Jlassi’s victory was announced at the Dubai summit, presented by Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid AI Maktoum and organized with Google Gemini.

Organizers frame the award as signaling a future where human creativity and AI collaborate in cinema, enabling global competition regardless of geography.

Lily’s themes explore innocence, memory, human connection, loneliness, and the evolving line between artificial and human.

Ethical and authenticity considerations accompany AI in filmmaking, with the Summit seen as setting standards for responsible AI use.

The winning workflow relied on a layered toolset—Flow for character empathy and scene style, Gemini for storyboard and look development—indicating future AI filmmaking will depend on interconnected tools.

Sheikha Latifa underscored the UAE’s commitment to supporting creatives and innovation, praising Jlassi’s work for Africa’s cinema on the world stage.

Veo helped Lily maintain a consistent, high-quality, gloomy aesthetic and ensured temporal consistency, addressing a central challenge in narrative generative video.

Lily marks a milestone in AI-driven filmmaking, positioning AI as a creative partner rather than merely a tool for editing or effects.

At the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai early this year, more than 15,000 attendees gathered across multiple venues under the theme Content for Good, highlighting the convergence of creators, influencers, and industry experts.

The competition drew 3,500 submissions, underscoring rapid adoption of AI video tools by global creators while underscoring that narrative mastery remains essential alongside technical prowess with models like Veo.

Tunisian filmmaker Zoubeir Jlassi won the inaugural Google AI Film Award for Lily, receiving a $1 million prize at the summit, signaling AI-generated video as viable in high-end production.

The Global AI Film Award recognized Jlassi's Lily as a standout project, highlighting significant use of Google's Veo AI video model.