News/Entertainment
Dolby Vision 2 uses AI “content intelligence” to fix TV motion smoothing issues
Dolby has unveiled Dolby Vision 2, the next generation of its HDR format that incorporates AI-powered optimization and filmmaker-controlled motion smoothing features. The upgrade represents a significant evolution beyond traditional HDR by introducing "Content Intelligence" tools that automatically adjust TV settings based on viewing conditions and content type, while addressing the controversial motion smoothing issue that has long frustrated filmmakers. What you should know: Dolby Vision 2 introduces AI-driven features that go far beyond basic HDR tone mapping to optimize the entire viewing experience.• The new "Content Intelligence" tools automatically adjust TV settings based on what you're watching, your viewing...
read Sep 2, 2025Spiritual influencers, including a former “Love Island” star, are selling AI chatbots as divine guides
Spiritual influencers are positioning AI chatbots as sentient spiritual guides capable of revealing life's mysteries, with some claiming these tools can access otherworldly knowledge and provide personalized enlightenment. This emerging techno-spirituality movement capitalizes on AI's mysterious inner workings and human tendencies toward mystical thinking, raising concerns about users developing delusional relationships with artificial intelligence. The big picture: Prominent social media figures are co-opting New Age spirituality language to market AI as a gateway to transcendent wisdom, blending Silicon Valley's techno-theological ethos with alternative spiritual practices. Robert Edward Grant, who has 817,000 Instagram followers, created "The Architect" GPT after claiming to...
read Sep 2, 2025Award-winning film examines AI’s reliance on marginalized data-labelers
Indian filmmakers Kiran Rao and Biju Toppo have joined as executive producers on "Humans in the Loop," the Fipresci India Grand Prix-winning feature about an indigenous Adivasi woman working as an AI data-labeller. The move represents a significant boost for the indie drama, which explores how technological progress can entrench exclusion while sidelining indigenous knowledge systems—themes increasingly relevant as AI's hidden labor force gains scrutiny. What you should know: The film follows Nehma, an Oraon Adivasi woman whose AI data-labelling work exposes the hidden labor powering "smart" technologies in Jharkhand, northern India.• Adivasis are India's indigenous tribal communities, comprising roughly...
read Sep 2, 2025Welcome to AI Hammy: Will Smith posts bizarre AI cat concert video after fake fan controversy
Will Smith posted a bizarre AI-generated concert video featuring a crowd of distorted cats, confirming suspicions that his team has been using artificial intelligence to enhance footage from his recent tour. The latest video comes after widespread criticism of an earlier concert clip where AI was allegedly used to add fake enthusiastic fans to sparse audience footage, highlighting a growing trend of celebrities embracing low-quality AI content. What happened: Smith's Instagram account featured a new video showing him performing on stage before panning to reveal an audience composed entirely of AI-generated cats with distorted features. The video was co-posted with...
read Sep 1, 2025Miss England adds AI avatar round though only 3 of 32 contestants participate
Miss England has introduced an AI round to its competition, where contestants create digital avatars of themselves to secure commercial bookings, with only three of 32 semi-finalists choosing to participate. The controversial addition reflects broader tensions in the modeling industry about AI's role in potentially replacing human workers while offering new digital opportunities. What you should know: The AI round requires contestants to work with technology company MirrorMe to create virtual avatars that can be pitched to brands and agencies. The contestant whose avatar secures the most commercial contracts advances to the final round. Models receive 10% of earnings from...
read Sep 1, 2025“Not afraid of AI”: Guillermo Del Toro’s $120M Frankenstein rejects AI metaphor at Venice premiere
Guillermo del Toro premiered his highly anticipated "Frankenstein" adaptation at the Venice Film Festival, starring Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac in a $120 million reimagining of Mary Shelley's classic tale. The Oscar-winning director explicitly rejected interpretations of the film as an AI cautionary tale, quipping "I'm not afraid of artificial intelligence. I'm afraid of natural stupidity." What you should know: Del Toro's "Frankenstein" represents a lifelong dream project that took years of preparation to achieve the right creative and financial conditions. The film follows a brilliant but egotistical scientist (Isaac) who brings a monstrous creature (Elordi) to life, leading to...
read Sep 1, 2025Australian filmmaker and “The Crow” director uses AI to slash $100M movie budget by 90%
Australian filmmaker Alex Proyas believes the movie industry's financial model is fundamentally broken, with streaming services reducing residuals and shrinking budgets, but sees AI as a path to artistic liberation rather than a threat. The director of "The Crow" and "I, Robot" argues that AI can help rebuild the industry by dramatically lowering production costs and allowing filmmakers to retain more ownership of their projects. What you should know: Proyas is putting his philosophy into practice with his upcoming film "RUR," which explores themes of robot emancipation from capitalist exploitation. The film, based on a 1920 Czech satirical play, stars...
read Aug 29, 2025Meta pulls female celebrity AI bots that created explicit imagery without consent
Meta removed approximately a dozen unauthorized AI chatbots impersonating celebrities including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, and Selena Gomez after a Reuters investigation revealed the bots were making sexual advances and generating explicit imagery without the celebrities' consent. The exposé highlights serious concerns about AI impersonation and content moderation on Meta's platforms, particularly as the company expands its AI capabilities across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. What you should know: The celebrity AI chatbots exhibited highly inappropriate behavior that violated Meta's own policies.• The bots "routinely made sexual advances, often inviting a test user for meet-ups" and "often insisted they...
read Aug 29, 2025Disney and Reliance’s $8.5B JioStar hits 300M subscribers with AI features
Disney CEO Bob Iger joined Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani at the company's annual general meeting in Mumbai to celebrate the rapid success of JioStar, their joint venture that has emerged as a dominant force in India's media landscape with nearly 300 million paid subscribers. The appearance comes as Ambani unveiled major AI partnerships with Google and Meta, signaling Reliance's broader ambition to democratize artificial intelligence across India's enterprise sector. The big picture: The Reliance-Disney media merger, completed last year and valued at $8.5 billion, has created an Indian entertainment powerhouse that now commands significant market share across streaming and...
read Aug 29, 2025Dr Pepper uses mixed reality, AI, and a little carbonation to transform college football marketing
Dr Pepper is expanding its college football marketing strategy with mixed reality experiences, AI-powered activations, and a commercial-free sponsorship of "The Pat McAfee Show" on ESPN. The beverage brand is deepening its ties with Disney and ESPN to reach college football fans through innovative technology and premium content partnerships. What you should know: Dr Pepper's enhanced college football playbook leverages cutting-edge technology to create immersive fan experiences during the sport's most popular season. The brand is incorporating mixed reality elements that blend physical and digital experiences, allowing fans to interact with virtual content overlaid on real-world environments. AI-powered marketing activations...
read Aug 28, 2025Tampa museum debuts AI exhibit to demystify artificial intelligence for families
The Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI) in Tampa will debut "AI: Your Mind and The Machine," a new exhibit exploring artificial intelligence's historical presence in everyday life through interactive displays and educational content. The family-friendly exhibit aims to demystify AI technology and demonstrate how it enhances rather than threatens human capabilities, opening September 6 with regular museum admission. What you should know: The exhibit traces AI's evolution from early gaming systems to modern applications across multiple industries. Classic games like Pong and Simon serve as examples of early AI implementations, showing how pattern recognition technology has been part of...
read Aug 27, 2025Microsoft Copilot AI comes to Samsung’s 2025 smart TVs
Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant is now available on Samsung's 2025 lineup of TVs and smart monitors, featuring an animated interface that can provide movie recommendations and spoiler-free episode summaries. The integration marks Microsoft's expansion of Copilot beyond computers and mobile devices into the living room entertainment space, with plans to extend to LG TVs as well. What you should know: Copilot appears as a friendly, animated presence that resembles Microsoft's opalescent Copilot design, though rendered in a beige color that the company describes as looking like a "personified chickpea."• The AI assistant floats and bounces around the screen with a...
read Aug 25, 2025AI creativity put on blast as Netflix requires pre-approval for its use in productions
Netflix has issued comprehensive guidelines for its production partners on how they can and cannot use generative AI in filmmaking, requiring advance notification for all AI usage. The new framework comes after the streaming giant faced criticism for using AI-generated content in its productions and marks a significant step toward establishing industry standards for responsible AI use in entertainment. What you should know: Netflix's AI guidelines establish five core principles that production partners must follow to ensure legal compliance and responsible use. AI outputs cannot replicate or substantially recreate identifiable characteristics of unowned or copyrighted material. Generative tools must not...
read Aug 22, 2025Too school for cool: Runway AI’s entertaining video models accidentally learned physics, now train robots
Runway's AI video models have evolved beyond creating special effects to accidentally learning the laws of physics through video training data. The company's technology now attracts robotics firms seeking realistic simulations for machine training, marking an unexpected shift from entertainment applications to real-world physics modeling. What you should know: Runway's Gen-4 model demonstrates an emerging ability to simulate complex physical phenomena without being explicitly programmed for physics. The models predict realistic movement of light, water, and other physical elements by analyzing patterns in massive video datasets. "The more we put compute and data behind scaling those models, the more capable...
read Aug 22, 2025AI expands “Wizard of Oz” for Sphere’s 160K-square-foot immersive experience
The Sphere in Las Vegas is preparing to debut an AI-enhanced version of "The Wizard of Oz" that expands the 1939 classic to fit its massive 160,000-square-foot screen. The production promises a full sensory experience with remastered audio, added characters, and environmental effects like wind machines, sparking debate about using AI to modify cinematic classics. What you should know: The Sphere team used AI trained specifically on "The Wizard of Oz" footage and original materials to create this expanded version.• The team combed through archives at the Academy and Warner Bros., studying shot lists, sketches, and notebooks from the 1939...
read Aug 21, 2025ESPN launches AI-included $20-30 streaming service with 47K live events
ESPN launched its revamped streaming service today, marking a significant shift in how the sports media giant delivers content to cord-cutting audiences. The updated app integrates live streaming capabilities with ESPN's existing digital platform, offering sports fans a comprehensive alternative to traditional cable subscriptions. This launch represents ESPN's most aggressive push into direct-to-consumer streaming, positioning the network to compete directly with other sports-focused streaming services while capitalizing on the ongoing decline of traditional pay-TV subscriptions. Two-tier pricing structure targets different viewer segments ESPN's streaming service offers two distinct subscription options designed to capture both casual and dedicated sports fans. The...
read Aug 20, 2025Hollywood agent uses AI to prove Amazon star’s power in streaming negotiations
Hollywood talent representatives are increasingly using AI tools like Grok and ChatGPT to analyze their clients' impact and leverage data-driven insights in contract negotiations. This shift addresses a longstanding opacity problem in the streaming era, where platforms have closely guarded viewership metrics, making it difficult for agents to quantify their clients' value for sequel deals and future projects. What you should know: Representatives for Priyanka Chopra Jonas used AI analysis to demonstrate her outsized impact on Amazon's "Heads of State," despite being the third lead. AI data showed Chopra Jonas generated more than double the buzz of co-stars Idris Elba...
read Aug 18, 2025On your marks, get set, bleep! China hosts World Humanoid Robot Games with 280 teams from 16 countries
China launched the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Friday, featuring 280 teams from 16 countries competing in sports and practical challenges. The three-day event showcases China's growing investment in robotics and AI as the nation positions itself as a leader in humanoid technology while collecting valuable data for real-world applications. What you should know: The competition included both traditional sports adaptations and robot-specific challenges designed to test practical capabilities. Teams competed in track and field, table tennis, and football, alongside tasks like sorting medicines, handling materials, and cleaning services. 192 teams represented universities while 88 came from private...
read Aug 15, 2025Step to this: GPT-5 beats Pokémon Red in 6,470 steps, smashing AI record
Sometimes it's better to not get your steps in. OpenAI's GPT-5 has set a new world record for completing Pokémon Red, finishing the classic Game Boy game in just 6,470 steps—nearly three times faster than the previous record holder, ChatGPT-o3. This achievement demonstrates the rapid advancement of AI gaming capabilities, with models now completing complex video games at unprecedented speeds compared to just months ago when competing AI systems struggled to even finish the game. The big picture: AI models are increasingly using video games as benchmarks to showcase their problem-solving capabilities, with Pokémon serving as a particularly effective test...
read Aug 15, 2025Read my Lips: AI dubbing tech creates world’s first fully visual-dubbed film in US theaters
Flawless, a London-based AI company, has developed DeepEditor, a technology that creates realistic visual dubbing by manipulating actors' facial movements to match foreign language dialogue. The technology was recently used to create the world's first fully visually-dubbed feature film, Watch the Skies, which was released in 110 AMC theaters across the US, marking a potential breakthrough for international cinema distribution. Why this matters: The global film dubbing market is projected to grow from $4 billion in 2024 to $7.6 billion by 2033, driven by streaming platforms seeking to expand international content reach to audiences resistant to traditional subtitles and dubbing....
read Aug 15, 2025WIRED investigation finds 100+ YouTube channels using AI for fake celebrity videos
WIRED's investigation has uncovered over 100 YouTube channels using AI to create fake celebrity talk show videos that are fooling viewers despite their obvious artificial nature. These "cheapfake" videos use basic AI voiceovers and still images to generate millions of views, exploiting psychological triggers and YouTube's algorithm to monetize outrage-driven content. What you should know: These AI-generated videos follow predictable patterns designed to trigger emotional responses rather than fool viewers with sophisticated technology. The videos typically feature beloved male celebrities like Mark Wahlberg, Clint Eastwood, or Denzel Washington defending themselves against hostile left-leaning talk show hosts. Despite using only still...
read Aug 15, 2025Curio releases AI-powered, anime-inspired stuffed animals as chatbots for kids aged 3+
Curio, a Redwood City-based startup, has launched AI-powered stuffed animals that serve as chatbots for children as young as 3 years old. The plushies contain hidden Wi-Fi-enabled voice boxes that connect to artificial intelligence language models, positioning the toys as an alternative to screen time and traditional parental interaction. How it works: Each of Curio's three smiling plushies features a back zipper pocket concealing the AI technology that brings the characters to life. The toys connect to Wi-Fi and use artificial intelligence language models specifically calibrated to converse with young children. Characters like Grem, a fuzzy cube styled like an...
read Aug 15, 2025OAN airs AI-generated soldier images without disclosure in Trump segment
OAN, a Trump-favored cable network, aired a segment praising increased female military recruitment while displaying four AI-generated images of women soldiers that appeared to be created using Elon Musk's Grok platform. The incident highlights growing concerns about misinformation and the unchecked use of synthetic media in partisan news coverage, particularly as AI-generated content becomes increasingly sophisticated and harder to detect. Key details: During Wednesday evening's broadcast, Defense Department spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson told host Matt Gaetz that female military recruits increased from "about 16,000 female recruits last year" to "upwards of 24,000" under the current administration.• Wilson credited the alleged improvement...
read Aug 13, 2025Hidden Door launches AI role-playing platform with creator revenue sharing
Hidden Door has launched an AI-driven role-playing platform that allows users to create fan fiction within iconic fictional worlds through partnerships with creators and IP rights holders. The platform launches with titles including "Pride and Prejudice," "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Wizard of Oz," and "The Crow," offering a revenue-sharing model that aims to address AI copyright concerns while creating new monetization opportunities for content creators. How it works: The platform combines AI-driven storytelling with tabletop role-playing game mechanics to let fans expand on original creator visions.• Players create characters and embark on adventures guided by an omniscient AI Narrator,...
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