Everyone's Yelling so I started making.

If you’d told me five years ago that I’d be talking to you today about a film I’m directing that uses AI, I would’ve told you you were out of your mind. But about six weeks ago, I started a project with only one rule: it had to be made with AI.

To be honest, I didn’t even know what that would turn into. A small part of me did it to play the algorithm—but then a few people unfollowed me. That’s when I realized this wasn’t going to be what I expected, and that I needed to push myself too.

Over the past five years, “AI” has become a buzzword for everything. The more I learned, the clearer it became: it’s mostly marketing fodder built on stolen material. But when I started this project, I also knew that a lot of people might judge my work before even watching or reading it. So the question became: how do I combat that kind of visceral response—especially when the spaces where this work will live aren’t exactly friendly to nuance and clarity, and when we’re all trapped in echo chambers?

As an educator, I believe it’s important to learn alongside artists, especially with technology that isn’t going away. Honestly, just two days ago I was ready to stop working on this project altogether. But then one of my former students left a comment on my last video, saying that our conversations helped them understand that AI is a tool—not a creative entity. When I read that, I knew I had to finish what I started.

Before I go any further, I think it’s important to point out what really needs to change. Water and electricity should be provided by companies—not communities. But that only happens if people speak up at the city level. It only takes one voice to move the needle.

And yes, some AI models are trained on stolen work. That absolutely needs to be addressed. As someone who’s had a feature pirated, I’m well aware of copyright issues. Unfortunately, it’ll likely be handled case by case, so awareness is step one.

It’s also not as scary as the media makes it seem. The current coverage reminds me of how people talked about the internet when I was in middle school. Spoiler alert: it’s still here. AI is just a tool made by humans. If it becomes “evil,” it’s because humans are looking into a mirror.

After almost two months of experimenting, I see AI as something that can lift millions out of poverty—and simultaneously eliminate millions of jobs. New avenues will keep emerging from these technologies. The question is: will you focus on the good or the bad? Both voices exist. It’s all about perspective.

And that perspective is what’s made this project rewarding. I started with low expectations, but now that I’m about to film the short, I’m genuinely excited. I used the technology to generate what was honestly the worst script I’ve ever read—but that ended up convincing me I’m a better writer than I thought. I threw out most of the script and all the dialogue, and instead built an expanded world for the feature I’m writing.

This experience taught me not to trust everything I hear from the media—especially when they have a vested interest in the success of these tools. So what’s the point of AI right now? Honestly, I think there will be more good than bad, but only if the public learns what these tools actually are.

When I was in middle school, our computer class was basic at best—but at least it gave us a foundation. Now, people are just clicking around, treating AI like a glorified search engine. It’s so much more than a lazy prompt box that spits out half-informed answers.

I think we’ll look back on this moment the same way millennials look back at the early Wikipedia days: an unreliable, user-generated encyclopedia full of errors that eventually became a robust, collective resource. Right now, AI is wrapped in “get rich quick” hype—promising shortcuts and skipping steps. It’s marketing designed to make the uninformed feel like they’ve already missed the boat.

But if history has taught me anything, it’s that it’s never too late to start learning. The media rarely gives us the full story. And if humanity is truly evil (which I don’t believe), then why not use their own tool against them—by sharing knowledge with everyone?

In the end, that was the original idea for my story anyway: one person speaking the truth against all the tools trying to suggest otherwise.

It’s never too late.

Jerry

P.S. If you’d like to watch the full uncut prompts make sure to subscribe on youtube as they will be dropping over the next few weeks.