Inside the ‘Safe Haven’ Where Creators Embrace AI Openly

How do influencers and content creators react when they face criticism for using AI? Mostly, they’re unfazed. That was the atmosphere at the AI creators conference I attended in Los Angeles this week. I joined hundreds of creators, marketers, brands, and AI enthusiasts on Tuesday at ‘AI Creator Day,’ organized by industry trade publication TheWrap and media outlet What’s Trending. The one‑day event was held at UCLA and featured sessions such as ‘What It Actually Takes to Make an AI Series’ and ‘Who Decides What’s Human?’\n\n’We’re taking it in the head right now,’ said DeStorm Power, referring to the ‘slop’ comments left on AI‑generated content. He spoke on a panel about how veteran YouTubers are adopting the technology. Despite the remarks, Power — who boasts over 3 million YouTube subscribers — said he brushes them off and concentrates on the thousands of fans who enjoy his AI‑driven videos.\n\nI had anticipated a lot of discussion about handling AI backlash — think of the influencers criticized for attending an OpenAI‑sponsored brand trip or Hank Green’s public apology for ‘relying too heavily on AI.’ Instead, the day buzzed with excitement, practical filmmaking tips, and hardly any apologies. Creators proudly showcased their AI‑powered projects — from a comedy sketch about sharing a flat with a merman to a black‑and‑white, old‑Hollywood‑style short — and detailed how many human contributors and AI credits went into each piece. Most attendees had moved past the debate of whether to use AI for storytelling and were focused on how to use it creatively and what new possibilities it unlocks.\n\nA ‘safe space’ to talk about AI\nSeveral attendees told me they came to ‘AI Creator Day’ specifically because it felt like a ‘safe space.’ The prevailing mood among creators was enthusiasm about sharing how they use AI and what it enables them to achieve.\n\nThe team behind the AI‑generated sci‑fi action thriller series ‘The Arc’ said they completed the first episode — from concept to final cut — in just three and a half weeks. Chris Capel, a YouTuber who premiered his AI‑generated short ‘Living with a Merman,’ noted that the sketch idea had been sitting with him for two decades, but he lacked the resources to produce it until now.\n\nIt wasn’t always obvious how much of each work was AI‑generated — were the concepts, jokes, and dialogue wholly AI‑crafted, or was it a human‑written story and script with AI handling the visuals? — yet creators repeatedly stressed the same point: a human made this, and AI served as a tool they employed.\n\nFrequently mentioned AI tools included Seedance and Kling for video generation, Midjourney and Nano Banana Pro for image creation, and ChatGPT and Claude for brainstorming and writing.\n\nDavid Bianchi, an actor, producer, and director with a background in traditional film and TV, wanted to dispel the myth that making AI cinema is easy. ‘It does take serious craft,’ he said during a panel discussion. ‘You have the tools, but you can’t make taste.’\n\nAlthough the showcased work far surpassed much of the AI‑generated ‘slop’ flooding the internet, the photorealistic pieces still occasionally exhibited that uncanny‑valley sensation.\n\nThe inevitability of AI\nSeveral sessions tackled the harder questions surrounding AI. During a panel titled ‘Who Decides What’s Human?,’ James Douglas, a vice president at the Interactive Advertising Bureau, stressed that consumers should not be misled about what is AI and what is not. ‘The person who is consuming the content should not be deceived,’ he said.\n\nThere was less focus on other common AI concerns, such as ensuring AI‑generated work isn’t overly derivative of existing content or weighing whether the opportunities AI creates will outweigh potential job losses when productions can be completed with far fewer people.\n\nVincent Marcus, a creator with more than 1.3 million Instagram followers, said he expects his voice‑acting work may become obsolete: ‘I’m already preparing for my job to not exist.’ He added that this realization has driven him to embrace AI and prepare for the future.\n\nA recurring theme throughout the day was the idea that the AI wave is inevitable and that creators who resist it risk being left behind. ‘The game is changing,’ said Bernie Su, a web series creator and head of creative for the AI entertainment company Pickford. ‘We’ll do our thing. Audiences will react to us, and we’ll see what happens.’