Workshop: Behind Blockbuster Game Characters – From an AI Existential Crisis to Next-Gen Digital Humans

Tuesday 24 November 2026, 09:30 - 13:30

CoSTAR Screen Lab, Studio Ulster

What happens when you realise that the technology you have built your business around might become obsolete?

For Belfast-based HUMAIN, that question became very real. The company has spent years creating facial animation for video games including Call of Duty, Halo and Microsoft Flight Simulator. Then advances in AI-driven facial animation began to challenge the future of traditional facial rigging.

Rather than resist the change, HUMAIN decided to help shape what comes next. It has moved from providing production services to developing technology for creating and controlling the next generation of digital humans.

In this AI for Creativity workshop, hosted by CoSTAR Screen Lab at Studio Ulster, Greg Maguire and Robert Kosk will share that journey. Through behind-the-scenes stories, live facial scanning and technology demonstrations, you will see how production challenges have driven research, new methods, tools and training data, and how these capabilities reinforce one another.

The session also creates space to discuss a question every creative organisation now faces: how to use AI in ways that strengthen human creativity and respect the people whose work and likeness are involved.

SPEAKERS

• Greg Maguire, HUMAIN
• Robert Kosk, HUMAIN

_{This event is part of the CoSTAR AI for Creativity initiative.}