AI on the Lot Conference

I’ve been very transparent about my thoughts on AI, especially on Instagram/TikTok. It’s not a binary boogeyman…not all good, not all bad, but it is very much here and the “ignore it and it’ll go away” position is no longer available to us.

The numbers also make that pretty hard to argue with. Generative AI adoption among U.S. adults jumped 10% in a single year and reached 54.6% by August of last year. In our industry specifically, the global AI market in media and entertainment is projected to grow from $15 billion in 2024 to nearly $196 billion by 2033. And the World Economic Forum estimates that while AI may displace 92 million jobs, it’s also expected to generate 170 million new ones.

So, the question isn’t whether our industry is changing but more how are you preparing yourself to not get left behind? It’s our responsibility to stay (cautiously) curious, informed, and in the room where tech and entertainment professionals are converging.

Which brings me to AI on the Lot.

I shared my takeaways from last year’s conference here and here. It’s billed as the largest AI media conference bringing together artists, filmmakers, innovators, media execs, startups, creators, and developers. Every year the room gets more interesting. More studio execs are showing up, which means the conversation is shifting from “we’re ignoring this!” to “should we pay attention to this?” to “okay, fine, how do we actually use it?” This year, all the trades will also be on the ground.

Check out this impressive ad created for the conference off the brief "a wild and fun love letter to LA." The filmmaker used Luma's AI agent to brainstorm shot concepts, generated images in bulk to find hero shots, then animated them using Dreamina Seedance 2.0. The whole thing was produced in a fraction of the time a traditional shoot would take.

Whatever your feelings on AI, it's a genuinely fun showcase of Los Angeles and a real demonstration of what these tools can do right now:

The conference is May 27–28 in Culver City. The co-founder kindly extended a 15% discount for my AOP peeps: use code AOP at checkout: aionthelot.com

Yes, it’s an investment. But if you’re looking to network intentionally with people who are actually building and thinking in this space, then juice is worth the squeeze. The conference is still small enough that you get real access pretty much everyone.

If you end up going, come find me. And let me know either way — I’m always curious who in our community is paying attention to this stuff.

Keep creating, keep hustling. And as always, thanks for doing this life thing with me!