News/Content Creation
How GenAI could reshape Hollywood by slashing costs and redefining quality
Generative AI stands poised to fundamentally restructure Hollywood's economics and production models, potentially reducing film budgets by up to 90% while reshaping how audiences define "quality" entertainment. This technological shift threatens traditional studios already struggling with streaming economics, while simultaneously opening doors for small creative teams to produce sophisticated content at a fraction of current costs. The resulting transformation could fragment the entertainment landscape into personalized "microcultures" where human creativity remains essential but is dramatically amplified by AI production tools. The big picture: Generative AI technologies are set to deliver unprecedented cost efficiency to film and TV production, potentially disrupting...
read May 19, 2025NBC adopts AI-generated voice for NBA broadcasts
NBC's decision to resurrect the voice of deceased sportscaster Jim Fagan using AI for its upcoming NBA coverage marks a significant advancement in synthetic media use in mainstream broadcasting. By digitally recreating the voice of a beloved narrator who died in 2017, NBC is blending nostalgia with cutting-edge technology to enhance its basketball programming. This development highlights the growing trend of posthumous digital recreations in entertainment and raises important questions about the future relationship between AI-generated content and traditional media production. The big picture: NBC will use an AI-generated version of Jim Fagan's voice across selected NBA content beginning October...
read May 16, 2025Wix unveils AI-powered “Wixel” for visual design no beginner can hold a candle to
Wix introduces Wixel, a new AI-powered visual design platform that aims to democratize professional-grade design tools for users of all skill levels. This launch represents a significant push to make sophisticated design capabilities accessible through artificial intelligence, potentially disrupting the traditional design software market by removing technical barriers that have historically limited non-designers from creating high-quality visuals for business and personal use. The big picture: Wix has released Wixel, a standalone AI-powered design platform that enables users to perform comprehensive visual design tasks regardless of their creative expertise. The platform combines advanced AI models with an intuitive interface to streamline...
read May 16, 2025Evernote adds AI-powered transcription for audio, video, and images
Evernote's new AI Transcribe feature represents a significant value addition to the note-taking platform following its difficult transition under Bending Spoons ownership. The multimodal transcription tool, which quickly and accurately converts audio, video, and image files to text, marks a notable technological advancement for the service that has recently faced criticism for staff reductions and price increases. The big picture: Evernote has launched a powerful AI-based transcription tool that works across multiple media formats with impressive speed and accuracy. The feature is available both within the main Evernote application and as a standalone web tool for easy access. Users can...
read May 14, 2025TikTok’s new AI photo tool turns normie cats into hydra-headed felines
TikTok's new AI Alive feature transforms still photos into animated videos, but the results often veer into unsettling territory rather than enhancing images as intended. The feature, part of the broader integration of AI into everyday apps, produces bizarre distortions that highlight the current limitations of generative AI technology when applied to common personal content like pet photos. The big picture: TikTok has joined the AI race with its new AI Alive feature, which transforms static images into short video clips based on user prompts. The tool represents another step in the widespread integration of AI features across popular social...
read May 14, 2025AI tools gain acceptance for editing, but face resistance in content creation
A new Nature survey reveals deep divisions among researchers about appropriate AI use in scientific writing, highlighting a growing tension between technological adoption and academic integrity. The findings come at a pivotal moment as artificial intelligence increasingly permeates academic processes, forcing the scientific community to grapple with ethical boundaries around authorship, accountability, and the fundamental nature of scholarly communication. The big picture: Nature surveyed over 5,000 researchers globally to gauge attitudes toward AI in scientific writing, revealing widespread acceptance of AI for editing but significant resistance to deeper involvement in content creation. The comprehensive survey included 5,229 researchers across various...
read May 14, 2025A $67.5B market emerges for licensing creative work to train AI
A new market is emerging around AI content licensing as startups develop platforms to help creators monetize their work for AI training. Investors have poured $215 million into companies building tools that enable writers, publishers, music studios, and filmmakers to license their content to AI developers like OpenAI and Meta. This trend comes amid growing legal and regulatory scrutiny over AI companies' use of copyrighted material, highlighting the tension between rapid AI advancement and fair compensation for creative works. The big picture: Startups are creating marketplaces where creative industries can sell their content for AI training purposes, addressing both copyright...
read May 12, 2025SoundCloud faces backlash over announcement-less AI terms in user agreement
SoundCloud's quiet addition of an AI training clause to its terms of service has sparked user concern, becoming the latest in a series of controversies where tech companies claim broad rights to use creative content for AI development. This incident highlights the growing tension between digital platforms' AI ambitions and creators' rights to control how their work is used, especially as companies increasingly look to leverage user-generated content for advancing their AI capabilities. The big picture: SoundCloud has joined a growing list of tech companies facing backlash after adding ambiguous AI training provisions to their terms of service without clear...
read May 7, 2025Marketing strategist Mark Ritson pushes for broad reach over personalization in ad strategy
Marketing strategist Mark Ritson challenges the industry's obsession with personalization and AI-generated ads, advocating instead for fundamental marketing principles that emphasize broad targeting and creative effectiveness. His contrarian views come from decades of academic experience at prestigious institutions like London Business School and MIT Sloan, where he observed a widening gap between marketing education and practical application—a disconnect he now addresses through his Mini MBA in Marketing program. Ritson's perspective offers a refreshing counterpoint to digital marketing's current fixations on technology over fundamentals. The big picture: Ritson believes marketers have become fixated on digital tactics at the expense of proven...
read May 5, 2025AI video creation in seconds: Here’s what Kling AI offers
Kling AI is emerging as a standout competitor in the video generation space, offering versatile tools for creating and modifying video content through AI. With its latest Kling 2.0 Master model, the platform combines text-to-video generation, image animation capabilities, and advanced editing features that enable users to transform still images into fluid videos. Understanding how to navigate and utilize Kling's various functions can help content creators leverage AI video generation for everything from professional projects to creative meme animations. How to Use Kling AI for Video Creation and Editing 1. Text to Video Generation This entry-level feature allows users to...
read May 5, 2025Kraft Heinz leverages AI to transform creative condiment content
Kraft Heinz has transformed its creative content production by implementing an AI-powered system that dramatically accelerates design processes while maintaining brand integrity. TasteMaker, the company's custom-built retrieval-augmented generation engine, enables the food giant to produce personalized marketing materials in hours rather than weeks, representing a fundamental shift in how consumer packaged goods companies can approach creative development and brand management at scale. The big picture: Kraft Heinz developed TasteMaker, a proprietary AI engine built on Google's Vertex AI, to address growing demands for personalized content across its portfolio of over 100 global brands. The system was created in partnership with...
read May 4, 2025How parents are using ChatGPT to reimagine their kids’ drawings
ChatGPT's latest image generation capabilities are transforming family entertainment by bringing children's artwork to life. Parents can now upload their kids' drawings to ChatGPT-4o and watch as the AI transforms simple sketches into realistic renderings, creating a new way for children to see their creativity reflected back to them. This creative application demonstrates how consumer AI tools are finding meaningful uses beyond productivity, fostering family connection and artistic exploration. How to transform children's artwork with ChatGPT's image generator: Capture the original artwork Take a simple photo of your child's drawing using your smartphone—no special lighting or editing needed. If using...
read May 2, 2025Marketers turn to AI for real-world solutions, not just future speculation
Marketers at the Possible conference are shifting their focus from AI's theoretical future to its practical applications in today's fragmented digital landscape. With Google continuing to permit third-party cookies while other browsers have eliminated them, advertisers are increasingly looking to AI for solutions to audience mapping, fraud detection, and content optimization challenges. This represents a significant evolution in how the marketing industry views AI technology—less as a shiny new object and more as a utility tool to solve immediate business problems. The big picture: AI discussions at Possible centered on solving real-world marketing challenges rather than theoretical applications, marking a...
read May 1, 2025AI is disrupting creative labor, not just copyright
The copyright landscape for generative AI diverges dramatically from previous technological disruptions, presenting unique challenges that extend beyond traditional legal frameworks. Unlike past innovations that primarily reproduced existing content, generative AI fundamentally transforms the creative process itself by enabling entirely new content creation at dramatically lower costs. This shift represents not merely a conflict between tech companies and content owners, but a profound workplace transformation that pits content companies against their own creators and workers. The big picture: Copyright law appears inadequate to address the unprecedented challenges posed by generative AI, which fundamentally changes how creative content is produced rather...
read May 1, 2025Bringing history to life for a new generation in the Scottish Borders
A young Scottish man's AI-enhanced historical videos have become a cherished community resource, bringing the past to life through animated vintage photographs. Marketing officer Marc Edwards initially created the videos to impress his grandparents, but his work has since evolved into an educational tool used in local classrooms and a source of nostalgia for elderly residents throughout Scotland's Borders region. This creative application of AI technology demonstrates how emerging tools can transform static historical archives into dynamic experiences that bridge generational gaps and enhance historical understanding. The big picture: Edwards' AI videos transform static historical photographs of Scottish towns into...
read May 1, 2025HitPaw offers 60% discount in Mother’s Day promotion
HitPaw's Mother's Day sales campaign offers substantial discounts on its AI creative tools, potentially helping users create personalized gifts while saving money. The limited-time promotion combines significant price reductions with a social media giveaway, creating multiple incentives for consumers to engage with the brand during this seasonal shopping period. The big picture: HitPaw is running a Mother's Day promotion from April 29 to May 16, 2025, offering up to 60% discounts on its AI-powered creative software suite and a chance to win prizes through a social media giveaway. Key details: The promotion includes discounts on HitPaw's entire product line, which...
read May 1, 2025Pinterest adds AI features to highlight authentic content
Pinterest is taking a significant step to address the growing presence of AI-generated content on its platform by implementing new labeling and filtering features. This move responds to user dissatisfaction with the blending of AI and human-created content on a platform traditionally valued for authentic, human-sourced inspiration. The new transparency measures aim to preserve Pinterest's core function as a trusted source of creative ideas while acknowledging AI's expanding role in visual content creation. The big picture: Pinterest is rolling out an "AI Modified" label globally to identify images that have been generated or modified using artificial intelligence. The label will...
read Apr 28, 2025AI presentation voiceovers: Free tool enhances boring ol’ slide decks
AI Presentation Narrator represents a new tool for quickly transforming static slide decks into professional-sounding videos with AI-generated voiceovers. This advancement could significantly impact how professionals and educators create and share presentation content, potentially saving hours of recording time while maintaining a polished delivery that traditionally required voice talent or extensive personal recording sessions. The big picture: AI Presentation Narrator enables users to convert PowerPoint or other slide deck formats into fully narrated video presentations without manual recording. How it works: The tool processes uploaded slide presentations and automatically generates natural-sounding voiceovers based on the text content within each slide....
read Apr 27, 2025Netflix AI upscaling of ‘A Different World’ sparks controversy
Netflix's addition of "A Different World" has spotlighted the darker side of AI upscaling technology, as viewers encounter distorted faces, illegible text, and bizarrely misshapen elements in what should be a nostalgic viewing experience. This case highlights the growing tension between streaming platforms' rush to modernize classic content and the technical limitations of current AI upscaling techniques, raising important questions about quality control and viewer experience in the streaming era. The big picture: Netflix's version of the 1980s sitcom "A Different World" is suffering from apparent AI upscaling issues that dramatically degrade the viewing experience. Viewers have reported nightmarish distortions...
read Apr 26, 2025How diffusion LLMs could reshape how AI writes
Diffusion LLMs represent a potential paradigm shift in generative AI, challenging the dominant autoregressive approach that builds text word-by-word. This emerging technology borrows from the noise-reduction techniques that have proven successful in image generation, potentially offering faster, more coherent text creation while presenting new challenges in interpretability and determinism. Understanding this alternative approach is critical as AI researchers explore more efficient and creative methods for generating human-like text. The big picture: A new method called diffusion LLMs (dLLMs) is gaining attention as an alternative to conventional autoregressive large language models, potentially offering distinct advantages in text generation. How conventional LLMs...
read Apr 26, 2025Selling your face to AI could cost more than you think
Actors are increasingly feeling the consequences of selling their likenesses for AI-generated videos, as companies use these digital replicas in ways that can damage reputations or promote questionable content. This emerging trend highlights the tensions between quick cash opportunities for struggling performers and the long-term implications of losing control over how their image appears across digital media. The big picture: Actor complaints about misused AI likenesses reveal a growing problem as the technology becomes more sophisticated and financially lucrative for companies. Adam Coy, a 29-year-old New York actor, licensed his face and voice to MCM for just $1,000, only to...
read Apr 26, 2025AI-powered logomaker built in 10 days challenges traditional design
The rise of "vibe coding" demonstrates how large language models have transformed software development, allowing even beginners to create functional applications with minimal coding knowledge. An experienced developer's experiment with building a logo design tool entirely through AI-generated code reveals both the impressive capabilities and limitations of current LLMs when tasked with creating complete applications without human intervention. The big picture: Developer Johnny Dunn built "Logomaker," a functional logo design application, by exclusively using AI-generated code from tools like GPT-4o, Gemini Pro 2.5, Claude 3.7, and GitHub Copilot, without writing or editing any code himself. The experiment, completed in just...
read Apr 26, 2025AI-generated dolls spark backlash from traditional art community
The traditional art world is mounting a resistance against the latest AI trend that transforms personal photos into stylized doll images. As human artists struggle to compete with AI-generated content flooding social media feeds, tensions are rising between handmade craftsmanship and algorithmic imitation, sparking a broader conversation about creative labor, intellectual property, and the authentic value of art in an increasingly AI-saturated landscape. The big picture: Artists who create handmade custom figures and illustrations are pushing back against AI-generated "starter pack" doll images that have gone viral across social media platforms. The trend, which began in April 2024, has prompted...
read Apr 25, 2025AI browser Strawberry claims to save users 18 hours weekly
Strawberry emerges as a new AI-powered browser designed to integrate artificial intelligence directly into everyday web navigation. Currently in pre-beta with free options available, this tool distinguishes itself by streamlining research, writing, note-taking, and automation tasks without requiring users to switch between multiple applications. Its high user rating suggests early adopters are finding significant value in having AI capabilities embedded directly into their browsing experience. The big picture: Strawberry combines browser functionality with AI features to enhance productivity across multiple digital workflows. The browser promises to dramatically reduce research time by analyzing hundreds of websites within seconds. Unlike standalone AI...
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