Embracing emerging technologies like a visionary director

Fast Company

21-05-2025

I remember the moment vividly: the so-called 'whale room' at Digital Domain's Venice, California, studio. Frank Gehry's design made it feel as if we were sitting inside the ribcage of a giant whale—wooden beams arching overhead like the bones of a leviathan, a cathedral built for dreamers and builders.
We were deep in a script review for Avatar with James Cameron. The air was thick, almost reverent. As the creative technology team unfolded the world of Pandora—its bioluminescent forests, its floating mountains, its living ecosystems—one truth became brutally clear: the technology to bring Cameron's vision to life simply didn't exist yet. Rather than compromise on his vision, Cameron shelved the project for a decade—not because the story wasn't ready, but because the world wasn't ready—only to return to it when the technology just about caught up.
This wasn't hesitation. It was mastery. The discipline to wait until the technology and the market had arrived. This approach—knowing when to wait, when to leap—offers deep insight for today's leaders navigating the AI and mixed reality revolutions.
Cameron's insightful timing echoes today in his recent move to join Stability AI's board of directors, as well as his partnering with Meta's Reality Labs. These are not just corporate alignments—they are signals of where visual storytelling is at today, and where it is heading. The inflection point in AI and MR technology is here, empowering creativity in ways previously unimaginable.
When working at the intersection of creativity and technology, timing is as crucial as vision. The question is not just whether to adopt new tools, but when and how to integrate them to serve, not dilute, the creative purpose and business objectives.
HUMAN-CENTERED, ARTIST-FIRST APPROACH
The most powerful technological implementations start with human creativity. Technology should expand the imagination, not replace it. AI tools offer the chance to test ideas before committing full budgets, and reduce risk while encouraging bolder experimentation. By automating repetitive tasks, AI enables creators to focus more sharply on narrative, emotional depth, and artistic direction—the irreplaceable zones of human genius.
Today, tools once reserved for major studios are reaching independent creators and smaller teams, ultimately reshaping who can tell stories and how. This democratization opens new doors to more diverse, powerful storytelling.
The future of storytelling is about thoughtful fusion. Traditional CGI (computer-generated imagery) and Gen AI (generative artificial intelligence) represent different creative engines that are now converging to unlock possibilities neither could achieve alone. This convergence, not replacement, defines the next evolution of visual storytelling.
As Cameron recently noted, 'The intersection of Gen AI and CGI image creation is the next wave. The convergence of these two totally different engines of creation will unlock new ways for artists to tell stories in ways we could have never imagined.'
Blending these engines will unleash artistic expression in ways we have never seen before.
Timing isn't just about technological readiness—it's about societal and market readiness. Ten years ago, mixed reality was too nascent for mainstream adoption. Today, as Cameron notes, MR is a medium to 'create, experience, and enjoy new and mind-blowing forms of media.'
This shift today is not circumstantial. Rather, it is the outcome of sustained industry investment, including Meta's long bet on spatial computing. As Frank Rose writes in The Art of Immersion, 'a new type of narrative is emerging—one that's nonlinear, participatory, and immersive.' What was once confined to passive rectangular screens is evolving into living, breathing worlds—places audiences can enter and shape.
This is the kind of deep engagement Cameron envisioned decades ago—a vision that could only be realized once the tools—and the world—were ready. Today, MR is evolving from experiment to ecosystem, a participatory platform where, as Cameron emphasizes, 'all of us' can be world builders.
Cameron returned to Avatar when the tools were just ready enough to push them beyond their limits to achieve his vision. The result wasn't just a film. It was a redefinition of storytelling itself. The implications for storytelling now, with today's tools of Gen AI and mixed reality, are all the more pervasive.
LOOKING FORWARD: DREAM WITH YOUR EYES WIDE OPEN
'Dream with your eyes wide open' was a mantra at Digital Domain decades ago, and it feels even more relevant now than ever. The inference capabilities of Gen AI and the sense of presence afforded by real-time MR technology make these dreams more achievable than ever.
The leaders who will thrive are those who:
Maintain a clear, creative vision that technology enhances, not dictates
Time their adoption strategically
Integrate complementary tools rather than replace or refuse them
Empower human creativity above all.
Having transitioned from traditional CGI on projects like Cameron's Terminator 2/3D to real-time 3D immersive media and AI-powered storytelling at Wevr, I'm more optimistic about this convergence than ever. When visionaries align with new technologies and product-market fit is reached, creativity doesn't just survive, it amplifies in ways we're only beginning to imagine.