The Do IT First, Worry Later Award

Filmmaker Jack Neo is a trailblazer, and trailblazers do not become who they are by listening to critics.

- John Lui

Artificial intelligence (AI) has many haters because critics see it as a way for the untalented to crank out slop. But for the local writer-director, where others saw junk, he saw opportunity.

That is why he gets this award: After a lengthy career as one of Singapore’s most flamed-on yet successful creators, he has not just become critic-proof, but also slop-proof.

Few were surprised when two of Neo’s major 2025 projects featured gobs of AI.

In his Chinese New Year film I Want To Be Boss, AI was instrumental in creating its nine songs. He wrote the lyrics, while AI generated the music and singing voices for all tracks except the final number.