Costs, Speed, and Model Tradeoffs

In this episode, Aydin chats with Allan Isfan, Senior Director of Global Video Platform at Warner Bros Discovery, about how AI is reshaping creativity, software development, and large-scale enterprise culture. Allan explains how he drives AI literacy for 1,500+ employees, the power of internal demos and sandboxes, and gives a hands-on walkthrough of generative video tools like Gemini V3, Flow, and Sora. He also dives into AI video analysis, the Wizard of Oz project at The Sphere, and the future of creative storytelling powered by AI.🕒 Timestamps00:00 – Aydin welcomes Allan Ispan to the show.01:03 – Allan’s career path: Nortel → startups → venture capital → media tech.02:09 – Founding FaveQuest and My Event Apps, powering Ottawa’s festivals.02:53 – Moving to LA with UIV → acquired by WarnerMedia.03:38 – Current role: Senior Director, Global Video Platform for HBO Max, CNN, Discovery+.04:11 – How Warner Bros started its AI journey: three core pillars.04:55 – The vision: “Talk to the app” for content recommendations.05:26 – Scaling AI enablement for 1,500+ employees company-wide.06:13 – Making your company more AI-native without a Head of AI.07:00 – Step 1: Build AI literacy and create role-based learning paths.08:07 – Setting measurable goals: 80% literacy by year-end.08:46 – AI all-hands: excitement, humor, and internal FOMO.09:32 – Launching AI Friday Demos – monthly internal showcases.09:55 – Brown bag sessions for hands-on education (e.g. generative video).10:59 – Internal data querying: using AI on top of Jira and internal docs.11:41 – The origin of AI all-hands → now a recurring company event.12:53 – Experimental budgets, legal review, and security hurdles.14:07 – Creating AI sandboxes for safe experimentation.15:14 – Advice for smaller teams: give employees micro-budgets to experiment.16:54 – Generative video: “State of the art is moving bonkers fast.”17:41 – Demo 1: Google Gemini V3 — 8-second clips from text prompts.18:58 – Prompting tips: scripting short sequences for realism.23:42 – Voice options: when to use Eleven Labs for cloning.26:00 – Advanced camera moves and cinematic continuity.28:06 – “Anyone can be a director now.” Democratizing filmmaking.29:04 – Demo 2: Using Flow to connect multiple AI-generated scenes.33:04 – Cost and quality tradeoffs: fast vs. standard rendering.34:26 – Sora (OpenAI): create cameos and realistic social clips.35:41 – New business models: celebrity likeness + embedded sponsor branding.36:55 – Meta Ads: turning photos into videos for higher engagement.40:04 – Quickplay demo: searching long-form video content (“Smelly Cat” in Friends).42:54 – Live sports AI: tracking, play-by-play, and highlight automation.45:27 – The Wizard of Oz @ The Sphere (Las Vegas) – AI-enhanced 360° remake.47:39 – Allan’s 12-month outlook: expanding creative boundaries with AI.48:33 – Personal note: turning children’s books into AI-animated cartoons.🧰 Tools & Technologies MentionedChatGPT / Claude / Cursor / Windsurf – AI code assistants that boost developer productivity.Gemini V3 & Flow (Google) – Text-to-video generation and multi-scene creation.Sora (OpenAI) – Mobile app for AI cameo video generation.Eleven Labs – Industry-leading AI voice cloning.Quickplay – AI video intelligence and repurposing platform.Adobe Firefly – Generative design and image-to-animation tool.Riverside.fm – Podcast platform with AI-generated highlights.Fellow.ai – AI meeting assistant for notes, actions, and insights.Subscribe at⁠ thisnewway.com⁠ to get the step-by-step playbooks, tools, and workflows.