Jared Harris tells content creators to prioritise storytelling over tech at BRIDGE

British actor Jared Harris has warned creators on the use of generative AI and its ethical risks at the BRIDGE Summit 2025 in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, advising to focus on human narratives rather than algorithmic output.

Moderated by Patrick Caligiuri, Media Advisor at the National Media Office, the session titled “Opportunities and Challenges in the Global Picture Business” opened with a simple question: what forces will shape how films and series get made and seen over the next decade?

While the panel recognised the increasing integration of AI into development and post-production workflows, Harris raised a strong note of caution.

He said: “I am ideologically and philosophically opposed to generative AI, because unless you put another person's work into it, it can't produce anything. So on one level, it's theft.

He was also surprised by the lack of regulations toward generative AI, stating that he finds it "odd that right now everyone's running forward with it without there being any kind of code of ethics or statement of intent of how we want to progress with it. And if we don't do that soon, it's going to be too late to do it.”

Referencing a video played during the Summit’s opening ceremony that depicted people gathered around a fire sharing stories, Harris reminded audiences of the enduring power of oral storytelling ,and why creators should return to that foundation.

He said: “At the end of the day, it’s all about storytelling. And I would say if you have a story to tell, start telling it because you'll know whether or not it's a compelling story. If you're sitting with friends, talking to them, and they're passionate about a story over a dinner table, or if you're not getting it across, you need to tell it a different way, because that's all part of the journey towards actually converting it into images and then transmitting onto a screen. Start telling that story.”

Speaking on the financial angle, Cindy Cowan, Oscar-Nominated and Emmy-Winning Producer, Cindy Cowan Entertainment, pointed to the accelerating rise of independent production, driven by tax incentives and the increasing value of original IP.

She said: “So the business is obviously changing. It's difficult to get a movie financed from a studio now that's not $75 million plus, and that's based on IP, but there is a bigger opportunity right now for independents [to secure financing] than there ever has been before.”

Jane Turton, CEO of All3Media, expanded the conversation by outlining how technology, particularly data-driven decision-making and AI, is reshaping every layer of the content pipeline, from commissioning to production.

She said: “I think if I were to describe the biggest sort of bucket of changes around Tech, I mean, there's absolutely no doubt I think the innovation and the introduction of hardware and software has radically changed the way that people consume, the way people commission content, the way we produce content. So we make about 4000 hours of programs and films a year. And I would say there's nothing that we make that doesn't have some element of tech in the production.”

She added that technology has become “ubiquitous”, noting her own journey from the “analog era” into a world driven by analytics and new distribution models.

The session forms part of a 300+ session program that was held at the BRIDGE summit, which concluded on Wednesday at ADNEC centre in Abu Dhabi.