Hear ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ composer on AI at Ghent’s WSA Film Music Days

Simon Franglen, composer of the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, told attendees at the World Soundtrack Awards industry panel in Ghent that hundreds of musicians recorded the score in a single room, each delivering live emotion that no AI model could copy.

The discussion took place October 8–10 at the 2026 WSA Film Music Days. Franglen and fellow panelists Darrell Alexander, Adiescar Chase and Martin Phipps also addressed entry-level jobs for emerging composers and the use of custom sound banks as alternatives to generative tools.

ECSA president Helienne Lindvall, who accepted the Industry Award during the event, urged the industry to secure authorization, remuneration and transparency clauses in the EU AI Act so that copyrighted music cannot be used without permission or payment.

Variety covered the panel, noting that the speakers framed collective advocacy as the best safeguard for live performance work and career pipelines that AI threatens to bypass.