Ben Vu launches No AI Day for human-made creative work

Coraline animator and Battle Bears creator Ben Vu is launching No AI Day on Oct. 9 as a global call to celebrate art, games, music and writing made without generative AI. The observance lands as AI tools spread deeper into filmmaking and creative production, sharpening debate over what human-made work is worth.

Why it matters: - No AI Day is meant to spotlight human creativity at a moment when generative AI is moving quickly into film, games and other creative fields. - The observance aims to give artists and audiences a yearly moment to value craftsmanship, process and the human story behind creative work. - The launch comes as industry debates intensify over whether AI expands creativity or dilutes the value of original human work.

What happened: - Ben Vu, the Coraline animator and creator of Battle Bears, is launching No AI Day on Oct. 9. - The annual observance invites people worldwide to celebrate work made without generative AI. - Artists, filmmakers, musicians, writers, game developers and students are encouraged to share new or existing work without generative AI and tag it #NoAIday. - The initiative was founded in July 2025.

The details: - Participation is free and open to anyone who wants to draw, paint, write, photograph, film, animate, make music, build a game, craft or perform. - Vu says the goal is to celebrate imagination, practice, experimentation, mistakes and craftsmanship behind traditional human-created works. - Vu holds an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and worked at LAIKA during the early production of Coraline. - Vu later founded SkyVu Entertainment and created Battle Bears, a game franchise with more than 40 million downloads worldwide. - Vu recently returned to Ball State University as its Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Visiting Expert in Residence for Media. - At Ball State, Vu developed and taught “To AI or Not AI,” a course comparing traditional production methods with generative-AI workflows and examining the strengths, limitations and implications of both approaches. - SkyVu Entertainment is preparing the return of Battle Bears Gold, with the revival being created by its human team without generative-AI-created content. - Vu urged participation as a one-day practice in craft, not a rejection of AI in general.

Between the lines: - The launch taps into a broader creative-sector backlash to generative AI, especially around questions of authorship, originality and labor. - Vu is positioning No AI Day as a pro-humanity observance rather than an anti-technology campaign. - The timing on Oct. 9 aligns with broader cultural flashpoints, including Pan’s Labyrinth returning to theaters that day after Guillermo del Toro rejected generative AI for its 3D conversion. - Sean Ono Lennon recently joined the debate on X, calling AI “a Faustian bargain,” adding to the public pressure around the issue. - News this week about an AI-generated film seeking an Academy Award and Google’s expansion into AI-powered game creation with Playground underscores how fast generative tools are moving into mainstream creative production.

What's next: - No AI Day will return every Oct. 9 as an annual observance. - Participants are expected to keep sharing human-made work with the #NoAIday tag. - Vu is continuing to build Battle Bears Gold with a human-only creative team, which will likely serve as a live example of the day’s message. - The broader debate over AI in creative work is likely to keep growing as more studios, artists and developers adopt the tools or push back against them.

The bottom line: - No AI Day is a simple public push for people to pause, make something by hand and recognize the value of work that comes from human choices, mistakes and experience.