Everyone in the ad world is either tinkering with AI, or terrified of it. Angry Butterfly, a Toronto-based agency, is carving a path forward by harnessing AI tools to punch well above its weight.

In its “Bill It To Bezos” campaign, an AI-generated version of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos extols Amazon Prime Users to donate to the Jane/Finch Centre’s community Twitch page. A pre-AI campaign of this kind would have required serious cash, probably a six-figure contract, to render each of Bezos’s facial expressions.

“I actually don’t think an agency of our size would have been able to do the project 10 years ago,” says agency CSO Graham Candy.

That’s why, when generative AI swept into the public consciousness late last year, Angry Butterfly’s response wasn’t to ignore it. Instead, the shop harnessed it to help crank out creative in record time. For instance, when one of Angry Butterfly's art directors was recently preparing ideas for a Jays Care Foundation campaign, Candy says they didn't need to resort to stock art or spend hours labouring over a sketch.