Terry Pratchett has long been one of my favourite authors. His Discworld is full of wizards, witches, goblins and geriatric warriors - and its magic is never neat or predictable. It’s strange, surprising, often funny, and it always has consequences. Take Hex, the Unseen University’s “thinking machine” cobbled together from ants, tubes and bits of string. It ran on magic, and none of the wizards fully understood how. Sometimes it worked brilliantly. Sometimes it developed a mind of its own.
That’s generative AI in a nutshell.
Right now, AI is the shiny wand everyone wants to wave. It promises speed, scale, and spectacle - and sometimes it delivers. But like spellcasting, the reality is more complicated. Put the words in the right order and you get brilliance. Miss by a beat, and you summon chaos. Which is why experience matters - not just knowing how to prompt, but knowing when AI belongs in the mix, when traditional pipelines serve better, and how to combine them without breaking the spell.
The Wonder
The outputs can be jaw-dropping. Photorealistic visuals in seconds. Concept videos that look like they came out of a big studio pitch. Trailers and explainers built at a fraction of the time and cost. We’ve seen everything from light-hearted viral clips of Dwayne Johnson eating a literal rock in a luxury shower, to Billy Joel’s recent music video that seamlessly blended decades of his likeness into a moving, cinematic piece. Microsoft even released a Surface ad quietly built with generative AI - where the tools created scripts, boards and assets, but it was still the editing, sound design and motion graphics that made it shine.
For clients, that’s the real promise. Generative AI unlocks speed, variety and imagination at a scale traditional methods can’t. It means faster idea generation, quicker iteration cycles, and more space to explore creative directions before committing to full production. Generative AI opens doors that were previously locked by time, budget or bandwidth. That’s the wonder.
The Chaos
a specific style of box
fridge magnets in brand primary and secondary colours
a kitchen that feels modern but lived-in
and a tone that matches the campaign
Generative AI can approximate that, but not always with the control needed. Sometimes the gap can be closed with prompt refinement or by combining multiple generative tools. Sometimes it can’t.
That’s where blending becomes critical. Maybe we generate a starting point, then lean on rotoscoping, clone-stamping, or compositing to finesse. Or we film/build from scratch, then enhance with AI. The Microsoft ad is a perfect illustration: the heavy lifting wasn’t just AI, it was the craft of editing, sound design, and motion graphics that elevated it.
And then there’s the other end of the spectrum: “AI slop” filling YouTube feeds - bizarre cat soap operas, babies adrift in space, endless algorithm-churned nonsense. Generative AI without guidance doesn’t just miss the mark, it risks confusing audiences and diluting brand value.
Generative AI is powerful, but not perfect. Without guidance, it can burn through time and lose the story. With the right craft around it, it becomes a catalyst rather than a distraction.
The Craft
Putting on a pointy hat doesn’t make you a wizard — and typing vague prompts into Veo doesn’t create art. The real craft is in wielding both AI and traditional methods with discernment. The outcome isn’t novelty for its own sake, but work that’s strategically on-point and creatively exceptional.
For clients, this is where the real value sits. Generative AI becomes a strategic tool: a way to expand creative options, reduce risk, and put budget where it has the greatest impact. The craft lies in balancing speed with precision, novelty with control, and automation with the human touch.
Making sure AI serves the story, the brand, and the business goals — not the other way around.
Pratchett once wrote: “It’s still magic even if you know how it’s done.” That’s where generative AI sits today. It dazzles, it confounds, and sometimes it misbehaves. But in the right hands - guided by craft, discipline and experience - it can transform how stories are told.
At Fox, we don’t just chase the magic. We make it work.