UK's £70m MyWorld Programme Champions Innovation Sandboxes for Responsible AI Filmmaking

MyWorld, a £70m six-year R&D programme funded by UKRI's Strength in Places Programme and focused on the West of England's creative economy, is advocating for structured "innovation sandboxes" that bring together studios, startups, and academic researchers to test AI filmmaking and audio tools in real production environments before market deployment. Writing for industry, MyWorld's Mark Leaver argues that the gap between how an AI concept works in principle and how it functions on set or in a post-production suite is significant — and that early-stage companies face high barriers in hardware, expertise, and studio access that sandboxed R&D partnerships can help bridge.

The programme points to concrete examples: a short film called Reno, produced with VFX company Lux Aeterna on a virtual production stage at MyWorld's facility The Sheds, which contributed to the development of an ethical AI toolkit; and Thol, an AI-driven sound design suite developed by Black Goblin in collaboration with BBC R&D. Leaver frames the sandbox model as having an important investment dimension too — companies that have tested their IP and established academic links present a clearer pathway to market, making them more attractive to investors.