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After artificial intelligence made waves in content creation across Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and digital advertising (such as Puma’s recent AI-powered campaign), the technology is now stepping into the world of animation. Traditionally a craft requiring meticulous storytelling, careful planning, frame-by-frame adjustments, and long rendering times, animation is now being streamlined by AIdramatically reducing production time and costs. Vidu AI, a generative video platform developed by Chinese AI firm ShengShu Technology, recently announced a partnership with Los Angeles-based animation studio Aura Productions to produce a fully AI-generated sci-fi anime series. This ambitious project will be released as a 50-episode short-form series on major social media platforms in 2025. The first trailer is expected to debut globally in the coming days. In an industry where traditional animation can take monthsor even yearsto complete, this development could be transformative. AI is not a constraint on creativity but an enabler of new creative possibilities, Evan Liao, head of Vidu at ShengShu, tells Fast Company. Rather than homogenizing storytelling, we believe AI empowers creators to experiment with unique narratives and push the boundaries of imagination. Liao explained that the decision to launch the series on social media rather than traditional networks reflects shifting consumption habits. Unlike conventional TV, which adheres to rigid programming schedules, social media offers on-demand access and global reach. “Social media has already transformed the way audiences engage with content, and AI-generated anime is a perfect fit for this shift,” he says. Founded by actress and producer Luo Yan, Aura Productions has a portfolio spanning animation, comics, and short dramas, with a strong emphasis on using AI to streamline workflows and enhance creativity. Luo, known for her role in the 2001 film Pavilion of Womenwhich she also produced and co-wrotehas built a long-standing career in film. She later appeared in Marco Polo (2007), directed by Kevin Connor. The studios creative director, D.T. Carpenter, is a showrunner and director with a proven track record of integrating AI into media. He has helped develop AI-driven ads and campaigns for major brands such as AWS, Mastercard, MrBeast, KPMG, and SharkNinja. At the heart of the collaboration is ShengShus advanced AI video model, Vidu 2.0. It uses Multiple-Entity Consistency to integrate characters, objects, and environments into cohesive, high-quality animations. Capable of generating videos in under 10 seconds, Vidu has already made its Hollywood debutcreating a Chinese trailer for Venom: The Last Dance in 2024 and demonstrating its potential to scale promotional content creation. ShengShu has positioned Vidu as a direct competitor to OpenAIs Sora. On January 5, 2025, OpenAI disclosed rising operational costs and the potential for price increases on tools like Sora. In contrast, ShengShu touts Vidu 2.0s real-time video creation at a fraction of the cost$0.0375 per second. Additionally, its One-Click Templates allow users to generate detailed character actions and dynamic scenes without crafting complex text prompts. We pioneered the world’s first U-ViT architecture, exploring the fusion of Diffusion Models and Transformer structures to support a wide range of multimodal generation tasks. This breakthrough enables AI to generate high-quality content more efficiently while maintaining consistency in complex scenes, explained Liao. With Vidu, a single creator can accomplish what once required an entire team, making production more efficient and accessible. Will AI Replace Animation Jobs in the U.S.? While some celebrate AI-powered animation as a leap forward, others express concern over its impact on traditional artists and animators. A 2024 report by CVL Economics and The Animation Guild projected that generative AI could affect 21.4% of jobs in film, television, and animation by 2026roughly 118,500 positions that may be consolidated, replaced, or eliminated. California, home to the largest concentration of industry professionals, is expected to bear the brunt, with New York also at risk over the next three years. Hand-drawn and CGI animation require years of artistic expertise, and while AI-generated visuals are impressive, they may lack the emotional nuance and expressive depth that human artists provide. Audiences often resonate with storytelling that reflects authentic human experience. While AI can deliver striking imagery, can it truly capture the heart and soul of anime? Liao believes it canwith the right storytellers behind it. He added that beyond visuals, AI can also aid in scriptwriting and narrative development. We aim to provide a flexible creative space where storytellers from diverse backgrounds can more easily bring their visions to life without industry gatekeeping. Our AI model is not designed to replace traditional animation production but to expand possibilities for creators, he emphasized. If the AI-generated anime series from Vidu and Aura Productions proves successful, it could reshape the entertainment industrysetting new benchmarks for rapid content production, AI-assisted storytelling, and cost-effective workflows. Whether this signals the dawn of a new creative era or a passing tech trend will depend on audience reception, industry adoption, and the lasting appeal of AI-generated content. Many animation studios and independent artists are already using our AI as a creative tool to improve visual quality and accelerate production, rather than relying solely on AI-generated content, Liao tells Fast Company. By combining AI with human creativity, the anime industry can embrace more diverse forms of storytelling.
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A little past 4 a.m. on June 21, 2019, workers at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery in Philadelphia noticed a leak from a corroded pipe, and were immediately on high alert. The leak had originated in Unit 433, known among workers as the bogeyman because it contained the highly explosive chemical hydrofluoric acid, or HF. When released in large quantities, the chemical can form a dense, toxic vapor cloud that hugs the ground and can travel many miles. Contact with this cloud can be deadly; if it ignites, it could cause a massive explosion. Sure enough, a vapor cloud materialized and ignited, causing three large explosions and a massive fire that sent smoke pouring into the sky. Pieces of equipment the size of cars flew through the air, miraculously landing in the Schuylkill River without hitting any homes. The force of the explosions threw workers back, injuring five, but ultimately did not cause any fatalities. Workers remembering the incident years later agreed that it could have been much worse. You figure you aint going home, one former worker told Grist of the moment he saw the fire in Unit 433. You figure this is it. Shortly after the incident, the company filed for bankruptcy and shut down, leaving around 1,000 workers jobless and without severance pay. Refineries that use HF are regulated under the Environmental Protection Agencys Risk Management Program, or RMP, a regulation designed to improve chemical accident prevention at large petrochemical facilities. But for reasons that have little to do with knowhow and capacity, RMP regulations have been glaringly ineffective. Indeed, few regulations have been subject to the yo-yo of successive presidential administrations, and their political whims, like the RMP. The RMP program was established in 1990 following a series of infamous chemical disasters in the 1980s, most notably the chemical leak at Union Carbides plant in Bhopal, India, which poisoned roughly 500,000 people, around 20,000 of whom died in the hours and years afterward due to health complications from the exposure. Another leak at a Union Carbide facility in West Virginia the following year caused eye, throat, and lung irritation for at least 135 residents. The first iteration of the rule came into effect in 1994, during the Clinton administration, but lacked several important protections such as independent auditing for regulated facilities, public information provisions, and the requirement that companies complete a safer technology and alternatives analysis to determine whether there are any safer ways to conduct their operation. A series of chemical disasters in 2013including a massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Company in west Texas that killed 15 people and damaged 350 homesbrought these deficiencies to the attention of regulators. In January 2017, the EPA under President Barack Obama finalized amendments to the Accidental Release Prevention Requirements of the RMP, which included measures to enhance emergency preparedness requirements and ensure that local emergency response officials and residents had access to information to better prepare for potential chemical disasters. But the provisions never went into full effect: In May 2018, during Donald Trumps first term in office, the EPA proposed amendments to remove third-party audits and incident investigations, among other protections. The Trump rule was finalized in December of 2019six months before the explosion at the Pennsylvania refinery. When Joe Biden took office in 2021, the EPA began working on a new set of amendments for the RMP rule. Unions like U.S. Steelworkers and advocates at organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists pushed for better public disclosure provisions, the inclusion of more types of facilities in the safer technologies alternatives assessment requirements, and the freedom for workers to stop work that they deem unsafe. Many communities that are vulnerable to chemical accidents are in overburdened and underserved areas of the country, said former EPA Administrator Michael Regan in a statement announcing the final rule last March. It was slated to go into effect in 2027. In the past few years, several chemical disasters have disrupted life in the countrys industrial corridors. In August 2023, a large fire at Marathon Petroleums refinery in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, in August 2023 burned for seven hours, causing residents to flee for safety. But in the days following the incident, neither the company nor state and federal environmental regulators responded to locals questions about what chemicals the air was being tested for. And in 2024, a hydrogen sulfide leak at Pemexs refinery in Deer Park, Texas, killed two contract workers and injured 35 others. In January, a group of industry trade associations sent Lee Zeldin a letter congratulating him on his appointment to the position of EPA administrator and asking him to take swift action against the misguided and illegal new requirements of Bidens RMP rule. In their letter, the trade groups argued that the new rule represents an overextension of the EPAs authority and fails to provide a durable solution to facility safety, though they did not explain how the rule falls short in this regard. They singled out an interactive map that the agency published last year separate from the rulemaking process showing where RMP facilities are located around the country, along with other basic public information such as compliance history and the types of chemicals stored onsite. In a statement announcing the EPAs decision to revisit the RMP rule earlier this month, Zeldin seemed to buy industrys argument. The Biden EPAs costly Risk Management Plan rule ignored recommendations from national security experts on how their rule makes chemical and other sensitive facilities in America more vulnerable to attack, Zeldin said. The press release also notes that Bidens RMP rule makes domestic oil refineries and chemical facilities less competitive. It took years to come to the rule that was finalized last year, said Darya Minovi, a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. To see that rolled back simply because of a letter sent by industry trade associations is really frustrating and shows what little regard this administration has for communities they say they care about. Minovi told Grist that the rhetoric about national security is overblown. The public data tool does not contain sensitive information, she said, and when the Department of Homeland Security reviewed the rule last year, they flagged no concerns with the public information disclosure requirements. Were not happy about it, the U.S. Steelworkers representative told Grist about the Trump administrations reconsideration of the RMP rule. As for Zeldins concerns about making domestic oil and gas companies competitive, I think that putting workers and communities at greater risk of catastrophic injuries is not good for the economy. This article originally appeared in Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. 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We’re excited to announce the judges of the 2025 Innovation by Design Awards. Innovation by Design honors the best projects and ideas across the design spectrum, as represented by our stellar group of jurors, who come from some of the worlds most exciting design-led companies. You can read more about their expertise and backgrounds below. And remember to apply for the Innovation by Design Awards by April 11. Carly Ayres, Program Lead, Airborne Carly Ayres is a writer using language to engage people in new and interesting ways. Currently, she does that as a writer and editor on Figmas Story Studio. Before that, she did it on Google’s Material Design team (material.io) and UX Community & Culture team where she told stories about the people, product, and practice of UX (design.google). She previously co-founded HAWRAF (hawraf.com), a design and development studio, which had a hell of a run from 2016 to 2019. In 2016, she started 100s Under 100, a vibrant community of hundreds of creative people under a hundred years of age. It’s now led and maintained by a wonderful group of community-nominated admins. As a freelancer, she worked humanizing artificial intelligence and evolving the Google logo. She’s given voices to Fortune 500 companies and chatbots alike, and has written for Communication Arts, Wallpaper*, and Core77. FastCompany named her one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. She speaks at conferences on how to build a value-driven practice and making design like a conversation. Yves Béhar, Principal Designer, Fusedesign Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Yves Béhar is the principal designer of Fuseproject, which he founded after being the design leader at the Silicon Valley offices of frog design and Lunar Design, where he worked on product identities for clients such as Apple and Hewlett-Packard. He was awarded the National Design Award for industrial design by the CooperHewitt, National Design Museum. Fuseproject is known for its work in the fashion, furniture, technology, robotics, and beauty industries. He is a declared sustainability advocate, designing products focused on being commercially viable but that contribute to social good, working organizations like the One Laptop Per Child initiative, Herman Miller, Puma, General Electric, and Samsung. Some of his notable projects include the Jawbone UP wristband, the OLPC XO laptop, the AI-powered industrial robot Maximo, or the SPRING Accelerator program, which supports businesses impacting adolescent girls in poverty. Cheryl Durst, CEO of IIDA An exceptional communicator, innovator, and visionary leader, Cheryl S. Durst has spurred progress, driven change, and encouraged the expansion of the interior design industry. As the Executive Vice President and CEO of the International Interior Design Association, Cheryl is committed to achieving broad recognition for the value of design and its significant role in society. With 15,000 members across 58 countries, Cheryl oversees the strategic direction of IIDA, setting an agenda that leads the industry in creating community, advancing advocacy and continuing decades of work toward equity. Cheryl is a member of the International WELL Building Institute Governance Council; as well as a Trustee for Chicagos Museum of Contemporary Art and the NYSID. She has been referred to by Interior Design magazine as an ambassador for innovation and expansion, and a visionary strategist. Cheryl was inducted into the prestigious Interior Design Hall of Fame in 2016 as the recipient of its first-ever Leadership Award. She is the first African American woman to be inducted into the industrys Hall of Fame. A lifelong knowledge enthusiast and voracious reader who has considered librarian, astronaut and journalist as potential careers, Cheryl never walks away from meeting someone without gleaning a bit of their story a talent she currently employs on her monthly podcast, The Skill Set, which focuses on the intangible skills that make us good at what we do. Sagi Haviv, Partner at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv Sagi Haviv is a partner and designer at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, the firm responsible for many of the most famous logos of all time, including National Geographic, Chase Bank, NBC, Conservation International, State Farm, Mobil Oil, Showtime Networks, NYU, Animal Planet, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, and most recently the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum and Warner Bros. The firm designed the identities for both the U.S. Bicentennial (1976) and the just-released 250th anniversary of the United States (2026). Sagi joined the firm in 2003 after graduating from The Cooper Union School of Art. A go-to expert on the process of effective logo design, Sagi has contributed to the New York Times, Bloomberg, Fast Company, Creative Review, Its Nice That, Design Week, designboom, PBS, NBCs Meet The Press, and SkillShare. He speaks about logo design around the world, including for TEDx, AIGA, HOW Design Conference, Brand New Conference, Princeton University, Onassis Foundation, American Advertising Federation, and Columbia Business School, amongst many others. He teaches Visual Identity Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Sagi is coauthor of Identify: Basic Principles of Identity Design in the Iconic Trademarks of Chermayeff & Geismar (Print Publishers, 2011) and Identity: Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (Standards Manual, May, 2018). Benjamin Hubert, Founder and creative director, Layer Benjamin Hubert is an award-winning British design entrepreneur, and founder of creative agency, LAYER. LAYER is focused on experience-driven design for both the physical and digital worlds. Led by Benjamin and a growing creative team, the studio partners with forward-thinking brands including Nike, Google, Bang & Olufsen, Samsung, and Braun to create products that will help define the way we live, work and communicate in the future, from AI to smart wearables and furniture systems, to the next generation of media devices and mobile communication tools. Mark Kawano, Chief Design Officer at Zoom Mark leads a global team of designers, writers, and researchers responsible for designing the AI-first work platform for human connection. Mark is a Silicon Valley veteran with 25 years of experience designing software and leading design teams at Apple, Adobe, Square, Slack, and Zendesk. He holds over a dozen design patents from his work on novel user interface patterns and modern communication tools. Mark is passionate about crafting experiences that not only delight people but also empower them to be more creative. Ryan McClelland, Research Engineer, NASA Goddard Space Center Obsessed with futurism and technology since childhood, Ryan McClelland always aspired to play some part in making the future brighter. This is what led him from being a windsurf instructor to getting an engineering degree and working in companies like Black & Decker and Dewalt until he landed at NASA, where he now spearheads generative AI crafting evolved structures with the aid of programs like Autodesks Fusion 360 software. His alien-looking 3D printed spaceship parts save weight and offer enhanced strengthtwo critical factors for NASA missions. They have already made their way into upcoming projects like the Excite balloon-borne telescope, Mars Sample Return, and the Dragonfly mission to Saturns moon Titan. Ermi van Oers Ermi van Oers, born in 1991, is a pioneering Dutch bio-tech designer and founder of Nova Innova. Graduating cum laude in Product Design from Willem de Kooning Academy in 2016, she discovered her passion for Biodesign, blending nature, science and design to create sustainable innovations. Her visionary work has already earned her 14 awards, cementing her reputation as a leader in ustainable design. One of her most recent projects is POND: an installation powered by Microbial Fuel Cell technology that visualizes water health. Another notable innovation, Living Light Park, introduced the worlds first park lights powered by plant photosynthesis. Ermi’s mission is to restore the symbiosis between humans and nature, inspiring a deeper appreciation for the intelligence of Mother Nature. Marti Romances Creative Director and co-founder of Territory Studio Marti was born and educated in Barcelona. After spending eight years in London honing his craft and exploring diverse creative disciplines, he brought his expertise to California, where he continues to push the boundaries of motion design and storytelling. A motion graphic designer and multimedia artist by trade, Marti articulates stories in the most captivating ways, blending creativity with technology to realize innovative future-facing experiences. His technical virtuosity is on display in fantasy, futuristic, and commercial projects, visual and experiential narratives that define the future of film, gaming, and real world brands. Exemplary work on Ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049, The Martian, Avengers franchise, alongside gaming projects for EA Sports, 2K Games, Activision, and Microsoft, has drawn the attention of global brands such as Nike, GM, Porsche, Mercedes, Meta, Warner Bros., Netflix, LIV Golf, and Microsofteager to leverage his design expertise in pioneering real-world technologies. “Thanks to the diversity of industries we collaborate withwhether films, games, brands, or real-world productsour studio maintains a broader perspective, he says. Each project allows us to draw from a deep well of cross-industry experience, enriching our ability to craft innovative solutions that seamlessly merge storytelling, design, and technology.” Lisa Smith, Executive Creative Director, Global at Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR) Lisa has a career spanning over two decades, where she has become renowned for her transformative work with some of the world’s most cherished brands. As Executive Creative Director, Global at JKR, her strategic vision has played a pivotal role in the global rebrand efforts for clients such as Burger King, Impossible Foods, Nordstrom Rack, Mozilla, and Manischewitz. Prior to JKR, Lisa was ECD of Chobani where she was responsible for putting creativity at the heart of the company, overseeing a rebrand that transformed the business, expanding its product offering and increasing customer loyalty, directly translating to top-line growth. Lisa was also Head of Design at Wolff Olins NY, focused on creating ground-breaking and commercially successful work for USA Today, The Met and Zocdoc. Lisa’s creative excellence was recognized in 2021 when Fast Company named her as one of the Most Creative People, saluting her contributions behind ‘the biggest redesigns of the decade’. Lisa has also picked up notable accolades throughout her career including Fast Companys Rebrand of the Year and a Gold Cannes Lion for Burger King, a Brand Impact Award in Culture for The Met, a Cannes Lions Silver and a Fast Company Innovation by Design Award for the rebrand of USA Today. Tracey Arcabasso Smith, US Head of Design, Creative Fellow, Deloitte Digital As US Head of Design of Deloitte Digital, Traceys multi-disciplined expertise focuses on the intersection of intentional design and impactful storytelling as a catalyst for organizational growth. Tracey is recognized as AdWeeks Future-is-Female award-winner for being an outstanding leader demonstrating organizational change and commitment to impact. For decades, Tracey has launched global brand campaigns, digital products, activations, experiences, content, and films for some of the biggest brands in the world through a human-centered lens. Throughout her career, Tracey has worked with clients such as American Express, Verizon, Netflix, SodaStream, Mastercard, Nikon, Nestle Waters and many more, across all industries and sectors. Her creative work has been honored around the globe by The One Show, Cannes Lions, Clios, Emmy Awards, Webbys, Effies and more. Tracey is also director and producer of RELATIVE, an award-winning feature documentary that breaks the silence on multigenerational abuse in her Italian-American family. Winning Best Feature Documentary at Nashville Film Festival, RELATIVE is Paste Magazines Top 20 Documentary of the Year and is currently streaming on multiple platforms across the US. Jeff Staple, Founder at Staple Jeff Staple (born Jeffrey Ng) is a creative visionary whose design work encompasses graphic, fashion, footwear, and lifestyle. He is the founder of pioneering NY-based streetwear brand STAPLE, and the founder and president of creative and marketing agency Reed Art Department. In 2022, Jeff celebrated the 25th anniversary of STAPLE with the publication of his eponymous Rizzoli book titled Jeff Staple: Not Just Sneakers. From a humble start bootlegging custom t-shirts, Jeff has built an entrepreneurial empire that spans fashion, media, entertainment, and technology. He is a testament to the winning ethos of vision, hustle, and humility. Amy Williams, CEO at Citizens of Humanity Amy Williams is the Chief Executive Officer at Citizens of Humanity Group headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Williams joined Citizens of Humanity as the companys President in 2009 and ultimately assumed the Chief Executive Officer position in 2015. In her role, Williams oversees all aspects of the business for the companys family of brands including Citizens of Humanity, AGOLDE and GOLDSIGN. With the retail climate changing and preferences shifting, Williams continues to stay on top of how to remain relevant across the board – from product to sustainability to retail. Shes always believed in offering a transparent look into the brand identity, including the companys most recent regenerative agriculture efforts which play a huge role into what Citizens stands for as a company. Williams previous experience includes Executive Vice President at Lucky Brand Jeans and Senior Vice President of Product Development and Design for Gap Inc. Williams serves on the board at Girls Inc of Greater Los Angeles, empowerHER and is an advisor to BAWSI (Bay Area Womens Sports Initiative). Lisa Williams, CEO at Eileen Fisher Williams has been leading the New York-based womens apparel brand since September 2022. Before this role, she served as head of product and operations at Patagonia, overseeing product innovation, creation, development, production, distribution and impact. During her 20-year career at Patagonia, Williams progressively expanded her responsibilities, beginning with line management and business unit oversight, and later incorporating design and innovation into her portfolio. Prior to joining Patagonia, Williams spent over seven years at the Walt Disney Company in various product and merchandising roles, developed retail concepts and product for Caesars, Inc. in the gaming and hospitality industry, and worked as a buyer for May Department Stores. Williams earned a bachelors degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and grew up in a small town in the Eastern Sierra mountains, where she cultivated a deep love and respect for the natural world.
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