'Eventually the AI will disappear': MC&V says AI is becoming just another production tool

The myth of the generalist

A core principle of MC&V's approach is that creative specialists, not AI generalists, will define the next phase of the industry.

"Just because we have access to the tools, that doesn't mean you should do it, and it also doesn't mean you can do it and achieve what you're trying to do," Merret Wirström said.

"An AI artist can almost be compared with a VFX artist, like someone who has been on those kinds of tools in the craft for 10 to 15 years. But I don't think people understand that. This sense of generalists is still there. We actually work with specialists. That hasn't sunk in yet."

Schifferstein Vidal said AI production has quickly evolved from individuals working alone to multidisciplinary specialist teams.

"I think that's what we've seen in the last two years: the tools have become better, but also the people using them have become much better," she said.

"We're moving away from that one person in the corner in an agency doing everything, to actual teams of AI artists working on a production and building on their strengths. I think we've come a long way in only two years."

What gets a CMO to the table

According to Schifferstein Vidal, cost savings may open the conversation about AI, but creative opportunity is what sustains it.

"That is the starting point," she said.

"I think the conversations that we're having are opening up that mindset of the client, but also creatives or account directors on the agency side, that this is about more than cost savings. This is about creating work that you couldn't have made beforehand."

She said clients often shift their thinking once they see ideas that had previously been impossible to produce.

"The moment you start showing them those possibilities, you see the minds open and go, actually, we've got this brief in the drawer that we could not make before. Can we just try this now? Because you start a conversation from that angle, people understand that you actually need specialists."

Merret Wirström believes many organisations make the mistake of using AI only to replicate existing workflows more cheaply.

"I think that the worst thing that they're doing is trying to replicate what they're already doing with AI, just cheaper," she said.

“We've seen a lot of studies on that. Whereas when you think through the lens of AI from the ground up, you actually gain a lot more value out of that as opposed to trying to take the one thing and take the other thing and now let's go make it more efficient.”

Not a platform play

Unlike many agency groups investing in proprietary AI technology, MC&V has deliberately focused on production systems, specialist talent and creative judgement rather than building its own platform.

Before officially launching, the company had already worked alongside agencies including Apparent, Block, Emotive and Springboards on AI-enabled productions.

The founders also established the AARON Awards, which recognise excellence in AI-driven advertising craft and connect specialist AI creatives globally.

They say early fears that AI would replace creative jobs have given way to growing demand for specialist practitioners who understand how to apply the technology effectively.

The word that disappears

Looking ahead, both founders believe AI will increasingly become an invisible part of production rather than a category of its own.

"I think one thing that we see very clearly is that it's less about either full AI or a traditional production. It's becoming much more hybrid," Schifferstein Vidal said.

And eventually, she believes, even the terminology will fade away.

"Eventually, I think the whole word AI will disappear," she said.

“It's just production, and AI is just like VFX or CGI.”