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Jeffrey Katzenberg

Co-founder of WndrCo, Wndrco

Search every verified Jeffrey Katzenberg interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of WndrCo, has been publicly discussing the intersection of artificial intelligence and Hollywood creativity. In an October 2026 conversation with Google's James Manyika, Katzenberg described spending recent months studying generative video and argued that the "human touch" is an essential but often undervalued ingredient in creative work. He cited examples such as Eddie Murphy's improvised dialogue in Shrek to illustrate that AI cannot replicate spontaneous human creativity, and he expressed confidence that giving artists better tools would lead to a "Renaissance in storytelling." Katzenberg also referenced his earlier essay on this topic, which he said had been widely read. In a September 2026 podcast appearance, Katzenberg addressed his 2023 prediction that AI would reduce the labor needed for studio-quality animation by 90%, clarifying that he meant production time and resources rather than job losses, and acknowledged that this prediction had been "wildly wrong" because major studios still produce expensive films using current tools. He also discussed the growing fear and resistance to AI in Hollywood, attributing it partly to concerns about "credit, consent, and compensation," while arguing that collaboration between tech and creative communities could yield significant opportunities. Separately, in September 2026, Katzenberg appeared on CNBC to discuss WndrCo's investment supporting the founders of fitness company Hyrox in buying back control of their business, describing Hyrox as "participatory entertainment" that encourages social, active experiences.

Recent appearances

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“I spent a good amount of time in this last six or nine months trying to look at the world of generative video. I kind of across the globe and all of the amazing work that's getting done and while I was incredibly impressed and excited by it, I found an essential ingredient either not understood, not appreciated, not valued, or even dismissed, which is the human touch. What is the difference between creating and creat”

“I didn't say 90% of the jobs would be gone. I just said that you would be able to make an animated movie with 10% of the time with 10% of the resources. And that was wildly wrong. So why is it wrong? Why have these major animation companies like Disney and DreamWorks and Illumination, why are their movies so expensive still? Because they are crafting them with the best tools that are available to them today. And it i”

“The fear and resistance to AI has just grown greater and greater and some of it for good reason, which is around what I think is the single most fundamental piece of all of this, which is credit, consent, and compensation. So the gap between Northern California and Southern California is growing and getting greater at the very moment in time in which it should be doing exactly the opposite of that because together th”

“I think there'll be a reckoning in which those that are producing real results and are being deployed in effective and efficient ways will show outcomes; some of the bigger aspirations are not going to win, and not everybody is going to win at this.”

“There's $700 billion of capital investment being made in 24 months — an unimaginable number. It needs to produce a result; it needs an ROI, and I think that's what 2026 and 2027 are going to be revealing.”

“We're bringing back a new version of The Fugitive told in 14 chapters, each between six and ten minutes long, and we publish an episode every day so most people will come back each day for the next chapter; over the course of those 14 chapters it's a two-hour movie and you can binge it if you want.”

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →