Digital Social Hour: Guy Ronen on Arcana Labs, AI, and Creativity

Episode: DSH #1652
Release Date: December 1, 2025
Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Guy Ronen (Founder, Arcana Labs)
Setting: AI4 Conference

Episode Overview

In this episode of Digital Social Hour, Sean Kelly sits down with Guy Ronen, founder of Arcana Labs, to explore the intersection of generative AI and creativity in filmmaking. The conversation dives deep into how Arcana Labs is working to democratize content creation, address ethical concerns like deepfakes, and empower a new generation of storytellers without sacrificing human emotion and originality.

Key Topics & Insights

1. Deepfakes and Ethical Safeguards in AI

• Main concern: Guy is less worried about the misuse of deepfakes within Arcana and more about a future in which the public can't discern reality from fabrication.
• Arcana's safeguards: The platform prohibits generating or duplicating any recognizable person’s face (celebrity or not) without explicit permission.
  • Quote (Guy Ronen at 00:16 & 17:47):
    "You cannot duplicate someone without the permission... Our system will identify that a face is existing there and will not let you use that."
• On social trust:
  • "I'm concerned that people will not believe anyone... President Trump is talking right now and someone will say, hey, it's not real Trump, although it is real Trump. That's the main issue." (Guy, 00:06; reiterated at 17:52)

2. AI in Entertainment: Augmentation, Not Replacement

• Industry fears: Hollywood and other creative industries fear that GenAI will eliminate human roles and creativity.
  • "A lot of people... said, okay, this GenAI... is going to totally ruin the industry. No more creativity, no more storytelling... That is 100% wrong." (Guy, 01:22)
• Reality check:
  • AI is a tool to enhance, not replace, creative professionals.
  • "We're not trying to replace storytellers. We do need storytellers... AI language models can't make me cry or laugh." (Guy, 02:08)
• Filmmaker focus:
  • Arcana was built to meet the standards of filmmakers, with other creative industries as secondary beneficiaries.
  • "We build our platform at the standard of filmmakers and believe any other use case will fall underneath that because that's the highest standard." (Guy, 03:11)

3. Changing Audience Habits & Industry Shifts

• Consumption trends: Audiences prefer short, on-demand content over traditional, in-theater viewing.
  • "Young generation doesn't have the attention towards like two and a half or three-hour features... everything will get shorter." (Guy, 06:57)
  • "Biggest platform... is like, you know, 50 to 60 seconds and just luring the audience to click or buy the next episode." (Guy, 07:28)
• Industry consolidation & streaming:
  • Discussion of Hulu-Disney, Paramount-Skydance deals, and the move towards content centralization and streaming.
  • "Industry is just moving into centralizing again." (Guy, 06:10)
  • Disappearance of packed movie theaters:
    • "I just reviewed AMC financial reports, everything is going down." (Guy, 06:28)

4. AI Adoption in Film Production

• Blended approach:
  • AI is not yet perfect for full productions but is helping reduce barriers and democratize filmmaking.
  • "We're not 100% there... a hybrid kind of approach is best. Maybe 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, depending on what you want to create." (Guy, 07:46)
• Cost & efficiency:
  • AI dramatically reduces production costs by generating locations, storyboards, or even entire scenes virtually, enabling scenes to be prototyped and then selectively shot with real actors.
  • "We managed to reduce millions in a budget of production. Again, not with like a full AI, just with touches here and there." (Guy, 13:34)
• Democratization:
  • "We're trying to dust off those capabilities... democratize the creative process. We do believe the next Spielberg or Tarantino is somewhere here." (Guy, 11:49)
  • Giving access to talented creators who previously couldn't afford the professional equipment.
  • "So many talented people... now getting the opportunity to take the talent... The freedom of creativity." (Guy, 12:10)

5. Technical Barriers & Progress

• AI vs. CGI & live filming:
  • Biggest gap is in "controlling 100% the frame"—character movements, camera direction—still more predictable in traditional shoots.
  • "There's still gaps of controlling the characters 100%. Emotion capturing... is still better with real actors." (Guy, 09:11)
• Workflow integration:
  • Arcana integrates over 25 AI-powered tools, regularly updated, acting as a bridge to simplify rapid shifts in technology for filmmakers.
  • "We're updating those on a weekly basis… We're saving the diligence and understanding which model is better for what, and embedding those in the platform." (Guy, 11:06)

6. Arcana Academy & Education

• Purpose: Addressing industry fear by educating creatives about AI, helping them stay in control and learn the tools, not just rely on automated systems.
  • "We realized that we have to educate people... letting them know how can they do it by themselves." (Guy, 15:56)
• Accessibility:
  • Aimed at all ages and skill levels, extremely user-friendly.
  • "My daughter... she's nine years old, she can jump on the platform in 10 minutes and start creating." (Guy, 16:42)
  • Broad range: films, commercials, design, storyboards, sound, animation.
• Resources:
  • Arcana Academy, free YouTube tutorials.

7. AI Regulation & Transparency

• Verification tools:
  • Anticipating a surge of startups dedicated to verifying whether content is AI-generated, as "trust" becomes the major challenge.
  • "The next... startups will not deal with a new AI engine. They will deal with how to verify or give a stamp into an AI that that's genuine or AI." (Guy, 19:32)
• Compliance:
  • EU is leading on AI regulation and the US is following. Arcana stays compliant and focused on reputation and user safety, unlike competitors.
  • "With the executive act of AI, what happened in the EU as well as here... it's getting there." (Guy, 20:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On irreplaceable human creativity:

  • “AI language models can't make me cry or laugh and tell me a story that will actually move something. This is why storytellers... will stay and definitely for the foreseeing future.”
    — Guy Ronen (02:08)

• On democratizing creativity:

  • “We're selling freedom of creativity.”
    — Guy Ronen (12:10)

• On business reality in Hollywood:

  • “Even those predictable ones and the big blockbusters, they're not making money. Take a look at like, Mission Impossible, the new one.”
    — Guy Ronen (13:08)

• On new workflow for movies:

  • “Think about a concept of creating everything in AI and then watching it for a second and said, okay, scene number 50, 80, 95, we're going to replace them with real shooting and that's it.”
    — Guy Ronen (15:09)

Key Timestamps

• 00:01–00:41 — Deepfakes & Arcana safeguards
• 00:54–04:06 — Guy’s upcoming AI4 talk, challenges entering Hollywood, and GenAI’s creative role
• 06:06–07:36 — Streaming’s rise, audience trends, and Hollywood consolidation
• 07:38–09:11 — AI’s practical use in film and remaining creative gaps
• 11:06–12:54 — Platform workflow, education, and cost democratization
• 13:34–15:43 — AI’s effect on production cost and new approaches to moviemaking
• 16:41–17:42 — Arcana Academy’s accessibility and breadth
• 17:47–20:14 — Deepfake ethics, trust, verification, and regulation

Links & Resources

• Arcana Labs: arcanalabs.ai
• Arcana Academy: Available through Arcana’s homepage
• Free Tutorials: Arcana YouTube channel (search: "Arcana Labs AI")

Episode Tone

The discussion is candid and optimistic but pragmatic, balancing excitement for AI-driven creativity with clear-eyed assessments of both industry challenges and ethical risks. Guy Ronen’s tone is passionate yet responsible, repeatedly stressing the irreplaceable value of human creativity and responsible AI adoption.

Summary by Digital Social Hour Podcast Summarizer