Summary:
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Prem Akkaraju, ex-Weta Digital CEO, now heads Stability AI, showcasing laptop tools to creators at AI Creator Day.
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Event on Sept. 29 features industry experts like Jesse Wellens and Bernie Su discussing AI-driven creative projects.
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Controversy surrounds AI in Hollywood, but Akkaraju’s event aims to explore its potential with industry leaders.
Prem Akkaraju used to run Weta Digital, the Oscar-winning effects house behind “Avatar: The Way of Water” and the “Planet of the Apes” films. Now he’s CEO of Stability AI, and his pitch to creators is that tools that once needed a studio’s payroll are already on their laptops.
He’ll make that case Tuesday, Sept. 29, when he opens AI Creator Day at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, the first edition of the event What’s Trending co-hosts with TheWrap ahead of TheGrill on Sept. 30.
He’s seen both ends of the business. At Weta he founded Weta Cloud, which Unity Software later bought for $1.625 billion. Stability’s Stable Diffusion models have been downloaded more than 354 million times, and James Cameron sits on the company’s board.
What’s Trending founder Shira Lazar will press him on what the shift means for independent filmmakers and how Hollywood is handling it.
The rest of the lineup works like a test of his argument.
Jesse Wellens spent more than 15 years building an audience on YouTube before moving into directing, and he now leads AI-driven creative projects for Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records. Bernie Su won YouTube’s first two Primetime Emmys with “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” and “Emma Approved.” These days he’s head of creative at Pickford.ai, showrunning “Whispers,” a mystery where audience prompts shape scenes as they happen. Both join DeStorm Power and Taryn Southern on Lazar’s panel of YouTube originals, where they plan to get specific about which tools are worth using and which are overhyped.
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Actor and director David Bianchi has more than 140 film and TV credits, including the Primetime Emmy-nominated series “RZR.” His recent work is fully generative, from a music video for Don Diablo to an episodic series he’s producing with Higgsfield.ai. Nik Kleverov of creative agency Native Foreign has a run of firsts on his résumé, among them the first AI commercial and “Critterz,” billed as the first AI-animated family feature.
Maverick Maltin may be the clearest example of how low the barrier has dropped. The creator known as MavGPT started posting in May 2025. A year later he has more than 3 million followers, a billion views, a 250,000-reader newsletter and more than 100 brand deals, including OpenAI and Canva.
He’ll talk about what makes those partnerships work with Don Allen III and Jenny Stojkovic, with Paige Piskin moderating.
If you’d rather see the work than hear about it, a couple of sessions get hands-on. Visual artist Dorothy Pang will build a piece live in CapCut Video Studio with CapCut’s Ana Kley, and director Darin Stewart and producer Simone Ferretti will walk through how Artlist’s first AI series, “The Arc,” got made.
Akkaraju’s pitch has a flip side, and plenty of people in Hollywood aren’t sold. AI protections were a core fight in the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, and questions about consent, credit and pay are still unsettled. Putting a studio in one creator’s hands can also mean smaller crews, which is what many below-the-line workers worry about most.
Tickets are available at thewrap.com/aicreatorday.
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A paid ticket to TheGrill includes free access to AI Creator Day, and WrapPRO subscribers get 30% off.
