SEEN by Chengxi Taylor

If AI can make a film you love, what are we actually afraid of?

Imagine watching a film that moves you to tears. Then you discover it was made by AI. Would that change how you feel?

After a decade building 4 companies at the frontier of technology, and now as founder of an AI research company, I've become increasingly interested in the tension between what technology makes possible and what we might lose along the way.

In this episode of SEEN by Chengxi Taylor, I'm joined by Paula Vaccaro, Venice Film Festival-winning producer, BAFTA voting member, and founder of Pinball London.

Paula has spent over 25 years bringing human stories to the screen. I come from building AI.

Together, we explore AI × Film: from the magic of cinema to the unsettling possibilities of AI, from the value of human creativity to the fear of being replaced.

If AI can make a brilliant film, does it matter who made it? Is AI taking away someone's dream, or finally giving someone else a chance? And when technology can create exactly what we want to watch, will we lose the stories that challenge us?

Because the deeper question isn't simply can AI make great films?

It's what are we willing to gain, and what are we afraid of losing.

AI × Film

Chengxi Taylor with Paula Vaccaro

Chapters

00:00 The real disruption isn't AI

00:42 Can AI make you cry?

01:52 From journalism to filmmaking

05:45 Is storytelling losing its soul?

09:21 Why niche beats mass appeal

15:53 Who's really controlling AI?

20:31 When AI feels more human

22:43 AI entertainment as digital drugs

27:03 Being human means doing less

31:38 Learning to dance with AI

36:09 Will AI replace filmmakers?

40:17 Can AI ever have taste?

44:04 Why independent cinema matters

SEEN by Chengxi Taylor

Technology changes what is possible. SEEN asks what becomes meaningful.

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What makes an artist distinctive when anyone can generate an image?

After a decade building 4 companies at the frontier of technology, and now as founder of an AI research company, I’ve become increasingly interested in a question that sits beyond capability:

If the tools of creation become available to everyone, what becomes more valuable about the artist?

In this episode of SEEN by Chengxi Taylor, I’m joined by Jim Vision, graffiti artist, leading figure in London street art, and now AI filmmaker.

Jim comes from walls, spray paint and the streets. I come from building AI. Together, Together, we explore AI × Art: from originality, artistic identity to what separates having the tools from having a vision.

When anyone can create, perhaps the real question is who has something worth expressing.

AI × Art

Chengxi Taylor with Jim Vision

Chapters

00:00 The vision that won't let go

01:11 If anyone can create, who's an artist?

02:33 Art without permission

04:04 What if your art disappears?

06:00 Your medium isn't your identity

08:48 When beautiful isn't enough

10:11 Real confidence doesn't need approval

12:43 From graffiti to AI filmmaking

14:18 The dream AI brought back

15:48 Why train your own AI?

17:09 Who owns your artistic style?

18:29 Is AI really the enemy?

20:43 Why failure beats success

22:17 Are emotions a creative superpower?

24:19 Can AI create a vision?

26:29 The artist behind the day job

29:32 Why do we stop creating?

31:40 Who gets to define art?

33:44 Can you evolve without losing yourself?

36:29 The courage to be lost

SEEN by Chengxi Taylor

Technology changes what is possible. SEEN asks what becomes meaningful.

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What is left for humans when intelligence is no longer uniquely ours?

After a decade building 4 companies at the frontier of technology and now as founder of an AI research company, I’ve become increasingly interested in a question that sits beyond capability:

If machines can replicate more of what we once considered uniquely human, what should we value about being human?

That question is at the heart of SEEN by Chengxi Taylor: my conversations with leading voices from technology, philosophy, art, science and culture about who we become as the boundaries of human possibility change.

For the first episode, I’m joined by Dr Tom Chatfield, Oxford-trained technology philosopher, author of Wise Animals, former BBC columnist and Visiting Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute. 

Tom approaches technology through philosophy, history and human behaviour. I approach it from inside the world of building AI.

Together, we explore AI × Human Intelligence: whether we’re overvaluing intelligence itself, why emotional intelligence may become more important in the age of AI, intuition versus data, the pressure to keep up, and what remains worth doing when machines can do more of what humans once defined themselves by.

Because the deeper question isn’t simply how intelligent can AI become? It is who do humans become when intelligence is no longer enough to define us?

AI × Human Intelligence

Chengxi Taylor with Dr Tom Chatfield

Chapters

00:00 Trailer: Emotional intelligence in the age of AI

01:00 Why I wanted to have this conversation

04:40 Are we overvaluing intelligence?

08:20 Rethinking emotional intelligence

12:22 Are we thinking or being manipulated?

16:02 Intuition, emotion and being authors of our thoughts

17:49 The myth of a fixed “authentic self”

21:01 Speed and FOMO in the age of AI

25:18 Defining the new rules of the game

30:59 What is worth doing when AI can do everything?

37:24 Why humans are more than outcomes

42:15 Caring deeply has a cost

47:43 Detachment doesn’t mean not caring

52:34 How do we live with AI beyond our control?

58:59 The value of an idiosyncratic life

1:03:22 Why we may value human craft more in the age of AI

1:08:01 What we desire may already be within us

1:10:34 A daily practice for AI anxiety

1:11:02 Tom Chatfield on Wise Animals

1:11:45 Why I created SEEN

SEEN by Chengxi Taylor

Technology changes what is possible. SEEN asks what becomes meaningful.

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