Just last week, pundits and US media executives were scrambling to make sense of the Warner Bros. Discovery takeover bids. Netflix versus Paramount in an all-new Battle of the Network Stars.
The thing is, another and possibly even more significant shift was happening quietly in the background of that Game of Thrones-style duel.
Reports confirm that Disney has invested heavily in OpenAI and is integrating its IP with Sora. A billion dollars worth.
That’s not just a deal. That’s a declaration of intent. The Mouse House has decided to build a walled AI video garden.
This move signals a bizarre split in the creative world. In one corner, independent creators are mastering these tools to win festivals. In the other, major corporations are using the same tech and inadvertently terrifying their customers.
If the last few weeks have taught us anything, it’s that there’s a right way to use AI and a very, very wrong way, first, to the creators who have been lauded.
The festival circuit: Where craft meets code
While Hollywood executives were busy calling in the lawyers on the WBD sale, some competitive and creative innovation was happening on the ground in Melbourne. The recent TBWA Disrupt AI Film Festival (DAIFF) offered a glimpse of what happens when you treat AI as a view-finder rather than a cost-cutter.
The festival’s theme, ‘Humans and Their Tools,’ championed the old-fashioned value of storytelling above all. The Grand Prix winner, Pete Majarich, took home the top prize for his film Black Box. It proves that AI works best to amplify human vision, not replace it.
Pete Majarich’s ‘Black Box’ took home the top prize at TBWA’s Disrupt AI Film Festival, proving the human touch is still king.
Similarly, Australian creators like Ed Holmes and Pixel Juice are finding success by rejecting realism entirely. Queen of the Skies embraces a glitch aesthetic to create a steampunk storybook world that feels like a moving painting.
‘Queen of the Skies’, created by Pixel Juice, is a stylised storybook world rather than mimicking reality.
Other celebrated examples circling the industry show just how far the technology has come when it is unshackled from the corporate mandate to ‘sell product.’ Or maybe it’s selling with permission. Created by AI Candy, Mirakl‘s Santa Quits has been applauded by other agencies at least.
Independent creators are pushing boundaries to bring imaginative worlds to life with cinematic quality and genuine heart.
These creators succeed because they use the tech to stretch the imagination. But big brands seem intent on using it as a gimmick or just plain saving money.
The tale of two Cokes
The beverage giant offers a painful case study in the ‘AI learning curve.’ Coca-Cola has now had two bites at this cherry with wildly different results.
In 2023, they released Masterpiece. Critics applauded the spot, which used AI to transition between famous artworks. It worked because it was about artificial style and magic.
Coca-Cola’s 2023 ‘Masterpiece’ was a hit because the AI usage matched the artistic concept.
But for Christmas 2024 and now 2025, they tried to replicate reality. They commissioned AI remakes of their iconic ‘Holidays Are Coming’ truck ads.
Coca-Cola’s second attempt at an AI Christmas ad has faced the same ‘soulless’ accusations as the first.
The result was technically impressive yet emotionally vacuous. Audiences immediately spotted the AI shimmer. They noticed the gliding wheels and the dead-eyed crowds. By trying to automate a piece of cultural heritage that relies on nostalgia, Coke broke the emotional contract with its audience.
They proved that while you can prompt a machine to generate red trucks, you cannot prompt it to generate warmth.
The Golden Arches miss the mark
If Coke failed by being too nostalgic without permission to use AI, McDonald’s failed by being just plain cynical.
In a move that bafflingly misread the room, McDonald’s Netherlands released, and then swiftly pulled, an AI-generated spot titled The Most Terrible Time of the Year.
McDonald’s Netherlands scrapped this AI campaign after viewers found the cynical tone and uncanny visuals off-putting.
The ad depicted Christmas disasters rendered in a slightly unsettling, hyper-real style. The issue wasn’t just the visuals. It was the vibe.
Using a cold, calculating machine to satirise human holiday stress felt dystopian. It stripped the humour of its humanity.
Disney enters the chat
This brings us back to last week’s bombshell, the deal between Disney and OpenAI. Arguably, Disney has scrutinised developments in the world of AI-generated video and learned something.
Partnering with OpenAI could ensure their version of AI video is controlled, high-fidelity and, crucially, proprietary.
The new three-year licensing deal lets users generate videos using Sora, OpenAI’s short-form AI video platform, with more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar characters.
And then, a curated selection of these videos will be available to stream on Disney+. Now that democratises film-making!
While the rest of the media world is distracted by who will end up owning HBO, Disney is quietly ensuring it owns the engine that will power the next decade of content. They realise that fighting the technology is futile.
Instead, they plan to own the model that runs it.
Will it work?
Really, nobody knows. Legit nobody. We are currently sitting in a strange transition period.
When an indie creator like Pete Majarich uses AI, we applaud the creativity because we see the human intent.
When a billion-dollar conglomerate uses it to photocopy a beloved memory, we see a budget line item. And a fail.
The lesson for 2026 is clear.
Use AI to dream up new worlds, not to replicate the old ones cheaply.
Main Image: AI-generated Disney doodling