The Real Work of AI Integration

Building Ethical, Durable Systems for Creative Teams

This essay was contributed by Matt Eaton and Hope McGowan , founders of Nepholve. Helping media organizations accelerate digital transformation.

The rapid evolution of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) models has fundamentally reshaped the content supply chain, shifting the focus from linear production to accelerated iteration and deployment. The second half of 2025 has seen the pace of technological advancement increasing significantly, bringing forth new capabilities such as Sora 2 for video generation, Ray 3 offering the first HDR content, and Google VEO 3.1 enabling enhanced text-to-video and storyboarding. There is a danger, however, of focusing too much on the technology, rather than the outcomes and how these AI capabilities are operationalized.

Forbes recently covered an example of McDonald’s pulling its 45-second spot. It provides a warning to other brand creative teams. Consumers perceived the result as “AI slop” with rapidly cut scenes provoking feelings of horror an…