Banijay Kids & Family, the global children's entertainment group, and Toon Boom Animation, the company behind the widely used Harmony and Storyboard Pro software, have announced a research and development collaboration to build AI-powered tools for animation production. The deal gives Banijay early access to beta AI features and input into the product roadmap, while banning the use of its content for AI training - a concrete ethical boundary that sets this partnership apart from many broader tech rollouts.
Banijay Kids & Family's production material will be used only to test and validate new features, kept within a segregated, secure environment. Its network of artists and technicians will provide ongoing hands-on feedback, shaping how AI functions appear inside Harmony and Storyboard Pro.
Creator-first testing with no training loophole
The agreement explicitly states that Banijay content will not train Toon Boom's AI models. Instead, the studio's diverse slate of content serves as a rigorous testing ground for beta AI tools under real production conditions. Banijay also gains deeper visibility into Toon Boom's long-term development plans, which allows its teams to plan for tooling changes rather than react to them.
Benoît Di Sabatino, CEO of Banijay Kids & Family, said: "Rather than waiting for off-the-shelf AI tools, we want to be at the forefront of evolving our own solutions. The ambition is to enhance rather than disrupt the creative process, while addressing the growing demand for faster and more efficient pipelines."
Colin Bohm, CEO of Toon Boom Animation, said: "At Toon Boom, we've always built our tools in close dialogue with the artists and studios who use them. This partnership with Banijay Kids & Family deepens that commitment, giving us direct, real-world feedback loops to shape the next generation of Ember AI features in Harmony and Storyboard Pro."
Why this matters for creatives
For animators, storyboard artists, and production designers, the partnership signals that major studios and toolmakers are building AI features with direct creator involvement - not as a black-box add-on. The contractual firewall against training AI on Banijay's IP offers a model for protecting original work, a concern that has fueled skepticism about generative tools in creative industries. As AI becomes more embedded in animation pipelines, structured knowledge from AI for Creatives Courses & Certifications can help artists and technical directors stay current without ceding agency over their craft.
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