Here’s what’s on our plate today:

• 🎬 AI is quietly transforming filmmaking—and igniting new copyright battles.

• 🎧 YouTube’s AI DJs, Apple’s ChatGPT clone, and supersized data centers.

• 🔍 Use connected paper and LLMs to turn PDFs into live research canvases.

• 📊 Should studios be allowed to use AI-generated extras without consent?

Let’s dive in. No floaties needed…

The Laboratory

AI in Hollywood: “The good, the bad, and the uncertain”

Since prehistoric times, humans have relied on storytelling to convey survival lessons, share narratives, build shared identities, and simulate scenarios to plan collective action. The earliest form of storytelling relied on oral narrations and cave paintings. Naturally, as technology evolved, the art of storytelling evolved with it. However, now with the advent of generative artificial intelligence, for the first time in human history, technology is impacting not just how a story is told, but also who tells it.

One of the key pillars of storytelling in the modern world is filmmaking, and this form is witnessing tectonic shifts. Film studios that once relied on technology to connect with their audience are now using generative AI to redefine the process itself. The shift, while good for productivity, could also threaten the very foundations of the stage that enables writers, performers, and countless others who bring a story to life on the big screen.

Hollywood’s quiet AI trails

According to a Business Insider article, studios and production houses are quietly experimenting with AI in script development, editing, visual effects, sound, and licensing. AI is also being used for more accepted tasks like enhancing special effects, dubbing, or shot optimization. However, studios are shying away from its use in core creative roles like writing or directing. And even when AI is deployed in these areas, its involvement is kept under wraps due to fear of backlash from artists who believe AI will erode creative identity.

Beyond the more broadly accepted uses, studios have, in the past, used AI far more discreetly and for much more controversial things.

In 2023, Variety published an article that said prominent studios were creating likenesses of background actors using AI. This, it said, was being done by studios to have a repository of footage that could be used in future projects. This would allow studios to sidestep the process of hiring extras and avoid paying for them.

At the time, studios denied the allegations. However, instances where Hollywood A-listers’ voices appeared to have been copied without consent by OpenAI have kept fears of humans being replaced by AI alive.

Despite backlash, studios continue to work on inculcating AI tools in filmmaking due to the many advantages the technology promises.

Why Hollywood can’t resist AI

According to Morgan Stanley, genAI is estimated to reduce costs by 10% across the media industry, and as much as 30% in TV and film. These reductions are expected to materialize as studios adopt genAI for character design, syncing lips to recorded video, adding sound effects, and dubbing the final film into a variety of languages. And Hollywood studios are scrambling to capitalize on these savings.

In July, Netflix publicly announced that it was using AI in movies and shows that it produces. Earlier, the online streaming platform had been using AI for personalization, search, and ads. However, not every studio is vocal about its use of genAI tools.

According to Business Insider’s report, one producer told BI that they used AI to generate a story ‘treatment’ (a narrative overview) to save weeks of work, but insisted on secrecy because disclosure could damage relationships or reputation.

While AI promises gains by reducing costs, studios have faced backlash when it is used to replace humans.

The strike that changed the script

In October 2023, a long strike of Hollywood writers ended only after studios agreed to set up guardrails around the use of AI. To end the strike, studios agreed that they would not replace writers with AI tools and would allow scriptwriters to decide where and how they wanted to use the tools.

At the time, the Guardian reported that studios agreed not to use AI to write or edit scripts, or to treat AI-generated material as source content that writers could be forced to adapt for less pay and credit.

The agreement was hailed as a model for workers in other areas of filmmaking and industries to emulate when it came to tackling AI. Experts also warned that the deal could offer a likely preview of labor battles to come in other industries.

However, while big studios are hesitant to admit the use of AI, many have taken the approach of openly integrating AI into the creative process.

The rise of AI-first studios

Primordial Soup is a studio working in collaboration with Google’s DeepMind. It has taken the approach of storytelling through AI integration. Its inaugural project, ANCESTRA, a short film blending live-action with AI-generated visuals, premiered at the Tribeca Festival in June 2025.

Another studio that has partnered with an AI company to streamline its editing process is Lionsgate. It has partnered with Runway to develop custom AI models to assist filmmakers in pre-production and post-production processes. Other notable names that have an AI-first approach to filmmaking include Staircase Studios AI, Luma, and Moonvalley.

However, such collaborations are still in their early stages. And copyright violations arising from genAI models utilizing existing data to train their models are still an unresolved issue.

The copyright wars

In filmmaking, issues like copyright infringement and job displacement are significant considerations. Disney, along with Universal, has had to resort to legal remedies to secure credits for their earlier works. Both studios have filed lawsuits against AI firm Midjourney for allegedly creating unauthorized replicas of their copyrighted characters.

The use of AI-generated content on platforms like YouTube has also sparked debates over property rights and the quality of AI-produced material.

In March, The Verge reported that movie studios were rewarding AI-generated content despite opposition from actors. The report said Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Sony Pictures were redirecting ad revenue from AI-generated content to themselves rather than reporting it as copyright violations.

Fan-made trailers aren’t new, but tools like OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo make generating video so easy that platforms built on user content risk being flooded. This has already led to a wave of low-quality ‘AI-generated slop’ designed only to grab attention.

For studios, AI makes sense from a business perspective; however, for the humans involved in the process, unchecked use of AI risks overwhelming audiences and sidelining artists who have spent decades perfecting their craft.

Who will be the next storyteller?

The art of storytelling has evolved over a millennium, and every time a new technology emerged, storytellers utilized it to narrate and showcase stories that shape human consciousness. Without storytelling, human civilizations would lose not just a means to entertain, but also to transmit information that would otherwise be too difficult to transmit from one generation to the next.

If studios rely too much on AI to tell stories and drive up revenue, they may inadvertently end up alienating the ones who pursue filmmaking, scriptwriting, editing, and many other professions that make Hollywood possible. On the other hand, completely ignoring generative AI would also be foolish. Its benefits are far too many for it to be completely shut out of filmmaking. The answer then may lie not in a binary decision, but rather in a nuanced approach that could lead to alternatives that we may not be able to see yet.

In the end, the story of AI is not like the ones portrayed on the big screen. The story has just begun; where it goes from here will depend on the characters, which in this case are big Hollywood studios, along with the many passionate individuals, and finally, the viewers.

Quick Bits, No Fluff

• YouTube’s AI DJs: YouTube is testing an AI-powered ‘radio host’ that adds commentary between songs—starting with the U.S. and Australia.

• Apple builds ChatGPT-like app: Apple is quietly developing an internal chatbot app to test a revamped version of Siri powered by generative AI.

• Behind the $100B data center boom: AI is driving explosive demand for compute—but building massive data centers comes with hidden costs and timelines.

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