Why Human Connection Will Matter Even More in the Age of AI

At this year’s Ciclope, between the conversations about AI pipelines and production efficiencies, I found myself thinking less about the tools we use and more about the people using them. These festivals always give me that feeling. They are a chance to see so many of my favourite people in this industry and have really good, intentional time with them. It’s a rare moment where life slows down just enough for you to look someone in the eye and remember why you chose this career in the first place.

Which is why I joined Lora Schulson, global chief production officer, Sara Dunlop, director at The Cornershop, and Jane Dilworth, owner and prodcuer of Work Editorial, for the 'Better Together' panel. This group of women are all personal friends, part of my ‘tribe’, so I figured, if I am going to talk on a panel about the strength and power of human relationships, I wanted to do it with people with whom I share that. So doing this talk felt honest, which is important, as we head into a time when you cannot even trust the visuals you are seeing online.

The truth is harder to distill than ever and, for this reason, more and more of us are turning to the people we trust for truth seeking. It's these relationships that build and move the industry forward.

The topic of trust and building human relationships in our industry is an important one currently as so much conversation seems to be around AI, and with that comes a fear that we will be disconnected as people even further. Humans are social creatures, we thrive in groups and in tribes and nobody wants to lose that. Or their job!

I see the same thing happening in my personal life. As a parent of younger kids, I have noticed the huge anti-online movement beginning to happen as the real harm of social media and screentime is becoming apparent. Ditching smartphones for old school cell phones and even landlines, are making a comeback. We are going back outside into the real world to make relationships ‘IRL’. It feels like a cultural recalibration, a collective reminder that human connection doesn’t happen in isolation.

When the office disappeared, something else went missing too

At Blacksmith, we’ve been thinking a lot about how relationships are built differently in this era of remote work. When I started in this industry, the companies I grew up with operated purely on the strength of their relationships. The work was good, the relationships were strong, and the clients returned continuously. In fact, those clients returned so frequently they became like extended family, with many turning into friends.

Over the past five years (maybe slightly more) I’ve noticed a decline in that. Especially after Covid, as the office landscape changed and in-person business became less frequent.

As a result, nowadays, energy and commitment to relationships feels more fleeting. Even if a job goes really well and everyone involved enjoys the shared process, it doesn’t mean they will come back to you the way they used to. Maybe because of the missed opportunities to form a connection by not being in-person.

Now we can sit at home and watch Netflix whilst waiting to be sent a delivery link, as opposed to all sitting in a suite together checking the final picture, getting to know each other as we wait for the masters to be finished. In order to build trust in 2025, you have to work harder to find that relationship starter, because if we’re not appearing in-person, how do we bond?

I try to teach my team to pick up the phone more, have the chat rather than write it in an email. I once asked one of my junior producers to do her whole day on the phone instead of over email — she looked mildly horrified.

And yet, despite all the Zoom fatigue and the universal hatred of being on camera first thing on a Monday morning, I quite enjoyed this change in the way we communicate. I loved seeing all these people’s faces when we spoke. Until 2020, we’d been using the trusty spider phone conference system — just a mixture of voices on the other side. Now we get to make eye contact with each other when we speak and put a face to the name.

I also think my age group might take for granted how easily we all made relationships when we started and do not realise that this is not happening with the next generation we are bringing up. You have to press upon them that they need to somehow form a connection.

It's a relentless industry and one of the driving factors that keeps us going are the people we work with and being both inspired and motivated by them. And having fun with them along the way.

The energy at Ciclope... and what people are really worried about

Despite the changes, I still feel a great sense of energy from people. For me it's about maintaining those relationships and making new ones, which is why I love Ciclope so much. When I’m there, I spend more time with some of my US client friends in Berlin than I do back in the US where everyone is busy with life, families, travel and working from all over.

The conversations I had among peers this year were all leaning towards a similar sentiment of preserving the human made craft of what we do. And moving into this next phase together.

It felt comforting to realise that even as tools change, the commitment to the craft and the relationships behind that craft hasn’t wavered.

Of course, I’ve been asked a lot about AI and how it’s fitting into the creative and post-production space at Blacksmith. And, like any company, we are excited about the possibilities and are using it as part of our pipeline. It's particularly great with ideation and concept, helping us answer questions early on.

But we still value craft over all else, and using AI as a tool the same way we use all our other tech, is just an added way to reach that. As with all the tools we have been using for the past few decades, it's about how the artist uses and manipulates those tools to create the image. No two artists will use their tools in the same way, so the artist is as important as ever.

We have a new venture on the horizon that leans into this concept and whilst AI might get used in the pipeline, it definitely will not be the focus.

And so, as the AI landscape evolves, it feels like a great time to remind everyone that human interaction, emotion and feeling will rise above all else and be more sought after than ever. It could potentially become more exclusive. With AI becoming part of our workflow, I believe our humanity will become our greatest differentiator. The craft will evolve. The tools will evolve. But the soul of the work, the part that lives in the relationships we form, will remain.