TheWrap and What's Trending have announced the first speakers for AI Creator Day, a new event focused on the business and craft of AI in creative industries. The inaugural event takes place September 29 and serves as the kickoff to TheGrill 2026, TheWrap's flagship business and technology conference, held the following day at the DGA.
The program brings together creators, storytellers, marketers, brands and industry leaders who are actively building with AI. Conversations, workshops, live demonstrations and creator showcases will cover the businesses forming around the technology and open questions about ownership, ethics and creative rights.
Workshops and trend talks
Caleb Ward, CEO and co-founder of Curious Refuge, will lead "The Creative Possibilities of AI Tools for Creators," a workshop covering the latest tools for day-to-day creative workflows. Curious Refuge has trained thousands of artists, including Academy Award winners and first-time storytellers.
Mike Gioia, co-founder of AI on the Lot, will host "What's Next," a conversation on the ideas and technologies shaping the next era of entertainment and the creator economy. AI on the Lot is the world's largest AI media conference and an official partner of AI Creator Day.
Rebecca Grone, head of impact at 11:11 Media, will discuss the company's work on AI-generated content and creator protections. 11:11 Media is the next-gen media company founded by Paris Hilton and Bruce Gersh. Grone leads advocacy across child welfare, digital safety and policy, and will cover the series "Searching for Mr. Deepfake" and legislation the team helped champion, including the Take It Down Act.
Early YouTube pioneers on what's changed
DeStorm Power and Taryn Southern, two creators from the first wave of the creator economy, will appear together on a panel about how they're approaching the current moment - the tools they use, what's working, what's overhyped and how they're rethinking their businesses.
Power is an Emmy-nominated, AMA-winning creator with more than 30 million followers, five Streamy awards, and a resume that includes hosting "Punk'd" Season 10 and founding The Zeus Network, Ghost Studios and Dramatik Verticals. Southern has tracked the technology across its evolution: 750 million-plus YouTube views, the world's first AI pop album in 2017, and projects spanning VR, brain-computer interfaces and digital cloning, plus advisory work with Fortune 500 companies.
For creatives, the panel offers a direct look at how two people who built careers on the last platform shift are adapting to this one. Their take on which tools earn their place in a workflow - and which are hype - is grounded in years of production experience, not vendor demos.
Why this matters for creatives
AI Creator Day is aimed at people who are already using AI in their work, not just curious observers. The sessions are practical: specific tools for creative workflows, trends with near-term implications, and policy work that affects how creators can protect their work. For working creatives, the event is a chance to see what peers in film, media and digital content are actually doing with the technology - and to hear from early adopters who have already made mistakes and found what works. Additional speakers and programming will be announced in the coming weeks.
For those who can't attend, the broader takeaway is the range of practice on display: Generative Video tools are moving from experiments to production pipelines, and AI for Creatives is increasingly about workflow integration and rights management rather than novelty. The event's focus on ethics, ownership and legislation signals that the creative community is pushing for structure around the technology, not just adoption.
AI Creator Day sponsors include pocket.watch. Tickets for TheGrill on September 30 are available now, and WrapPRO subscribers get 30% off by emailing memberships@thewrap.com for the code.
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