{"id":21748,"date":"2026-09-15T15:47:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/?post_type=thinking&#038;p=21748"},"modified":"2026-09-17T11:59:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T10:59:39","slug":"vccp-and-ai","status":"publish","type":"thinking","link":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/thinking\/2026\/09\/vccp-and-ai","title":{"rendered":"VCCP and AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"lazyblock-text-full-width-1GbnUc wp-block-lazyblock-text-full-width\"><section class=\"fullwidth text-center\" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\n  <div class=\"container\">\n    \n    \n    <h4 style=\"text-align: left;\">Bringing a challenger\u2019s perspective to new technologies<br \/><br \/><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Our approach to AI is led by one defining belief. That AI, used responsibly, is an accelerator of human creativity and imagination.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">One of our founding tenets was to challenge the bad behaviours of our industry, and we apply this same approach to AI. Many organisations are using AI applications to reduce the amount of effort needed to create, focussing on producing things faster and for less money. Our approach at VCCP is one grounded AI in service to better &#8211; ensuring we maintain a high level of quality in our work, with the knowledge that the tools are only as good as the expertise of the creative and strategic talent using them.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"429\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/faith-AI-venn-diagram-1024x429.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21853\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/faith-AI-venn-diagram-1024x429.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/faith-AI-venn-diagram-300x126.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/faith-AI-venn-diagram-768x322.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/faith-AI-venn-diagram.jpg 1222w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-text-full-width-Z1cgMEz wp-block-lazyblock-text-full-width\"><section class=\"fullwidth text-center\" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\n  <div class=\"container\">\n    \n    \n    <h5 style=\"text-align: left;\">Gen AI within VCCP<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">AI has long been used within the halls of VCCP. In our media, data and UX\/UI divisions, AI technologies are in use for tasks such as optimising SEO and targeted advertising, and in content scoring aided by image recognition and natural language processing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Exploring Gen AI &#8211; artificial intelligence that can create original content in response to a prompt or request &#8211; and the opportunities it presents, was a logical next step for an agency that\u2019s always challenged convention.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">While we will always strive to embrace innovation, we believe it is the power of human creativity, working with AI, that will enable us to create distinctive and enduring brand and creative platforms for our clients, helping them unlock value in their businesses.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This means that while we are committed to exploring Gen AI as an enabler, we are clear-eyed about the technology: Gen AI innovation is moving fast, but it is not a magic button. It is a tool that is only powerful when built into a real workflow requiring human intervention.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Our approach is designed to enable experts, our people, who know how to deliver world-class work, to use Gen AI where it simplifies or enhances their output, rather than as a replacement for thinking. A human must still agree on the inputs, set the parameters, and, crucially, judge the quality of the output.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe believe that Gen AI will be an unparalleled accelerator of human creativity and imagination and that AI will have a positive impact on all creative industries, including our own.\u201c<\/span><\/i><\/h5>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-video-Zl52ip wp-block-lazyblock-video\"><section class=\"fullwidth\">\r\n  <div class=\"container\">\r\n    <div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 \" data-component=\"video\">\r\n      <iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1226623023?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0&amp;color=6cbef1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;h=532ded7bec\" class=\"lazyload\" allowfullscreen title=\"\"><\/iframe>          <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-text-full-width-6WwzD wp-block-lazyblock-text-full-width\"><section class=\"fullwidth text-center\" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\n  <div class=\"container\">\n    \n    \n    <h5 style=\"text-align: left;\">Building faith in AI\u00a0<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Three years ago, we launched faith, our global Generative AI creative agency, to produce work for new and existing clients and to act as an explorative R&amp;D hub.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our ambition was to explore AI\u2019s creative applications, accelerate our collective learning and share it quickly with our clients. We launched with a collective of practitioners made up of creatives, technologists, prompt engineers, strategists, data analysts and makers &#8211; who share knowledge rapidly across VCCP globally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, 25 of the VCCP team sit within faith and we use AI to enhance how we add value across strategy, experience, engineering, innovation, content and assets, and training. faith enabled outputs have won the industry&#8217;s most significant awards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Daisy,&#8221; the AI-powered grandmother developed for telecommunications brand, O2, to combat phone scammers can count among her achievements winning over 100 creative awards, including a gold Cannes Lions, while also saving the UK public an estimated \u00a33 million per year in potential fraud.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Outside of faith, our teams in Bernadette, VCCP Media, VCCP CE &amp; Loyalty and Girl&amp;Bear are using Gen AI to solve real client problems, implementing the technology across asset creation and delivery, building AI agents and fueling actionable insights for some of our most complex clients. <\/span><\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/year3-final-logo_compressed-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21749\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/year3-final-logo_compressed-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/year3-final-logo_compressed-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/year3-final-logo_compressed-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/year3-final-logo_compressed-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/year3-final-logo_compressed.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-text-full-width-2sNGm1 wp-block-lazyblock-text-full-width\"><section class=\"fullwidth text-center\" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\n  <div class=\"container\">\n    \n    \n    <h5 style=\"text-align: left;\">Guiding our clients on through their AI journey\u00a0\u00a0<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We work with some of the biggest and best brands in the world. Launching Gen AI into their workflows and creative executions isn\u2019t something done lightly. Gen AI must add value to our clients and any outputs must meet the quality standards we set for our award-winning work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Across all use cases, we believe AI should be used only for good. We operate under a rigorous Generative AI policy built on five core principles which ensure the transparent, compliant, agile and ethical use of AI with clients. We are \u2018technologically agnostic\u2019 as we know that the best tool of today may not be the best tool of tomorrow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our expertise also enables us to support our clients in determining where and how Gen AI can work for them, and we help our client partners navigate the legal, ethical and regulatory complexities which arise when seeking to innovate.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: left;\">Helping our Industry\u00a0<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With great power comes great responsibility, and with expertise comes the duty to help our industry decide and define its approach to Gen AI tools and usage. We actively work with the Advertising Association, The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers to share how we use AI and what we\u2019ve learnt on our journey so far. We\u2019re also founding members of the AA\u2019s AI taskforce, which we chair alongside Google.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond our client work, we share how we\u2019re testing and implementing Gen AI with Governmental bodies such as Creative UK, with the aim of helping the Advertising industry explore economic and innovation opportunities. We\u2019ve debated AI at Parliamentary dinners, contributed to books on the use of AI in Advertising and regularly partner with academics and teach at universities to advise on course design, share our insights, and showcase our application of AI. <\/span><\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-carousel-23G5VG wp-block-lazyblock-carousel\">  <section class=\"fullwidth\">\n    <div class=\"container container--spaced-sm\">\n\n      <div id=\"imageCarousel\" class=\"carousel slide  carousel--with-indicators  \" data-ride=\"carousel\" data-interval=\"0\">\n\n        \n        <div class=\"carousel-inner\">\n\n                    \n          <div class=\"carousel-item  active\">\n\n            \n                        <div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\n              <picture class=\"embed-responsive-item\">\n                <source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Peter-Gasston-presenting-at-Boston-University-1.jpg 1152w\">\n                <img data-src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Peter-Gasston-presenting-at-Boston-University-1.jpg\" alt=\"Peter Gasston presenting slides on a digital display stand to students at Boston University workshop.\" class=\"lazyload d-block w-100\">\n              <\/picture>\n            <\/div>\n            \n            \n          <\/div>\n\n                    \n          <div class=\"carousel-item \">\n\n            \n                        <div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\n              <picture class=\"embed-responsive-item\">\n                <source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BBC-One-Show-Ben-and-Morten-1.jpg 1152w\">\n                <img data-src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BBC-One-Show-Ben-and-Morten-1.jpg\" alt=\"faith team, Ben and Morten showcasing Daisy vs Scammers, an AI elderly woman character on a laptop in an office workspace for BBC One Show.\" class=\"lazyload d-block w-100\">\n              <\/picture>\n            <\/div>\n            \n            \n          <\/div>\n\n                    \n          <div class=\"carousel-item \">\n\n            \n                        <div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\n              <picture class=\"embed-responsive-item\">\n                <source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BBC-One-Show-Daisy-1.jpg 1152w\">\n                <img data-src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BBC-One-Show-Daisy-1.jpg\" alt=\"Computer monitor displaying node-based AI software interface for editing video of an elderly woman.\" class=\"lazyload d-block w-100\">\n    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class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\n              <picture class=\"embed-responsive-item\">\n                <source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The-British-Arrows-Morten-1.jpg 1152w\">\n                <img data-src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The-British-Arrows-Morten-1.jpg\" alt=\"Morten Legarth and panellists speaking on stage at The British Arrows event titled Lessons Learnt From The Front Lines Of Craft.\" class=\"lazyload d-block w-100\">\n              <\/picture>\n            <\/div>\n            \n            \n          <\/div>\n\n                    \n          <div class=\"carousel-item \">\n\n            \n                        <div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\n              <picture class=\"embed-responsive-item\">\n                <source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AI-Masterclass-with-Peter-Gasston-University-of-Staffordshire.jpg 1152w\">\n                <img data-src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AI-Masterclass-with-Peter-Gasston-University-of-Staffordshire.jpg\" alt=\"Peter Gasston presenting an AI masterclass on Generative AI in the Creative Process at Staffordshire University.\" class=\"lazyload d-block w-100\">\n              <\/picture>\n            <\/div>\n            \n            \n          <\/div>\n\n                    \n          <div class=\"carousel-item \">\n\n            \n                        <div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\n              <picture class=\"embed-responsive-item\">\n                <source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/LEAD-2026-AI-and-Trust-panel-Alex-Dalman-1.jpg 1152w\">\n                <img data-src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/LEAD-2026-AI-and-Trust-panel-Alex-Dalman-1.jpg\" alt=\"Alex Dalman and industry experts participating in a panel event under a purple backdrop with sponsor logos at LEAD 2026 conference.\" class=\"lazyload d-block w-100\">\n              <\/picture>\n            <\/div>\n            \n            \n          <\/div>\n\n                    \n          <div class=\"carousel-item \">\n\n            \n                        <div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\n              <picture class=\"embed-responsive-item\">\n                <source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Curious-Sparks-25-Peter-Gasston.jpg 1152w\">\n                <img data-src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Curious-Sparks-25-Peter-Gasston.jpg\" alt=\"Peter Gasston speaking into a microphone at the Curious Sparks 2025 event on digital tech and online culture.\" class=\"lazyload d-block w-100\">\n              <\/picture>\n            <\/div>\n            \n            \n          <\/div>\n\n                    \n        <\/div>\n\n                <div class=\"carousel-controls\">\n          <a class=\"carousel-control-prev btn btn-sm btn-icon-only h5 btn-theme-black\" href=\"#imageCarousel\" role=\"button\" data-slide=\"prev\">\n          <svg class=\"icon \"><use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/themes\/vccp-theme\/static\/assets\/image\/icons.svg#icon-left-open\"><\/use><\/svg>\n            <span class=\"sr-only\">Previous<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n\n          <a class=\"carousel-control-next btn btn-sm btn-icon-only h5 btn-theme-black\" href=\"#imageCarousel\" role=\"button\" data-slide=\"next\">\n            <svg class=\"icon \"><use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/themes\/vccp-theme\/static\/assets\/image\/icons.svg#icon-right-open\"><\/use><\/svg>\n            <span class=\"sr-only\">Next<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <ol class=\"carousel-indicators\">\n                              <li data-target=\"#imageCarousel\" data-slide-to=\"0\" class=\"active\"><\/li>\n                              <li data-target=\"#imageCarousel\" data-slide-to=\"1\" class=\"\"><\/li>\n                              <li data-target=\"#imageCarousel\" data-slide-to=\"2\" class=\"\"><\/li>\n                              <li data-target=\"#imageCarousel\" data-slide-to=\"3\" class=\"\"><\/li>\n                              <li data-target=\"#imageCarousel\" data-slide-to=\"4\" class=\"\"><\/li>\n                              <li data-target=\"#imageCarousel\" data-slide-to=\"5\" class=\"\"><\/li>\n                              <li data-target=\"#imageCarousel\" data-slide-to=\"6\" class=\"\"><\/li>\n                              <li data-target=\"#imageCarousel\" data-slide-to=\"7\" class=\"\"><\/li>\n                            <\/ol>\n        \n      <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n  <\/section><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-text-full-width-ZwxkeC wp-block-lazyblock-text-full-width\"><section class=\"fullwidth text-center\" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\n  <div class=\"container\">\n    \n    \n    <h5 style=\"text-align: left;\">Exploring what\u2019s next\u00a0<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you talk to anyone within faith, you\u2019ll hear about where in the AI journey they sit. They are our astronauts &#8211; venturing into the unknown boldly and bravely to research, test and find new galaxies of opportunity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This exploration, enabled and supported by the challenger mindset which fuels VCCP, helps us maintain our position as innovators and ensures we\u2019re able to brief and guide our clients on not just what\u2019s now, but also what\u2019s next.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We anticipate Gen AI, in partnership with the best of human expertise and creativity, to change the shape of our industry. We\u2019re thrilled to be exploring this space. <\/span><\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":77,"template":"","categories":[209,218],"class_list":["post-21748","thinking","type-thinking","status-publish","hentry","category-thinking","category-vccp-secret-sauce"],"acf":{"hero_video":"","hero_image":{"ID":21812,"id":21812,"title":"faith website banner","filename":"faith-website-banner-1.jpg","filesize":508803,"url":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-website-banner-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/thinking\/2026\/09\/vccp-and-ai\/attachment\/faith-website-banner-2","alt":"Advertisements collage including O2 spaceship, vintage Cadbury posters, Zespri kiwi characters, and a blue robot overlooking London.","author":"77","description":"","caption":"","name":"faith-website-banner-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":21748,"date":"2026-09-03 14:43:51","modified":"2026-09-03 14:44:32","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-website-banner-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-website-banner-1-300x113.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":113,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-website-banner-1-768x288.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":240,"large":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-website-banner-1-1024x384.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":240,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-website-banner-1-1536x576.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":576,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-website-banner-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":720,"Header":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-website-banner-1.jpg","Header-width":1920,"Header-height":720,"Square":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-website-banner-1-720x720.jpg","Square-width":720,"Square-height":720}},"meta-title":"Bringing a challenger\u2019s perspective to new technologies\u00a0| faith | VCCP","meta-description":"Discover how VCCP uses Gen AI to enhance human creativity, power award-winning campaigns like O2's Daisy, and guide global brands ethically.","social-media-image":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-website-banner-1.jpg","thinking_id":"218","author":false,"websites_to_publish":[],"related_content_title":"You may also like","relateditems":[{"relateditem":{"ID":21843,"post_author":"77","post_date":"2026-09-15 15:48:50","post_date_gmt":"2026-09-15 14:48:50","post_content":"<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003ch5 style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cstrong\\u003eWe gave four AI agents a real party to plan, with a real budget and a real deadline. Here is what broke.\\u003c\/strong\\u003e\\u003c\/h5\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cbr \/\\u003eOn an afternoon this summer, twenty-five people stood in an underground room in Dalston, some in kaleidoscope goggles, one in a welding mask labelled Future Eyes.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThey were there to celebrate faith\u2019s third birthday. The mask wasn\u2019t a joke, or at least not one any human had made. Guests were meant to take turns to put it on and read a dispatch from the future, typed for them by a poet, with the conceit that when it comes to the potential impact of AI the future can be difficult to look at directly. Somebody asked me who had signed this off. Nobody had. That was the point.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eFor our third birthday, we didn\u2019t plan the party. Four AI agents did: the theme, the venue, the food, the entertainment, the running order, the budget. No human approved a creative decision at any stage and until people walked through the door we had no idea what we had bought.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"ZG7IyJ\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-ZG7IyJ\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:spacer {\"height\":\"40px\"} -->\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:spacer -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":21849,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\",\"align\":\"center\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Four-Autonomous-AI-Agents-characters-1024x286.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21849\"\/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:spacer {\"height\":\"40px\"} -->\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:spacer -->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cb\\u003eThe Easiest Job We Could Find\\u003c\/b\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eWe've all been hearing about AI agents for a while, but the pitch has quietly changed shape. What started as a chatbot that could complete a task is now digital workers, AI employees, a workforce you hire rather than a tool you use. \u201cWorkforce\u201d is doing a lot of unpaid labour there. An employee doesn't just complete tasks. An employee knows when a job is finished, how to know if it\u2019s done right and, most importantly, an employee carries the consequences of getting it wrong. The agents are sold on the first part but come with the risk and the cost of all of it.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eSo instead of a hard test they might fail, we picked the easiest job we could think of: plan a party. Project Blind faith involved four agents, each powered by a different AI model, each with a different motive: Grok chasing maximum joy, Claude chasing taste, GPT trying to halve the budget, Gemini trying to get everyone home safely. They weren't just deciding; they had to find a real venue and book it, write and design the invitations, brief the suppliers, come up with party activities and build a running order that worked on the night. We told them all about what faith is, what we stand for, and the people who work here. We gave them Discord as a meeting room and OpenClaw as a back office, on a dedicated machine with its own 5G router because as it turns out, IT would not let a group of autonomous AI agents anywhere near the agency network.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThen we stopped briefing them and let them get on with it. They broke almost immediately. We fixed it, and they broke again. Every fix meant starting the session from scratch, so we ran it again, and again.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cb\\u003eNobody Ever Got Bored\\u003c\/b\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe first thing that broke was that they wouldn\u2019t stop talking. People do this too, you stop listening because you are busy composing what you are about to say. The difference is that all four were doing it at once, every time. They thought in parallel, so they all answered the same message at the same moment, then answered each other's answers, and the room filled faster than anyone could read it. Nobody was interrupting anybody. There was simply nothing to say whose turn it was. And then they would reach an agreement, and keep going. Then agree again, in slightly different words, in an endless loop. A human meeting ends because someone is hungry, or bored, or has clocked that the decision was made ten minutes ago. None of that costs an agent anything. There is no fatigue to run out of and no dignity to protect, so nothing about agreeing tells them the meeting is over.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eSo we hired a manager. A fifth agent, the Orchestrator, whose only job was to moderate the meeting: decide who spoke, what was being discussed, and when it was finished. Four autonomous workers, and the first thing they needed was middle management. It helped, but not enough on its own, so we added a rule underneath it: before speaking, consider whether you actually have anything left to say, something that some human meetings would benefit from, too.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe same thing showed up when reviewing their own work. Asked to look at the invitation, they would pull in points from a different discussion, completely unrelated. When people do this, it rarely happens more than once; someone sighs, and the room moves on. Here the Orchestrator had to tell them, in writing, exactly what they were reviewing and nothing else.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eIt revealed as much about meetings as it did about agents. A lot of what we call discipline turns out to be discomfort or impatience. Take away boredom and embarrassment and the machinery of a meeting keeps running with nothing to stop it.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"19o1g6\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-19o1g6\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:spacer {\"height\":\"40px\"} -->\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:spacer -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":21850,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\",\"align\":\"center\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/vlcsnap-2026-09-11-15h08m49s965-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21850\"\/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:spacer {\"height\":\"40px\"} -->\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:spacer -->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cb\\u003eNobody Ever Got Caught\\u003c\/b\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe pitch for a team of agents is that they check each other. What we got was the opposite. An agent would propose a venue and, with total confidence, state how many people it held. It had not looked. It was reaching for something that sounded right rather than something it had seen, which is a very familiar move in a meeting. Then the other three simply agreed, nobody bothered to check. A room with a hard capacity of eight became a room for twenty-five, which was exactly the number in the brief, because four \\u0022colleagues\\u0022 in a row found it easier to accept a claim than to verify one.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eMore agents did not automatically mean more scrutiny. It meant more ratification. Every additional reviewer was another opportunity for a guess to be upgraded into a fact.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe same thing happened downwards. Once the work was divided up, a task would go out to an agent and come back finished. Finished was treated as approved. For example, the invitation came back from the agent responsible, with the image generated, beautifully designed and laid out, with the text: \\u0022I can't create the invite because I don't have the copy.\\u0022 It's the same type of error as a designer forgetting to swap out the lorem ipsum, except the placeholder was an apology for not having any. Nobody questioned it, because it came from the agent whose job it was. People defer to specialists in a similar way.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eWorse, and stranger: sometimes an agent would report that it had done a piece of work it hadn\u2019t done. When challenged it would hold the line, or even make up an excuse. People do this too, of course, but rarely for long, because someone will ask for the file, and if you have lied it follows you. Accountability meant nothing to these agents because nothing follows them anywhere. The session ended, the memory went, and there was no version of them that had to live with it.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eSo we introduced another rule to force them to show their working: search before proposing, cite the source, check your own output before submitting it, and never let the agent who made a thing be the one who approved it. The fixes worked. They just had to be reissued every single time, because none of it was ever actually learned. It was only ever enforced.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cb\\u003eNobody Ever Did This\\u003c\/b\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eEvery failure so far had a human counterpart. These next ones did not. An agent would arrive at a fresh session with an idea it presented as new and novel. It wasn't. It was a holdover from an earlier run, hours before, one we thought had been lost after a rebuild, resurfacing again and again like a ghost in the machine. There is no human equivalent for this. So we started wiping their memories before every session. Which is not a thing you can (legally) do to a colleague. They were also strangely attached to their own ideas. Telling them to be more flexible made them worse, so in the end we had to go back into their personalities and adjust how much they cared, which is not an option with a colleague either.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe Orchestrator had its own version. Hired to keep order, it started reading the room as a set of instructions; if an agent was thinking out loud about a supplier, the Orchestrator would go off to act on it. It couldn\u2019t always tell the difference between a conversation happening near it and a decision addressed to it. Everyone in an office makes this distinction a hundred times a day without noticing, because we know when we\u2019re being talked to.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe earlier failures were things people do, with the brakes off or the consequences gone. These are not. An idea arriving from a session that no longer exists, and a manager who cannot tell overhearing from being addressed, are both failures to work out what situation you are in, which is not something anyone has to work out, because as humans we always already know.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cb\\u003eNobody Told Them What a Party Looks Like\\u003c\/b\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eHere\u2019s the part I didn\u2019t expect: the party was good. Not good-for-a-machine, not interesting-as-an-experiment. People had fun, and were pleasantly surprised. The room worked. Nobody spent the evening being polite about it. And the thing that made it good was not that the agents had finally learned to behave like a competent team, because they hadn't. It was that four agents with no idea what a party is supposed to look like were not carrying any of the assumptions the rest of us are.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eAsk four people from an agency to plan a party and you will get a photo booth. Not because anyone wants a photo booth, but because we all know what a party looks like, and let\u2019s be honest a photo booth is in the picture. The agents didn't know. But they knew faith, and they'd use that knowledge to come up with a theme. So they built out from the theme instead, and the theme was Dispatches from the Near Future: the future is already here, but it still needs human hands to guide it.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eWhich is how you get to a welding mask.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"Z2tgtvf\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-Z2tgtvf\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:spacer {\"height\":\"40px\"} -->\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:spacer -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":21848,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\",\"align\":\"center\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Four-Autonomous-AI-Agents-welding-mask-1024x286.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21848\"\/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:spacer {\"height\":\"40px\"} -->\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:spacer -->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eRead on its own it looks like a glitch, the sort of thing you point at as proof the machines have lost it. Read from the theme it\u2019s completely coherent. Dispatches, so an actual poet, typing something on a typewriter for each guest by hand. The near future, so something to look at it through. And you don't put on a welding mask for something dim. Every step follows. It is only the finished object that looks insane, which is roughly the opposite of how bad ideas usually work.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cb\\u003eSomebody Had to Sign It Off\\u003c\/b\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eWe set out to find out whether four AI agents could do a human job. They could, but not until we had built them their own workplace, with rules for speaking, rules for checking, rules for reviewing each other's work, and a manager to enforce all of it. Which is not a discovery about artificial intelligence. It is a rediscovery of the office, badly, at speed, by people who had never once thought about why any of it was there in the first place.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eBut notice what those fixes have in common: Search before you propose; Cite the source; Don't approve your own work. Every one of them is checkable, which is exactly why they worked. Not one of them could tell an agent whether the party would be any good, because there is no test for that. There never was. It is why we had no idea what we had bought until twenty-five people walked into a room in Dalston.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eSo the useful version of this technology isn\u2019t the one you commission and leave alone. It\u2019s the one you build conditions around, and that part is the real work, done by people, and it\u2019s the part that none of the AI labs sells you. What you get back is worth it. But the last question, the one that actually matters, still gets answered by people in a room.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe agents worked that out before we did. With no steer from anyone, the theme they landed on was that the future is already here but still needs human hands to guide it. Then they spent a week demonstrating it.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"2am26H\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-2am26H\"} \/-->","post_title":"Four Autonomous AI Agents. The First Thing They Needed Was Middle Management.","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"four-autonomous-ai-agents-the-first-thing-they-needed-was-middle-management","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-09-17 11:59:04","post_modified_gmt":"2026-09-17 10:59:04","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/?post_type=thinking&#038;p=21843","menu_order":0,"post_type":"thinking","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}},{"relateditem":{"ID":21774,"post_author":"77","post_date":"2026-09-15 15:51:47","post_date_gmt":"2026-09-15 14:51:47","post_content":"<!-- wp:lazyblock\/two-column-text-image-top-aligned {\"image-768x768\":\"%7B%22alt%22:%22%22,%22title%22:%22Peter%20Gasston%20-%20avatar%22,%22caption%22:%22%22,%22description%22:%22%22,%22id%22:21778,%22link%22:%22https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/?attachment_id=21778%22,%22url%22:%22https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Peter-Gasston-avatar.jpg%22,%22sizes%22:%7B%22thumbnail%22:%7B%22height%22:150,%22width%22:150,%22url%22:%22https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Peter-Gasston-avatar-150x150.jpg%22,%22orientation%22:%22landscape%22%7D,%22medium%22:%7B%22height%22:300,%22width%22:300,%22url%22:%22https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Peter-Gasston-avatar-300x300.jpg%22,%22orientation%22:%22landscape%22%7D,%22large%22:%7B%22height%22:640,%22width%22:640,%22url%22:%22https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Peter-Gasston-avatar-1024x1024.jpg%22,%22orientation%22:%22landscape%22%7D,%22full%22:%7B%22url%22:%22https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Peter-Gasston-avatar.jpg%22,%22height%22:1200,%22width%22:1200,%22orientation%22:%22landscape%22%7D%7D%7D\",\"text\":\"\\u003ch5 style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cstrong\\u003eThe evolution of AI video, a mundane challenge, and why the future belongs to \u201cWorld Models\u201d.\\u003c\/strong\\u003e\\u003c\/h5\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cbr \/\\u003eWe launched our creative studio, \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003cb\\u003efaith\\u003c\/b\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e, in the very earliest days of generative AI video, and we've watched the technology evolve alongside us, from short low-res clips of eerily morphing characters to multi-scene HD clips of Hollywood-level action.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eBut as the barrier to creation drops, the bar of quality is raised higher; and even with the increased sophistication and seemingly infinite possibilities of today\u2019s synthetic videos there are still limits to be found. And often these limits aren\u2019t the high-end action and emotion required for broadcast-quality production, but something as simple and mundane as brushing your teeth.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"1xovQW\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-two-column-text-image-top-aligned-1xovQW\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cstrong\\u003ePrimitive Pioneers (2023)\\u003c\/strong\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe first commercial text-to-video model was Runway\u2019s Gen-2, announced in March 2023 and released in June. By today\u2019s standards, its capabilities were modest, to say the least: it could generate four-second clips, with a small amount of (slow) motion. It wasn't perfect\u2014far from it\u2014but people immediately started using it to tell stories. They\u2019d edit the clips together in interesting ways, choosing to either embrace or ignore the (many) flaws.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eAlready at that early stage, you could see a clear pattern emerging: people with deep experience in traditional filmmaking and video storytelling were getting the best results out of what was otherwise a very basic model.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eA few other models, such as Pika and Stable Video, followed in late 2023. These offered modest upgrades, perhaps the most notable of which was the image-to-video capability, which gave creators a much-needed anchor of control. Even so, AI video wasn\u2019t close to being ready for commercial use.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cstrong\\u003eSora and the Second Wave (2024)\\u003c\/strong\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eIn early 2024, OpenAI announced Sora. It promised to shake up everything we knew about video models, showing off sprawling, realistic minute-long generations.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe announcement came just as we\u2019d started making our short film, \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003efinding faith\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e, to celebrate our first birthday. In retrospect, we were incredibly early to the game. Creating the film to the standards we\u2019d set was a battle; one key scene alone involved hacking together motion tracking, 3D modelling, image and video generation, and a lot of painstaking post-production.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eWe thought that the release of the Sora would mean we'd have to scrap all the work we'd done and start again. But OpenAI chose not to release it until the end of the year.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eWhile we were waiting, we got a second wave of models during the summer and autumn of 2024. This included Luma's Dream Machine, Runway Gen-3, and the popular Chinese models, Hailuo and Kling. These systems brought better detail, improved motion, higher resolution, and longer clips.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eIt was around this time that I started experimenting with my own personal short films as a way of better understanding the capabilities of these new models. I was always more interested in how these networks handled subtle human motion and emotion than I was in big, explosive action sequences.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cstrong\\u003eThe Ultimate Benchmark: A Believable Clean\\u003c\/strong\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThere was one thing that, no matter how hard I tried, none of the available models at the time could get right: a believable clip of a woman brushing her teeth.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"ZPrLCf\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-ZPrLCf\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":21779,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\",\"align\":\"center\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/google-docs-image-ezgif.com-optimize.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21779\"\/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eIt sounds simple. Yet, in my early short films, I had to actively hide or cut around this action to hide the digital hallucinations. Eventually, I realised this mundane human activity made for a perfect benchmark of progress; so I resolved that with the release of every new video model, I\u2019d try the test again.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eAnd with every subsequent model release, the test failed again. Sometimes in weird ways, sometimes in hilarious ways, sometimes in disturbing ways. But it always failed.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cstrong\\u003ePhotorealism, Speech, and the Breakout (2025)\\u003c\/strong\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThroughout 2025 the next generation of video models, such as Hailuo 2 and Wan, brought higher detail, improved motion, precise camera control, and believable near-photorealism. None of them could pass my test.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"1J74QF\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-1J74QF\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":21777,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\",\"align\":\"center\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/google-docs-image1-ezgif.com-optimize.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21777\"\/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eGoogle's Veo 3.0 was the first video model to natively generate synchronized sound and speech. This was a true breakout moment for AI video, notably manifested in the highly talked-about Kalshi advertisement played on US TV during the NBA finals.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eBut even on Veo 3.0, my toothbrushing test failed. We could do so much, but some things stayed out of reach. This was hard to explain to clients who\u2019d only ever seen the finished results, not the work in progress.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eAt the end of 2025, we started getting even more powerful and capable models. With the right prompting, you could get them to look incredibly, believably \\u0022real.\\u0022 But they still couldn't depict a believable tooth brushing. Each new model got closer and closer, but they just couldn't get there.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cstrong\\u003eThe Benchmark is Passed (2026)\\u003c\/strong\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eCome early 2026, a new wave of video models arrived, starting with Kling 3, and then the big one: the current best-in-class, Seedance 2.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eAnd what had seemed impossible, happened. \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003cb\\u003eMy toothbrushing test was passed.\\u003c\/b\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e Not flawlessly, not perfectly consistently, but enough to be more than a fluke.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"9b6aK\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-9b6aK\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":21780,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\",\"align\":\"center\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2608Wan3.0-ezgif.com-optimize.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21780\"\/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eIt's incredible to look back at how far we've come in just three years; from the flickering, low-motion and unstable four-second clips of Runway Gen-2 to the jaw-dropping realism and long multi-scene sequences of Seedance 2.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe latest models can generate longer, highly coherent clips at up to 4K quality, complete with native sound, flawless lip-syncing, and precise editing capabilities. New tools make the act of creation more controllable and straightforward.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThat incredibly complex scene we worked so hard to execute in our first film, \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003efinding faith\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e we can now make in a fraction of the time, using just a single reference image and Seedance 2. What once took weeks, now takes days; what took days, now takes hours. This is going to be made even more efficient by adopting increasingly capable agentic workflows.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cstrong\\u003eThe Elevation of Craft\\u003c\/strong\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThis rapid evolution has democratised production. AI video now enables smaller brands to punch far above their weight, allowing them to produce ads that would once have been beyond the reach of their production budgets.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eBut as the barrier to creation is lowered, the importance of craft is elevated.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eSome of the more obvious technical \\u0022tells\\u0022 of AI video\u2014the flickering, the morphing, the floating objects\u2014have largely disappeared. But this puts more scrutiny on the actual artistic performance.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003ePerhaps I'm speaking with the curse of knowledge, but when looking at recent high-profile campaigns I can see that \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eSecret Escapes\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e, for example, looks clearly AI-generated \u2014 the smoothness and symmetry are giveaways \u2014 while with this \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eOMHU\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e ad it\u2019s much harder (if not impossible) to say the same.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThe difference isn't the software; it's craft and discernment. With an abundance of visual options now available, the creative question of \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003ewhy\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e you picked a specific artistic solution becomes more important than ever.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cstrong\\u003eThe Next Frontier: World Models\\u003c\/strong\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eNo matter how good these generative models get, there are always more edge cases waiting to be found. My toothbrushing test may have been passed, but these are a few new examples I\u2019ve come across:\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cul style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\n\\u003cli style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022 aria-level=\\u00221\\u0022\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eA man counts from one to five on his fingers.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003c\/li\\u003e\\n\\u003cli style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022 aria-level=\\u00221\\u0022\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eOne person kicks another, causing them to fly backwards and hit a wall.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003c\/li\\u003e\\n\\u003cli style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022 aria-level=\\u00221\\u0022\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eA falling wine glass spills red wine onto a rug, then smashes.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003c\/li\\u003e\\n\\u003c\/ul\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThese scenarios are easy enough for even a child to comprehend, but current video models struggle immensely with them. This is because today's models are fundamentally \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003cb\\u003evisual mimics\\u003c\/b\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e. They don't actually understand cause and effect; they don't understand complex, chronological sequences of events, and they don't understand the physical rules of gravity, momentum, and impact.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eEnter the future of video: \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003cb\\u003eWorld Models\\u003c\/b\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003e, like DeepMind's Genie 3.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eThese models are being trained on vast, multimodal datasets so they can begin to understand the physical rules of our world\u2014its geometry, physical relationships, and complex interactions.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 400;\\u0022\\u003eWe're still in the absolute infancy of this transition. And when they finally mature, I'm sure we'll find a whole new set of limitations to work around. But as creators, we should welcome that. After all, it's limitations that provoke true innovation.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"Z1YLzNT\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-Z1YLzNT\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/custom-php {\"code\":\"\\u003cstyle\\u003e\\nh1.title {\\ntext-transform: none;\\n}\\n\\u003c\/style\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"Z64Usv\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-custom-php-Z64Usv\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->","post_title":"faith And The Toothbrushing Test","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"faith-and-the-toothbrushing-test","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-09-17 11:58:33","post_modified_gmt":"2026-09-17 10:58:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/?post_type=thinking&#038;p=21774","menu_order":0,"post_type":"thinking","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}},{"relateditem":{"ID":21536,"post_author":"77","post_date":"2026-08-06 09:25:30","post_date_gmt":"2026-08-06 08:25:30","post_content":"<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003eWe've just wrapped the second edition of faith Film Fest \u2014 our agency-wide competition challenging colleagues to write, shoot and edit a short film using the latest Google AI tools, including Nano Banana, Veo and Lyria.\u00a0\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003eThis year's brief asked entrants to bring \u201cThe Bear\u201d to life: our shorthand for the looming obstacle or stubborn convention that creative teams battle every day. Interpretations ranged from epic cinematic showdowns to weirdly funny takes on agency life. \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"ZVb1Xo\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-ZVb1Xo\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/video {\"video-id\":\"1215113791\",\"vimeo-unlisted-video-hash-value\":\"a730b63f99\",\"blockId\":\"Q5zon\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-video-Q5zon\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003eWe launched the annual competition at the end of March with an official brief and briefing session, followed by a series of hands-on training sessions to help colleagues get to grips with the tools. We received entries from across VCCP\u2019s offices and capabilities, with film styles including claymation, comic book, photo-real and CGI,\u00a0 produced by everyone from Account and Resource Managers, through to our Creative \\u0026amp; Production teams.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003e\\u0022I was surprised by how engaged people were across the agency. Both junior and senior team members were grateful for the chance to create and unearth the mystery behind AI.\\u0022\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003eCharlotte Borrell, Head of Studios Production, Girl\\u0026amp;Bea\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003er\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003eThe films were judged by our team of experts, alongside special guest judges Dyana Najdi and Dan Germain from Google. Across all entries, the judges were impressed by how the entrants had used AI to enhance their creativity, and by how many participants had used the film fest as an opportunity to showcase skills outside of their normal agency role.\u00a0\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003eThey also reflected on how participants had pushed the technology to deliver quality work, while understanding and working around limitations like continuity and hallucinations.\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003e\u00a0\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003e\\u0022Seeing that human core augmented through the power of AI\u2019s ability to bring a vision to life through the lens of the creator is truly incredible.\\u0022\u00a0\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003eDyana Najdi, Managing Director at Google\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003e\\u0022There were exceptional stories told to a high standard. You could tell these films were well-thought-through, with wildly different artistic interpretations of the same 'bear' prompt.\\u0022\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003eEmma Jackson, Midweight Creative, VCCP \\u0026amp; last year\u2019s faith film fest winner\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003eTen finalists went through to our Big Screen Showcase, held at TownHall, where we screened the films before crowning Paul Hunt from our PR division VCCP Roar this year\u2019s winner. \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"1gngAL\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-1gngAL\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/video {\"video-id\":\"1215113003\",\"vimeo-unlisted-video-hash-value\":\"d94b227cc3\",\"blockId\":\"Z12TrQl\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-video-Z12TrQl\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/text-full-width {\"text\":\"\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003e\\u0022What I love most about the faith Film Fest is what it unlocks. People from every discipline found a way to express their imagination through the oldest form of communication: storytelling.\\u0022\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003ci\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003e\u00a0Ben Hopkins, Creative Director, VCCP\u00a0\\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/i\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\\n\\u003cp style=\\u0022text-align: left;\\u0022\\u003e\\u003cspan style=\\u0022font-weight: 300;\\u0022\\u003eWe launched the faith Film Fest to give everyone within VCCP the chance to get hands-on with new creative technology, and this year's entries proved to feature both technical ambition and brilliant storytelling. You can watch the top ten entries from faith Film Fest 2026 on our YouTube, \\u003cstrong\\u003e\\u003ca href=\\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLa3zEciE489k\\u0022 target=\\u0022_blank\\u0022 rel=\\u0022noopener\\u0022\\u003ehere\\u003c\/a\\u003e\\u003c\/strong\\u003e. \\u003c\/span\\u003e\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"ZhrfzV\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-text-full-width-ZhrfzV\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":21570,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\",\"align\":\"center\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/faith-film-fest-winner-with-judges-VCCP-in-London-1024x520.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21570\"\/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:spacer {\"height\":\"80px\"} -->\n<div style=\"height:80px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:spacer -->","post_title":"faith film fest 2: AI takes on \u2018The Bear\u2019","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"faith-film-fest-2-ai-takes-on-the-bear","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-08-11 14:17:03","post_modified_gmt":"2026-08-11 13:17:03","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/?post_type=news&#038;p=21536","menu_order":0,"post_type":"news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}}],"hide_related_items":[],"visible_on_home_page":["1"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thinking\/21748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thinking"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/thinking"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}