Pixelz Newsletter

Let’s not talk about AI

For our upcoming FLOW event in Barcelona, we’re hosting a breakout session called "Let’s not talk about AI."

Which feels necessary. Especially for me, I’ve spent the last month living and breathing our new AI Image to Video solution.

It feels like I look at everything through an AI lens. Every image, every workflow, every shift in how things are made. It’s not wrong. It’s just that when one thing becomes the center of every conversation, it pushes other things to the edges.

This month, I watched Alysa Liu win gold in figure skating, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

She has striped dyed hair and a facial piercing, small details, but in a sport known for its tradition and polish, they stood out. It felt like the opening scene straight out of a movie: the outsider. The one who doesn’t fit the mold. The one who wins by rejecting it.

But when she skated, that’s not what it felt like at all.

She didn’t reject figure skating.

She didn’t parody it.

She didn’t try to burn it down.

She mastered it and then showed up as herself inside it.

Her movement carried all the things that define the sport: precision, control, discipline. You could feel the years of repetition behind it. The respect for the craft. Nothing about it felt like she was distancing herself from figure skating. It felt like she loved it.

And yet, she never felt like she was trying to become a version of herself that fit inside it more comfortably.

The movie version of this story would have made her rebellion the point. It would have exaggerated the contrast, made her the villain or the outcast.

But it was far from that. It was someone who had clearly done the work, mastered the fundamentals, understood the craft, and arrived on the other side still fully intact. There was no visible negotiation between who she was and what she was doing.

Just presence.

And I’ve realized how rare it is to witness that.

I’ll leave it to you to unpack why Alysa Liu resonates — in our industry, in your own work, or maybe even in your passions outside of it.

Pixelz Pulse

Here’s what’s been going on at Pixelz…

  • Did you hear? We launched Image to Video, and I got a first-hand experience of how we can turn one image into a polished video. Watch and learn all about it here.
  • As I mentioned at the start, FLOW will be happening in Barcelona on March 25th. We’ll be talking AI and not AI. See you there!
  • We can always use a few time savers; we have a few favorites here at Pixelz. Read about ours in the latest blog post.

Hot Links

What’s caught our attention over the last month on the internet…