Prime Video says AI can cut costs while humans lead

Prime Video says artificial intelligence can help reduce production costs while keeping human creativity at the center of television. The company argues that making shows more affordable could create opportunities for more stories, greater creative risks and a wider range of voices.

Kelly Day, Prime Video’s vice president of international, outlined that position in a London speech on September 29, 2026. Her comments set out the company’s ambitions for AI, rather than independently verified evidence of savings or improved creative outcomes.

Where Prime Video sees AI helping

Day highlighted concept art, animation, previsualization, sound design and visual effects as areas where AI can support production. Concept art helps establish how a project might look, while previsualization allows filmmakers to plan scenes before shooting them.

For a creator pitching a series, those early materials can help explain an idea that is difficult to convey through a script alone. A proposed setting, complicated action sequence or distinctive visual style becomes easier to discuss when potential collaborators can see a version of it.

The financial argument also reaches beyond individual production tasks. If a project becomes less expensive to make, a studio could have more room to approve an unfamiliar story or take a chance on a less established creative team.

That possibility depends on what happens to any savings. Lower costs could support additional commissions, but they do not automatically mean more projects will be approved or that creators will receive larger budgets.

Human creativity remains central

Day said human creativity should lead and ethical safeguards should underpin the use of AI. She also connected the technology with recommendations, accessibility and lip-sync adjustments that accompany human-recorded dubbing.

These uses involve different decisions and different kinds of oversight. Helping someone find a program, planning a visual effect and changing part of an on-screen performance should each be assessed according to what the technology does and who is affected.

For creative workers, practical questions include who approves an AI-assisted result, how their contribution is credited and whether they retain control over changes to their work. A commitment to human leadership becomes more meaningful when those responsibilities are clearly defined.

What would demonstrate the benefits?

The strongest evidence for the cost argument would be a comparison showing what a production spent, which tasks changed and whether additional checking or corrections offset the initial savings. Judging quality would also require more than a claim that the finished work met expectations.

The promise of broader creative opportunity needs its own evidence. More commissions, opportunities for new filmmakers and a wider range of stories would show whether lower production costs are translating into benefits audiences and creators can actually see.