Tom Box, Blue Zoo and AI

Tom Box and Blue Zoo's AI Manifesto

Blue Zoo - one of the UK's leading animation companies, and one of our key industry partners at Escape Studios - is tackling the challenge of AI head on.

In May 2026 Blue Zoo published their "AI Manifesto", exploring the ways in which AI could be used legitimately at Blue Zoo to enhance the production process, but preserving the integrity of human artistry.

We talked to Blue Zoo founder Tom Box last week to find out more about how Blue Zoo is using AI in an ethical, sustainable way.

Legitimate, Ethical Use

Blue Zoo's AI Manifesto

Blue Zoo is exploring "layers of use" with AI in their animation pipeline. This is an approach that essentially uses AI as an additive element (such as adding an AI generated explosion to an animated scene), rather than using AI to replace keyframe animation.  

What this means is that very little of the AI generated material makes it to the end of the production - what you see from Blue Zoo is still work created by human artists. 

AI Policy at Blue Zoo

Escape Studios' students visit Blue Zoo

One example of the legitimate use of AI at Blue Zoo is using AI to write animation tools.  At Blue Zoo the Head of Animation, who isn't himself a coder, wrote a useful script in Gemini to fix intersections (intersecting polygons).  

This new tool saves time for focusing on animation, rather than spending time fixing mistakes. So, on the Tech side, AI is definitely a huge addition in terms of writing tools.  But the character animation pipeline at Blue Zoo is still very much a traditional character animation pipeline.  

Is There an Audience for AI?

Blue Zoo at the Escape Studios VFX Festival

Tom explained that AI generated material has a growing audience.  Animators may not like it much, but the audience for AI is expanding, and AI generated material is getting millions of views on the web. 

AI Manifesto

Blue Zoo's "AI Manifesto" sets out how artists and animators at the studio can navigate the world of artificial intelligence ethically.  Blue Zoo advocates an inclusive approach to AI, giving animators "the freedom to decide whether or not to use AI".  

Animators and artists who "wish to use AI tools should and will be free to do so, as long as they recognise and abide by the policies outlined in this Manifesto".

What Blue Now Expects of Graduates

Blue Zoo now expects graduates to be able combine traditional tools with AI in order to solve problems and increase efficiency.  Graduates should be "proactive rather than reactive" when it comes to using AI to find solutions.  

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects.
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