AI video creation has come a long way in a short time and advances in the technology are so rapid that almost anyone with a little training will be able to produce professional looking video content quickly and soon. 

S4 Capital Executive Chairman Martin Sorrell led a discussion at Cannes Thursday on the implications for brands and agencies.  

Linda Sheng, general manager-global business at Mini Max, an AI development company focused on video generation said that a year ago it was relatively easy to spot AI-generated video. Now, she added, “it’s hard to tell its AI.” Going forward, she added, “it will become mainstream.” 

In early June S4’s Monks and Mini Max announced a partnership focused on the Greater China market.  

MiniMax has developed proprietary multi-modal models for video, text, and music generation and continues to roll out new products rapidly, said Sheng.  

Monks and its clients will receive early access to Mini Max’s AI tools and models with the intention of creating new content formats. 

Monks also recently worked with AI video company Runway, backed by investor General Atlantic, to produce an experimental spot for Puma. It was Puma’s first ad produced entirely by AI agents—software systems that streamline workflows, enhance creativity and boost overall efficiency. 

Text-to-video is Runway’s focus, said Tanzeen Syed, managing director-head of consumer internet technology, General Atlantic. And the approach is designed to “give artists and creators more control over content creation.” 

That’s true for clients of agencies as well, noted Sorrell. 

“There’s a lot of fear and angst about job replacement,’’ Syed said. “That’s only part of the story.”  What Runway and others are shooting for is the “democratization of content creation...no one has to code anymore and anyone with a good idea can do it.” 

Sheng agreed, adding that traditional ad production “shackles creativity.” With AI-driven video generation, “everyone will have the tools” to create content, “and won’t be bogged down by formats.” 

The one thing that AI won’t replace, she added, “is the actual ideas and storytelling.” 

The technology is moving at “lightspeed” said Sorrell. Commercials that once took months to make at a cost of millions of dollars now can be done in a week or so at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. That, in turn, forces agencies away from time-based business models. S4 has been looking at “output” and other models that are aligned more to efficiency rather than time.  

Sorrell opined that the industry is entering a “new golden age” of advertising, one based on visualization, personalization, AI-generated efficiency and the “spreading of knowledge across flattening organizations.”