter AI use, while advertising has largely moved to AI-oriented pipelines.
- Keeping it in-house. Many teams host AI tools on their own infrastructure, partly to control costs and partly to satisfy governance requirements. Cloud-based tools come in only where the client has signed off.
- Rules and transparency. The conversation kept returning to the guardrails studios set around these tools, and to being upfront with clients about where AI has been used. VFX and post houses are innovating to stay commercially viable, but they also need to give clients a spread of options that matches each client’s appetite for risk.
- Skills and the talent pipeline. Questions remain about how AI will change the way new talent comes into the industry, along with growing doubt about whether a three-year degree is the right route to specific technical skills. The panel did agree that a grounding in AI literacy and responsible AI is essential for everyone, newcomer or veteran.
This reflects much of what we have heard on the ground over the past year, and it is why we have built our work around helping to solve these problems with our Fractional AI Officer, responsible AI e-learning course and certification and our work on a transparency standard.
Here are some photos from the event.
Future Wales: Responsible AI in Development
Future Wales is Pact’s development programme, delivered with Creative Wales, which supports independent production companies in Wales as they grow.
On 8 October 2026, Sam, our AI Governance Lead, and AIMICI Founder Ahsan Mallick delivered an in-person workshop in Cardiff for the Future Wales cohort. The session gave a practical introduction to adopting AI responsibly in Development. It covered:
- Evolving AI capabilities: what current tools can realistically do across the development process.
- The commissioner landscape: emerging commissioner policies and what broadcasters and platforms now expect from producers using AI.
- The regulatory environment: governance expectations and how the rules are changing.
- Use-case deep dives: practical AI applications across Development, with the creative, ethical and practical issues each one raises.
The cohort of industry leaders engaged closely throughout. The liveliest discussion was about the difference between AI compliance and AI risk. Meeting commissioner and regulatory requirements is not the same as understanding and managing the creative, legal and reputational risks of using AI. Participants saw that both matter for responsible AI use across film and TV.
We’d like to thank Pact and Creative Wales for the invitation and for backing this kind of practical, hands-on learning for Welsh production companies.
