Unlimited imagination: The epic interstitials of TED2025

The TED Theater during Session 2 of TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 8, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, featuring Jungle’s music video for “Let’s Go Back,” directed by Charlie Di Placido. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

The interstitials of TED2025: Humanity Reimagined helped answer the question: “What are humans for in the age of AI?” Showcasing the work of creatives from around the world, these shorts offered an uplifting and, at times, humorous response to anxieties around AI and the state of the world, highlighting how humans always find new ways to innovate, create and thrive.

The following shorts were curated for TED2025 by TED producer CC Hutten in collaboration with Flux Festival creative director Jonathan Wells.

OK Go — “Love”

Directed by Damian Kulash, Aaron Duffy, Miguel Espada

The TED audience got an exclusive first look at OK Go’s brilliant new video the day before its public release. The intricately choreographed “Love” was filmed in a single continuous take (number 39) inside a historic train station in Budapest, using 29 robotic arms and 60 mirrors.

“Submerged”

Created by Jason Zada based on TED2025 audience prompts

Jason Zada is an American filmmaker, creative technologist and creator of the viral “Elf Yourself” holiday season advertising campaign. In an inspired collaboration at TED2025, he took prompts from the audience to create this generative AI video. Featuring a sock with googly eyes, a beaver with a monocle and a steampunk futuristic world, this experiment shows that human creativity matched with AI can have wondrous results.

“Ready/Not Ready” — An AI experiment for TED2025 

Directed by Ari Kuschnir, founder of m ss ng p eces

Ari and m ss ng peces have been connected to TED since 2007, when they were first invited to film and share TED with the world. This year, Ari was commissioned  to create one of his AI short experiments, and he chose to explore the question: “What would happen if an alien came to Earth now (and gave a TED Talk along the way)?”

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Jungle — “Let’s Go Back”

Directed by Charlie Di Placido

The official video for Jungle’s “Let’s Go Back” features some very real and very talented human dancers performing electric choreography. 

“Tiny Pocket”

Performed by Elle Cordova and Toni Lindgren

Elle Cordova is an American singer-songwriter, lead of the folk rock band Reina del Cid and a former TED speaker. In this short, she sings about the mystery of the tiny pocket on blue jeans, a question many of us might have pondered before.

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“The Drill”

Created by the Dor Brothers

Berlin-based AI video production company the Dor Brothers created a playful AI-generated music video starring some familiar faces. In all their work, the Dor Brothers aim to push the boundaries of AI art using recognizable public figures. 

“Shackle” (excerpt)

Written and directed by Ainslie Henderson

A mesmerizing and intricate stop motion animation starring three adorable woodland sprites, this short film explores the very human reasons of why we create and who we create for.

WWF — “In Hot Water” (excerpt)

Directed by Yannis Konstantinidis, Agency/Production Co.: NOMINT

Music: “No Surprises” by Radiohead

NOMINT, an award-winning animation production company, delivers a stop motion film shot entirely on a thermal camera. Using Radiohead’s moving “No Surprises”, the short film highlights the urgency of our climate crisis.

Coldplay — “We Pray”

Various directors

Taken from A Film For The Future, the 44-minute visual companion to Coldplay’s tenth studio album Moon Music. In the creation of their visual film, Coldplay also showcased collaboration with AI by partnering with Microsoft to launch an AI-powered remix experience, allowing fans to interact with the film.

“Macro Pollock”

Animated and directed by Phil Evans

A short video showing artist Phil Evans’s unique works of art painted directly onto Super 8 film. Colorful, unique and a reminder of how many ways there are to create.

@superprocess

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