It’s no secret that AI dominated the conversation at the Cannes Lions ad festival this year. 

Which does prompt a suggestion: maybe AI should judge the Lions winners in the future instead of human jurists. Those talented folks put in enough long hours as it is doing their day jobs back home.  

Cannes should be a time for networking, absorbing interesting conversations at content sessions and celebrating work, not judging it. And Partying (responsibly of course). 

Well one agency, Rise, based in New York, had a little fun with the idea in the weeks leading up to the festival.  

It built an AI jury—including “Craft Purist,” “Scalable Skeptic,” among others and I must say they look and sound very real. 

The esteemed jury gathered to judge and predict the winner of this year’s Titanium Award Grand Prix winner. 

Before convening, the jury was trained on 20 years of Cannes Lions awards and transcripts of jury decisions. Then it was fed with this year’s Titanium shortlist entries and asked to judge the winner. 

A film chronicling the effort (scripted by AI) gives viewers a peek at the deliberations. Opinions are stated with firm conviction and are funny if just a bit off.  

“They didn’t buy conversation, they provoked it,” asserts one jurist, following up with “Genius level earned architecture.” That last bit sounds a little hallucinatory, doesn’t it? 

Adds another jurist, “It was hilarious and helpful.” No doubt that can be a powerful combination. Then she adds, “The best type of punchline is one you can bite into.” I’ll take your word for it.  

Maybe AI juries are quite ready for prime time yet. But as we all know AI is a quick study. Maybe next year.  

Rise said it used Veo3 to visualize the deliberations into the film. All the contenders, judges and brands were tagged on LinkedIn.  

“We didn’t script it, we didn’t steer it,” said Flavio Vidigal, Partner & Chief Creative Officer at Rise. “This is how the machine sees our industry. Raw and unfiltered.” To some degree. “We might’ve asked Veo3 to give it a little wink,” he adds. 

Chris Abrahao, Global Executive Creative Director, who co-led the project with Vidigal, added that AI is not a threat but an invitation to be more creative. “If you’re not experimenting, pushing, provoking then you’re not in the game.” 

And the AI predicted winner?  Heineken’s “Pub Succession” by Publicis Groupe’s LePub.  

Well, it got the holding company right. The actual winner was “AXA--Three Words,” by Publicis Conseil.  

Next year the AI jury will get it right. I can just feel it.  

Pictured above: Rise's AI Titanium Jury