Daniel Efergan

Daniel Efergan has left Aardman after 17 years to set up his own AI consultancy positioned to help other production companies figure out the technology. And he’s already signed his former employer as his first client. 

Efergan quietly started up his new company in Bristol eight weeks ago, he tells Kidscreen. (It’s called Efergan for now, but that’s likely to change soon.) In that time, he has helped Aardman craft a manifesto around AI’s use and set up its strategy of testing and experimenting with the technology first before deciding where its best applications are. 

Efergan joined the Wallace & Gromit studio back in 2007 as a creative director, but since 2020, he’s been working as Aardman’s executive creative director of interactive and innovation, focusing on keeping the company up to date with new tech. 

He transitioned into consulting partly because Aardman has been shifting its gaming strategy to a licensing model, giving him fewer chances to make original games, he says. But more importantly, as a “geek who wants to understand” new technologies, he saw an opportunity to help more companies navigate the inevitable sea change that is AI. 

The technology represents a shift that will be as dramatic for the industry as the launch of the internet was early in his career, Efergan says, and so far many companies aren’t taking the right approach to it. “[They’re] either doing nothing, or just taking all of the brakes off and saying, ‘Well, you go ahead and just do whatever you think is right,'” he says. 

Efergan plans to help them find a middle ground by providing insights into the technical, ethical and legal applications of AI, with a focus on clarifying how it can actually benefit a business.

He’s working with a few other clients besides Aardman (including some production companies), although he can’t name names until they’re ready to announce their AI initiatives to the wider industry. But the first step he’s been taking with all of them is to come up with a policy for engaging with AI in a safe way. From there, he helps companies start experimenting with the technology, before guiding them through R&D and implementation into their pipeline.  

Efergan predicts that in the next six to eight months, the legal ramifications of AI will be more clarified, which should increase people’s confidence in using the tech. He’s aiming to help companies get an early jump on it as this happens.

Efergan’s new operation joins just a handful of similar consultancies that have popped up in the last year as technology experts field greater demand from animation studios and production companies to figure out this budding technology. Nick Dorra, CEO of Haruworks in Finland, started his own such business in October and signed Dog Ears (Puffin Rock) and Finnish pubcaster YLE as first clients.  

These new middlemen between the buzzy technology and the kids production industry could play a key role in how AI is adopted in our sector. It’s starting to be used in myriad ways as more early adopters gain an understanding of what it can do. For example, TeamTO has put it to work on analyzing production schedules and managing server room temperatures, while VFX powerhouse Framestore uses it to automate the time-consuming rigging process, potentially saving humans days of manual work.

In the last year, there have also been some more all-in efforts—CJ ENM in South Korea is working on an animated series made entirely with AI. However, it remains to be seen how creative development driven by the tech will be received by buyers and audiences.

Efergan says that at its best, AI can help support artists in doing what they love, and that’s what he’s excited to help companies see. “I’ve always been the person trying to comprehend change and navigate people to it,” he says. “It’s the combination of core human abilities [like drawing] and support from these tools that help sketches and animated frames humans are creating turn into production-ready assets.”