Pixar, Katzenberg, and new Tech

In 1986, at a computer graphics conference in Dallas, 6,000 people watched a two-minute short about two desk lamps.

Luxo Jr. from Pixar was a sensation.

Afterward, a legendary computer-graphics researcher walked up to the director, John Lasseter. Lasseter expected a question about the technology. The man asked whether the big lamp was the mother or the father.

The tech didn't matter. He was invested in the story that this tech enabled.

And it was this same emotion that stirred entertainment executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, when he first saw Pixar's short film.

This week Katzenberg posted a memo titled The World Is Changing. He describes watching an AI generate a fully animated scene and feeling exactly what he felt watching Luxo Jr. take its first breath. An artist friend texts: "Is this the end of us?" He answers: "Certainly not."

The entertainment industry is in a moment of flux. Creatives have made AI persona-non-grata (or should I say synthetica non-grata), putting all their anger into it.

They have every right to. Job losses and studio closures are mounting. And creatives feel that this new tech is being jammed down their throats.

Katzenberg looks at it differently. AI is just technology. Its job is to expand the canvas.

He remembers going through the Disney archives: seeing Disney’s notebooks, his team’s early prototypes. There was no mention of pencils, or paintbrushes – only character, emotions, and how it makes an audience feel.

These principles matter. The tools are transitory.

It’s clear that the polarizing response to AI is coming from a place of passion. Katzenberg said so back in 1990. People don’t want slop, and they don’t want to be replaced.

That’s why the Pixar story matters. New tech enabled completely new forms of expression.

It’s clear from the history of Media, that people who raise the roof of what a story can feel like will continue to be rewarded.

And so the discussion worth having is what artists — flexible, taste-driven, and clear about their terms — will make possible that no model can invent alone.