Ed Catmull, the Pixar co-founder who helped pioneer 3D animation, has joined the jury of the Higgsfield Global Film Festival, a $1m competition dedicated to generative AI filmmaking. The decision is reigniting the debate over whether AI belongs in animation.
Catmull's credentials are difficult to argue with. In 1972, while at the University of Utah, he created an early 3D model of his own left hand that later appeared in the 1976 film "Futureworld." He founded Lucasfilm's computer graphics division, which Steve Jobs bought and turned into Pixar in 1986, and went on to serve as president of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios.
A pioneer's endorsement
Higgsfield, which sells a subscription platform for AI filmmaking, is leaning on that history. The company describes Catmull as a five-time Oscar winner, Toy Story executive producer, and "the man who invented 3D graphics."
"We admired how Pixar brought artists and engineers together to build something neither could create alone," CEO Alex Mashrabov wrote on LinkedIn, adding that Catmull will help judge "the first generation of AI filmmakers."
Catmull retired from Disney eight years ago, but his name lends the competition a credibility it would not otherwise have. That is exactly why the announcement has split the animation community. The festival is the latest test case for how Generative Video tools fit into professional animation.
The debate splits animation
Supporters point to creators like Connie He, a former Pixar story artist who now works with Google DeepMind. Her short film, "Dear Upstairs Neighbor," uses AI to achieve a visual style she says would not exist without it.
Critics argue that AI models trained on unlicensed artwork amount to theft. Higgsfield does not train its own models - its platform hosts Text-To-Video models including Seedance and Google Veo - but that has not quieted the backlash. One commenter on Cartoon Brew called Catmull's decision a "HUGE knife in the back."
Some of the enthusiasm on LinkedIn and X looks manufactured. Many comments praising the move read as if they were written by AI themselves.
Read the fine print
The competition's terms have also drawn scrutiny. Entrants must be Higgsfield subscribers and produce their film in the company's Cinema Studio. Competing projects are open-sourced, giving other users reuse rights and Higgsfield perpetual marketing rights.
Higgsfield has form with publicity stunts. In May, it claimed to have premiered the world's first AI movie "at Cannes" - the screening had no connection to the festival. Reviewers, including at TechRadar, said Hollywood had nothing to worry about.
Why this matters for creatives
Catmull's involvement gives generative AI filmmaking a legitimacy it has not had. But for working animators and artists, the practical questions remain: who owns the work, who gets paid, and what happens to the artists whose work trained the models.
The competition's terms - mandatory subscription, open-sourced entries, perpetual marketing rights - favor the platform. Creatives considering AI tools should read the fine print before they submit, and weigh the ethical questions no jury decision can settle.
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