AI is the latest tool helping storytellers push boundaries — but like every major technological shift before it, it’s disruptive. More often than not, it’s the challengers who embrace new technology faster than the incumbents who are weighed down by legacy systems, processes, and mindsets.
At WatchMojo, we don’t use AI in our core production — yet. But as the founder of a content company built during the rise of web video and social media, I can’t ignore the parallels between those early days and what’s happening now with generative AI.
A Tool, Not a Threat — Yet Still Disruptive
Let’s be honest: AI is coming for everyone, from healthcare and finance to education and the military. By comparison, content creation might seem like a low-stakes sandbox — but that’s misleading. While tech has previously disrupted distribution in media (from VHS to cable to streaming to YouTube), AI will disrupt creation and production itself.
And that’s a bigger deal than most people in Hollywood want to admit.
It’s easy for incumbents to downplay or dismiss AI — just like Google was once dismissed as a passing trend, or YouTube was written off as amateur hour. With hindsight, being indexed on Google or native to YouTube was a golden ticket. Similarly, we’re at a fork in the road now: adapt and ride the AI wave, or get buried beneath it.
Legacy Is the Enemy of Agility
When you’ve done something a certain way for a long time, change feels threatening. But innovation doesn’t care about legacy. Magazines ignored the web and lost. Photographers hated stock photos and distrusted Google Images. I remember how VH1 abandoned pop culture countdowns just as we leaned into them on YouTube. We didn’t just pivot to video — we were born into it.
That’s why AI isn’t some abstract tech conversation to me. It’s the latest in a long line of opportunities to rethink how stories are told and experienced.
AI Isn’t the Villain — Complacency Is
Hollywood is individually and collectively freaking out about AI. Writers fear being replaced. Directors dream of skipping the logistics of shoots. Actors wonder if they’ll be digitally cloned. But here’s the paradox: the best creators won’t be replaced — they’ll be enhanced.
This isn’t a battle between creativity and technology. It’s a battle between old ways and new possibilities.
If you’re a writer, you may fear AI will replace you. But what if it helps you realize your vision more faithfully — cutting out the dilution that comes from subjective interpretation by others?
If you’re a director, maybe AI lets you command a virtual set, no permits or call sheets required.
If you’re an actor, perhaps you’re not just the face — but the soul and architect of a performance powered by your own motion capture and voice data.
None of this is fully possible yet. But YouTube in 2005 wasn’t what YouTube is today. Progress doesn’t care if you’re nostalgic.
At WatchMojo, We Balance Idealism With Pragmatism
We put people ahead of profits and have built a profitable, sustainable business. But we’re not naive. If we were launching today, we’d lean far more into AI than we currently do. Being purists is admirable, but being realists is necessary.
AI will impact jobs. That’s a fact. It will reduce the need for some roles and increase demand for others. Our job as leaders is to balance that shift — not ignore it.
Employees are right to worry when headlines scream that 40% of jobs could be impacted. But will we ban AI for new hires because current staff are concerned? Just like earlier generations leaned on Google and Wikipedia, new graduates will rely on AI. We can’t turn back time. Nor should we.
The Optimal Path: AI + People
Whether in a McDonald’s kitchen, a Tesla factory, or a content studio, the ideal formula is humans with AI, not humans vs AI.
For example, at WatchMojo, our trivia game leverages generative tools — but it’s built on a foundation of 100,000 questions written by people over a decade. AI helps us scale and adapt, not replace human judgment.
Similarly, imagine a Top 10 video on the greatest battles in history. In the past, we’d rely on Hollywood films or documentaries for B-roll. But with AI, we could reimagine scenes that never had footage to begin with — like Alexander the Great’s Siege of Tyre, brought to life not with movie clips, but with AI-generated visual storytelling.
That’s the promise. That’s the power.
A Challenge to Creators
Over the past two decades, we’ve worked with thousands of writers, editors, and artists. Now I’m looking to partner with creators who know how to use AI tools — not just to save time or reduce costs, but to expand what’s possible.
If you’re someone who looks at AI not as a threat but as an untapped brush for a new kind of canvas — reach out. I plan to take one scripted project and use it as a “sacrificial lamb” to test just how far AI can go. Not because I think AI is the answer to everything — but because I want to learn what role it can and should play in the future of storytelling.
Final Thought
AI isn’t the end of creativity. It’s the next phase of it.
The future won’t be won by Luddites clinging to old tools or technocrats automating soul out of the process. It’ll be won by the creators who embrace change, learn the tools, and use them to tell better stories than ever before.
Just like we once embraced YouTube, we’re preparing to embrace AI — thoughtfully, carefully, and creatively.
The canvas is blank. Let’s see what we can create together. For more, watch this:
