Creative storytelling with AI: The making of Ancestra

In this episode of People of AI , we take you behind the scenes of "ANCESTRA," a groundbreaking film that integrates generative artificial intelligence into its core. Hear from the director Eliza McNitt and key collaborators from the Google DeepMind team about how they leveraged AI as a new creative tool, navigated its capabilities and limitations, and ultimately shaped a unique cinematic experience. Understand the future role of AI in filmmaking and its potential for developers and storytellers. Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction to Ancestra: AI in filmmaking 3:38 - The Origin Story of ANCESTRA 5:35 - Google DeepMind and Primordial Soup collaboration 11:47 - Veo and the creative process 20:21 - Behind the scenes: Making the film 28:47 - Generating videos: Gemini and Veo tools 38:11 - AI as a creative tool, not a replacement 47:41 - AI's impact and the future of the film industry 53:51 - Generative models: A new kind of camera 57:46 - Rapid fire & conclusion Resources: Ancestra → https://goo.gle/4mVScNW  Making of ANCESTRA → https://goo.gle/3JVJil1  Veo 3 → https://goo.gle/4mWn3Kz  Veo 3 Documentation → https://goo.gle/46qqFOV  Veo 3 Cookbook → https://goo.gle/3VMVFSZ  Google Flow → https://goo.gle/3VMVR4F  Watch more People of AI → https://goo.gle/PAI  Subscribe to Google for Developers → https://goo.gle/developers #PeopleofAI Speaker: Christina Warren, Ashley Oldacre,  Eliza McNitt, Ben Wiley, Corey Matthewson,  Products Mentioned: Google AI, Gemini, Veo 2, Veo 3

Meet Muhammad Farooq, a machine learning engineer and a YouTuber on the channel @engineerprompt, where he explains AI concepts and builds his own projects. In this episode of People of AI, hosts Ashley and Christina chat with Muhammad about his journey in tech, his open source project localGPT, and how he's helping organizations deploy scalable AI solutions.  Chapters: 0:00 Intro 3:15 From Ph.D to YouTube Creator 4:50 First viral YouTube hit 8:20 RAG and why it matters 11:20 The origins of localGPT 15:20 What has changed with building in the last 2 years 18:35 How AI tools and models have matured 19:50 Becoming a technical manager to LLMs 22:20 What agentic coding has enabled Muhammad to build in localGPT 2.0 27:45 Better maintaining open source projects by leveraging AI 28:50 What to watch out for when building with agentic systems 31:20 Advice for junior developers 35:40 Differences between how junior devs and senior devs use AI tools 39:19 Specs-driven development 41:20 Advice for experimenting with AI tools 42:50 The problem with overly-agreeable LLMs 45:10 Why long-context windows are useful for coding 47:30 Advice for someone launching a tech-focused YouTube channel 51:40 Rapid Fire Questions Resources: @engineerprompt YouTube Channel → https://goo.gle/4m8HCmn  localGPT → https://goo.gle/45qwiuH  localGPT 2.0 - Building the Best Private RAG System → https://goo.gle/4fwvyJb  Muhammad’s website → https://goo.gle/47aHaj9  Muhammad on X → https://goo.gle/4lraJjz  Measuring the Impact of Early-2025  AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity → https://goo.gle/4oqVGct  Watch more People of AI → https://goo.gle/PAI  Subscribe to Google for Developers → https://goo.gle/developers #PeopleofAI Speaker: Christina Warren, Ashley Oldacre Products Mentioned: AI  

Join hosts Ashley Oldacre and Christinia Warren as they kick off Season 5 of the People of AI podcast with their first guest, Clement Farabet, VP of Research at Google DeepMind. They discuss the evolution of AI, from early neural networks to the latest advancements in large language models and AI agents. Learn how research and product teams work together to bring developers the best tools to build with and are setting the stage for an agentic future.   Resources: Clement Farabet → https://goo.gle/3UrbHkO  “Attention is all you need” Paper → https://goo.gle/4kTmrmM  Google DeepMind Models →https://goo.gle/4f1doPq  AI Studio → https://goo.gle/4kSvjJu  Agentic systems → https://goo.gle/41aqOmq   Watch more People of AI → https://goo.gle/PAI 

Meet Ovetta Sampson, Director of UX for AI compute enablement at Google. She shares her unique path from journalism to AI, including her work on groundbreaking projects prioritizing human-centered design principles. Discover valuable insights into making AI more accessible, the importance of responsible development, and more in this episode of People of AI. Resources: Generative AI and creative arms race → https://goo.gle/4jdALHg Lessons Learned from Mixing Data Science and Design Research Methods to Improve Customer Service → https://goo.gle/4jdALHg  AI Ethics → https://goo.gle/4aoUpvX 

Join Ashley Oldacre as she hosts a conversation with artist Douglas Edrick Stanley and Dean of Research at Geneva University of Art and Design Anthony Masure. They discuss their origin stories, the role of AI in creative fields, and the value of critical thinking in a technology-driven world. Resources: Geneva School of Art and Design: https://goo.gle/4fNLYvh  Anthony Masure: https://goo.gle/3PsxiqH  Douglas Edric Stanley: https://goo.gle/4gJRu3f  Artificial Design: Creation Versus Machine Learning: https://goo.gle/40mIGuy  Art school in Aix-en-Provence: https://goo.gle/3PspDIV  Caran D’Ache: https://goo.gle/4gKn4xL  Drawing and AI: https://goo.gle/4jcmDhF  Artists: Varvara & Mar: https://goo.gle/3BX0djF  Assembling Intelligence Exhibition: https://goo.gle/3Pslg0x  Myth of Janus: https://goo.gle/405CHZL    #PeopleofAI

Discover the fascinating world of digital health innovation with a leading expert in vascular surgery and digital health innovation, Dr. Oliver Aalami. In this insightful People of AI episode, Dr. Aalami shares his path to medicine, his passion for integrating technology in patient care, and his role as director of Stanford’s Biodesign for Digital Health program. Explore the groundbreaking projects and initiatives shaping the future of healthcare. Resources: Stanford profile → https://goo.gle/49nPZF7 Biodesign for Digital Health → https://goo.gle/4fYf0ZV GitHub Stanford Spezi → https://goo.gle/4g9TZLS 21st Century Cures Act → https://goo.gle/41BwsPV Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction 0:33 - Dr. Alami’s journey 6:08 - Biodesign for Digital health intro 24:29 - GitHub Spezi 26:44 - Where does AI come into digital health? 32:50 - Use cases and examples 41:27 - What does it mean to be a person of AI? 

Explore the fascinating world of AI and its potential to transform how we work, learn, and create with NotebookLM. Join guests Steven Johnson, Editorial Director of Notebook LM, and Raiza Martin, Senior Product Manager at Google Labs, leading Notebook LM for a deep dive into the inspiration, development, practical use cases, and more in this People of AI episode. Resouces: A.I. Is Mastering Language. Should We Trust What It Says? → https://goo.gle/3Cub1Wd  NotebookLM website→ https://goo.gle/3UZOwPe  Create your first notebook→ https://goo.gle/3OflIPc  Adjacent possible newsletter → https://goo.gle/3AGpe21  #TensorFlow #PeopleofAI  

Join People of AI host Ashley Oldacre as she moderates a panel on Responsible AI at DevFest Silicon Valley. Ashley teams up with four industry experts to discuss their personal journeys in technology and explore the future of AI. Learn how these experts keep responsible AI at the forefront of emerging technologies. Resources: Learn more about the amazing panelists:  Jigyasa Grover, Lead, AI & Research at Bordo AI → https://goo.gle/3Z42QJb    Deepa Subramanian, Google Developer Expert → https://goo.gle/3AE5P1v  Daniel Goncharov, AI Research Engineer, Stanford University School of Medicine → https://goo.gle/40M2hF4  Vikram Tiwari, Lead ML Engineer, Assembled → https://goo.gle/4eJB3m1

Meet Fergus Hurley and Nia Castelly, co-funders of Checks, Google's AI-powered compliance platform. Fergus Hurley, Product Management Director at Google Cloud in addition to General Manager and Co-founder of Checks, and Nia Castelly, Co-Founder and Head of Legal at Checks, share the inner workings of Checks. Discover how they built Checks initially leveraging natural language processing (NLP) and, now Gemini, to review and analyze privacy policies at scale. Learn about their three-step approach that can detect what an app says it does, how they test apps to see what’s going on, AI safety measures, Android vitals, and much more in this episode of People of AI. Resources: Checks → https://goo.gle/4ejR81h Code compliance → https://goo.gle/3YGOH30 Blog: Checks, Google’s AI-powered privacy platform → https://goo.gle/4fszoSu   The new new thing → https://goo.gle/3ChItPK  GDPR → https://goo.gle/3NVO0hg  Android Vitals → https://goo.gle/3YTs9xu  The Singularity is Near → https://goo.gle/4fzcMQ5

Meet today’s guests Sam Sepah and Thad Starner. Sam Sepah, an AI/ML Research Manager at Google, drives innovation in accessibility technology for users with deafness and other disabilities. Thad Starner is a Georgia Tech Professor, wearable computing pioneer, and staff research scientist at Google working on sign language recognition. Explore the transformative impact of AI on sign language recognition and accessibility from the Kaggle competition to Pop Sign AI, and much more! Resources: Kaggle → https://goo.gle/3YCcjau Kaggle Competitions → https://goo.gle/3NDqzcz PopSign Game → https://goo.gle/3UinxhJ Precious PopSign Kaggle Competition → https://goo.gle/3Ui5s3q  #PeopleofAI