Bernie Su’s ‘Whispers’ Showcases A New Kind Of AI-Informed Cinema

BusinessMediaBernie Su’s ‘Whispers’ Showcases A New Kind Of AI-Informed CinemaByDavid Bloom,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I’m an LA-based columnist & consultant focused on tech & entertainmentFollow AuthorMay 28, 2026, 04:05pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. (Image by David Bloom)Bernie Su, the first person to win an Emmy for his genre-busting new forms of video, is at it again, testing his latest project, Whispers, with an elite crowd of Southern California tech-entertainment leaders Wednesday night at one of the movie industry’s great redoubts, the Sony Pictures Entertainment lot in Los Angeles suburb Culver City. Su’s project with digital production company Pickford is one of two exploring how AI tools can create a unique interactive experience for audiences. Whispers follows Marcus Kent, a private investigator trying to solve crimes with help from “whispers,” AI prompts and clues submitted by cellphone-wielding audience members. Det. Marcus Kent's behavior in 'Whispers' is informed by the mobile-phone prompts of audience members, streaming alongside the main screen during the experience.(Image by David Bloom)The AI generating the experience incorporates the whispers from across the length of the performance, and creates a one-of-kind experience for that specific audience, the generated animation using cloned voices created (by permission) from a set of SAG-AFTRA actors.The Whispers experience unfurled down the street from AI on the Lot, the suddenly massive conference focused on using AI for filmmaking held partly at the sprawling home for sponsor Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Music. MORE FOR YOUSu joined digital production startup Pickford almost exactly a year ago, he said, to bring to fruition his ideas for a new kind of theatrical experience that was intensely interactive, using AI to cre...