Nik Kleverov made his first AI commercial for Toys “R” Us. At AI Creator Day, the Native Foreign co-founder and chief creative officer compared this moment to Walt Disney arriving with $40 and a fear he was too late for animation. “Look at AI now. There is no playbook. We are writing it,” Kleverov said.
His resume also includes the first AI short to earn a U.S. copyright and “Critterz,” billed as the first AI-animated family feature. Native Foreign, his Emmy-recognized creative agency, presented the session.
He pushed back on the viral demos first. “Despite the headline-grabbing and posts about making something in two minutes for two bucks, there is no magic button,” he said.
As the tools spread, he argued, everything starts to look the same, and that’s where people come in. “We need creatives. And honestly, maybe more than ever before,” Kleverov said. “The tools become more ubiquitous. The output becomes more homogenized. But what is going to push things above is the creatives.”
He closed with a challenge for the week. Start from your own artwork and hold on to your sketches. “Keep your provenance, keep your process, because what we have to do and constantly prove and show is that there is a human in the loop,” he said.
TheWrap and What’s Trending presented AI Creator Day 2026 at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles on Sept. 29, the day before TheGrill. Sponsors included Artlist, Cantina, CapCut, Fairground Entertainment, Native Foreign, pocket.watch, Rebel Audio, UTA and Wispr Flow, the official voice partner, whose Notetaker captured the quotes in this story.
