At the Short form film lab - Cinema Talent Incubator program of the 2026 Ho Chi Minh City Short Film Festival, director Khai Anh shared with young filmmakers about the story of building and exploiting IP (Intellectual Property) in the AI era.
IP is an abbreviation of Intellectual Property, meaning intellectual property or intellectual property. These are intangible products created by human intelligence, of economic value and protected by law to prevent illegal copying or use.
The most common types of IP include: Copyright, Trademarks, Patents, Trade Secrets...
According to director Khai Anh, the development of digital platforms is changing the way audiences access content. From television, DVD to Facebook, YouTube or TikTok, technology is constantly changing.
However, what can last long is still IP - is intellectual property, is imprint, is human creativity.
Technology can change, the way content is viewed can also change, but IP is still there. People who know IP will always have the opportunity to develop and commercialize their content" - Director Khai Anh said.
To illustrate this view, the director mentioned the movie "The Judge" which once created a big effect on the Vietnamese screen.
According to him, after many years of broadcasting, viewers may no longer remember the content of each episode of "The Judge", but still remember the character Phan Quan or the lines that have become the mark of the film. That is the value of a strong IP.
Khai Anh believes that many young creators today are still focusing on making a film or a separate product, while not paying much attention to the long-term development potential of the content.
A good IP can be expanded into TV series, movies, animated films, games or many other products. A strong enough IP can create value for many years, even become a long-term asset of the creator," he said.
According to the director, in the context of AI being increasingly widely applied, content creators should not see technology as a competitor.
AI can support the development of ideas or shorten production time, but cannot replace creative thinking and personal identity.
Therefore, young people need to think about the possibility of developing IP into many different types of content and products instead of just focusing on making a film or a single product.
The male director said that he has learned quite a lot about the Chinese micro drama market recently. "When a successful formula appears, AI can create dozens of similar versions just by changing characters or a few details in the story. This makes the market quickly saturated," he said.
According to director Khai Anh, many products today are created with the goal of maximizing views and revenue in a short time.
However, this approach is difficult to create sustainable values. "You can make money quickly, but long-term value will no longer exist," he assessed.
