It won’t be long before technology provides artists with new ways to create even richer, more immersive experiences than today’s without losing sight of the story.

In this August 2026 episode of the AMD podcast “Advanced Insights,” Mark Papermaster, chief technology officer and executive vice president at AMD, and Kimball Thurston, chief technology officer at Wētā FX, explore how AI, rendering, simulation and heterogeneous computing are reshaping visual effects and the future of storytelling. The team at Wētā FX helped bring creative worlds to life in “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” “Superman” and “Stranger Things.” 

Conversation topics include the extraordinary compute needed to create today’s massive digital worlds; why some of the most complex rendering still relies heavily on CPUs; how Wētā FX uses AI to help artists find assets, automate production tasks and simulate complex details; and why next-generation workflows will increasingly span CPUs, GPUs, local AI and the cloud.

More: View all episodes of “Advanced Insights” 

Follow: Mark Papermaster on LinkedIn

TopicsArtificial IntelligenceSoftware
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