Chad Hurley pitches viewer-shaped AI stories in PBS interview on EyeTell

Viewers can suggest what happens next in EyeTell’s AI-generated stories, rather than simply watch them. In an October 8, 2026 PBS NewsHour interview, founder and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley described that participatory ambition alongside a harder task: addressing concerns about jobs, permission and compensation as AI takes on more of the production process.

A period drama without a production crew

EyeTell combines multiple AI video-production tools in software intended to help nonprofessionals make videos. Hurley told correspondent Mike Cerre that he wanted to give structure to people who have ideas but do not know how to turn them into finished work.

PBS showed a period-drama episode produced by Gillian, an EyeTell writer with film-production experience. She made it alone in a week, using basic computer skills and a shared office. The episode used no real actors, locations, sets or horses. That example involved an experienced screenwriter, not someone starting without a filmmaking background.

Another demonstration used Cerre’s supplied voice and a single photo to animate his interview. EyeTell chief storyteller Andrew Gordon said the system could also generate the question itself. Asked whether it could replace Cerre as storyteller, Gordon said it could, but acknowledged an “artificial feel” that required further work.

Audience requests reach the story

Hurley launched EyeTell TV on YouTube in September, the month before the interview aired. PBS described story changes that can be generated nearly in real time. The requests shown were playful: a mailman delivering a pizza, a panda eating food or a duck flying into a store.

Cerre asked how EyeTell would keep violent or distasteful requests off screen. Hurley said the underlying AI models provide the first defense. EyeTell is also building its own safeguards to identify and restrict requests before their results appear, he said.

Creation does not settle compensation

On permission and compensation, Hurley argued that AI can make original content sources easier to identify and pay. He drew a comparison with YouTube’s Content ID system, describing an approach that lets rights holders monetize uses rather than only remove or restrict them. He presented that as a model for addressing rights concerns, not a detailed EyeTell payment arrangement.

For Gillian, the uncertainty was more immediate: she did not know who would see or pay for her period-drama episodes. Still, she saw room for AI production alongside traditional filmmaking, arguing that it could give original ideas a route to the screen beyond the limited set of voices the industry already hears.