Future Vision XPRIZE: The Best Entries We've Seen So Far

01 · breaking news · ▶ on the show at 4:57

Future Vision XPRIZE launch film

By Future Vision XPRIZE

The show opened with the competition's own launch film, which argues that science fiction shapes real invention: Martin Cooper said Star Trek inspired the mobile phone. The Future Vision XPRIZE, run with the XPRIZE Foundation, Google and Range Media Partners, put up $3 million in prize money plus film financing for a trailer or short film of three minutes or less showing a hopeful, abundant future. Entries could be live action, hybrid or AI, and this takeover showed only the AI and hybrid ones.

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02 · ▶ on the show at 11:21

Convergence

By Avaren Studios, The Blue Horizon

Two studios, Avaren Studios and The Blue Horizon, teamed up on the first entry. In a future where AI has made energy abundant and food shortages rare, the world somehow keeps getting worse, and researcher Elias at the Meridian Institute starts to question what humanity's most advanced simulation model is really for. Both hosts praised the orchestral-sounding score, the sound design and the visuals, but neither was fully hooked by the premise in three minutes. Avaren joined the chat, said the full story is far more interesting than the trailer could show, and plans a long-form version.

“If this had been submitted to us on the regular show, straight ones, it was so good in every category.”Chris Branch · ▶ 18:38

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03 · ▶ on the show at 22:01

After the Stars

By Eliott Mogenet

Eliott Mogenet's hybrid trailer: dying astronaut Caleb North becomes patient zero for a technology that allows communication after death, and his estranged daughter Iris must make contact with his memories before they fade. It was shot on an ARRI Alexa Mini LF with actors and a professional crew on an LED volume stage in LA, with Seedance and Nano Banana in the pipeline according to Chris's notes. Chris loved the drum-led crescendo and the warm, upbeat tone, and said it shows why hybrid is the future. The vote was close, with 2s just ahead of 1s.

“When I see this, I'm like, hybrid is the future because real actors, even though Seedance 2.5 is amazing, are real actors.”Chris Branch · ▶ 26:28

Seedance 2.5Nano Banana

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04 · ▶ on the show at 29:22

After the Stars (behind the scenes)

By Eliott Mogenet

Eliott's behind-the-scenes film turned up in the producers' group chat mid-show, so we played it straight after the trailer. Six weeks before the deadline, Eliott, a tech founder for about ten years who started directing short films two years ago, sat down to write his first hybrid film, with nobody able to tell him which parts should be real and which should be AI. It covers building the world before a single frame existed, casting, two days on set with a real crew, and a post-production stage where half the film still didn't exist.

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05 · ▶ on the show at 35:52

Veil of Maya

By Adrian Daniel Botnariu (Beyondflix)

Berlin director Adrian Daniel Botnariu imagines a post-scarcity future where humanity is harmonised through a constant neural connection called Maya, and a reclusive emotion designer has to cure the resulting stagnation by letting back in the darkness the system was built to suppress. Chris loved the yellow strings of light, the marble textures, the smooth futuristic interiors and the tattooed characters, and called it Adrian's best piece yet. Andrew said it had the best opening of the day so far. Adrian joined the chat to point out it is an optimistic vision rather than a utopia.

“This is the first one where I was like, oh, I want to see what's going to really happen.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 43:47

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06 · ▶ on the show at 46:27

Voyager 7

By Karim Yourself

Karim's entry had passed half a million views on X before the show. Humanity ends scarcity, heals its planet, then sends machines built in its own image one way to the stars, until one of them finds something alive. A mother and daughter's night-time conversation carries the story while vast landscapes and strange alien life, including a little mushroom creature, fill the screen. Chris said the sound design gave him goosebumps, Henry Daubrez heard District 9 in the chanting, and Andrew said the soft voice over a burning world made it feel like a real trailer.

“This is the best piece I think you've ever done. The sound design gave me goosebumps.”Chris Branch · ▶ 50:25

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07 · ▶ on the show at 54:08

TOKAMAK

By Sonny Vadgama (Charming Computer)

Sonny Vadgama, who goes by Charming Computer, sets his entry in a coastal English town that cut itself off from the national grid. Mac, the human avatar of a fusion reactor, turns up offering free power forever, and first has to earn the villagers' trust. Chris loved the very British comedy pacing and the characters, while admitting the visuals sat below Karim's. Andrew could picture it as a trailer on British TV, and both wondered whether the humour would travel in a global competition. The vote split evenly between 1s and 2s.

“Maybe I'm biased because it's British and it feels like our type of pacing for comedy.”Chris Branch · ▶ 58:18

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08 · ▶ on the show at 1:00:41

The Human Kind

By Dale Williams (The Reel Robot)

Dale Williams imagines humanity evacuating a utopian Earth while Milo, the AI guiding its survival, learns the truth: the threat isn't an army but pollen sent from a thousand light years away to replace our life with theirs. Chris singled out the four-way split screen in the opening, the costume and mask design and the exploding-star visuals, and said it would get straight 1s on a normal week. The chat asked whether it was really utopian, and Chris admitted the premise wasn't his favourite, but the craft carried it.

“If we received this on the regular show, mate, we'd be like straight ones.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:05:53

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09 · ▶ on the show at 1:07:01

Reviver

By Aleksey, The Dor Brothers Studios

Made by Aleksey within the Dor Brothers studio, Reviver follows a single flame passing from human hands to the technologies we create, across the rise and collapse of civilisations: the future is something we choose to revive. There is barely a line of dialogue. It plays like a visual poem, and Chris put its style down to Aleksey's French cinematic influences. Andrew found it jaw-dropping but hard to follow, and admitted the Dor Brothers name is why he'd watch it again. The chat reached for Kubrick, Baraka and Samsara, and it was the most divisive vote of the day.

“This is the power of a name. And what I mean by that is if this wasn't them, the Dor Brothers, I probably wouldn't watch that again.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 1:11:04

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10 · ▶ on the show at 1:15:05

Slingshot

By Wonder Studios

From Wonder Studios, and Chris believes Hal, a BAFTA award-winning editor, former AI LIVE guest and Curious Refuge competition winner, led it alongside the team. An unstoppable mass is heading for Earth, and a man who has never committed to anything must make one commitment he can't walk back: ignite a black hole and slingshot the planet to safety, talked into it by a robot. Chris gave it a definite 1 for the editing and the build of the music. Andrew, reminded of Armageddon and Deep Impact, wasn't sure one emotional performance was AI at all.

“The voice didn't feel like AI voice. It felt like it was somebody actually speaking.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 1:21:03

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11 · ▶ on the show at 1:22:41

The Wind Before the Name

By Mark Wachholz

Mark Wachholz sets his trailer on a late 21st-century Earth healed by Bloom, an AI that speaks the languages of living systems, until something with no species, no history and no name emerges, and every attempt to heal it makes it stronger. Chris's summary notes were garbled, so we watched it cold, and he came out calling it the most original entry of the day, with no obvious references. Andrew felt it didn't read as a positive future, even if it ends happily. The audience gave it 12 1s and not a single 3.

“This doesn't feel inspired by anything reference-wise. It felt like a very unique idea and premise.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:28:16

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12 · ▶ on the show at 1:29:51

The Watcher

By BIGFILMS, Steven Liszka

From BIGFILMS, directed by Steven Liszka. An Indian astronomer releases images of what appears to be a man orbiting the sun, and a mission is voted through to bring him to Earth. It was made with Seedance 2.5, GPT Image 2 and Nano Banana Pro, then upscaled with Topaz Astra. Andrew said it was exactly his kind of film and felt like a superhero story, though it needs a villain as strong as the Watcher. The chat spotted a Cillian Murphy lookalike, and Chris called it a strong contender.

“Yeah, I'll definitely watch this. This is me.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 1:33:54

Seedance 2.5GPT Image 2Nano Banana ProTopaz Astra

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13 · ▶ on the show at 1:36:26

Somewhere Past Midnight

By Analog Mirage

The top-voted entry of the takeover. In a world much like ours, a new sleep mask lets anyone lucid dream on demand, and a boy who used to dream of flying meets a girl who travels from dream to dream, searching for the hidden island where dreams are born. The chat saw Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. Andrew saw a family franchise with characters to sell as merchandise, and Chris called it a great use of pure AI: trains on water and falls from the sky that would cost a fortune in CGI.

“My most interesting thought on this one was what a great use of AI.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:42:30

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14 · ▶ on the show at 1:45:01

Project Meridian

By Credo, Kevin Fox

A Credo production directed by Kevin Fox. A retired astronaut with nothing left to prove flies a one-man mission, backed by a visionary aerospace founder, to rescue his daughter stranded beyond the moon. It is a hybrid: a small crew shot real faces on real glass, and generative tools built the launch, the orbit and the hangar full of robots. Andrew liked the Taken-style hero's journey and the trailer craft. Chris felt the AI could have done more to lift it against the day's bangers, and almost everyone voted 2.

“It's a great piece, but it's up against real bangers here, so it's tough.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:51:29

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15 · ▶ on the show at 1:52:03

Faster Than Light

By Xanadu

Xanadu made this in roughly 25 days, loosely built on his own YouTube series, with last-minute help from two collaborators. Mars has just been certified as an official civilisation, and a teenager's faster-than-light experiment accidentally gives the stars Earth's address 30 years too early. Paul's notes say Xanadu is a CGI artist who doesn't normally use AI, and some of his CGI audience reacted badly to it. Chris liked the alien character designs, and Andrew saw it as a TV series for 10 to 14 year olds rather than a film.

“I think this will be more of a TV series than an actual film.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 1:58:29

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16 · ▶ on the show at 1:59:03

Nobody Dies on Mars

By Verena Puhm, James Stowe

The closer, from early AI LIVE guest Verena Puhm and James Stowe. The most sought-after chef on Earth loses his sense of taste in his first week on Mars, and the colony assigns him an alien companion he never asked for. Their friendship becomes the only thing holding the two species together. Chris loved the comedy, the characters and how different it felt from every other entry. Andrew wished it had stayed a straight comedy instead of turning dark halfway through. 1s carried the vote.

“I think they could have just turned this into a straight comedy with a little bit of drama.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 2:03:37

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17 · ▶ on the show at 2:04:41

Junkyard King, Episode 2 (trailer)

By Henry Daubrez

Not an XPRIZE entry: a short teaser Henry Daubrez sent over for the next day's creator session, where AI LIVE would host the world premiere of his new Junkyard King episode along with an exclusive behind the scenes. New friends, giant monsters, teamwork and questionable decisions. Chris said Henry made it with invideo, who sponsored the session. Henry had been in the chat all show, voting and spotting District 9 in Voyager 7's soundtrack, and the teaser answered Andrew's wish for some animation.