philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

If anyone can make a movie now, what does Hollywood still stand for?

PhilNote: Yves gets extensive screen time in this story!

... Yves Bergquist leads the AI in Media Project at USC’s Entertainment Technology Center, a studio-backed think tank where Hollywood, academia and tech converge. An AI researcher focused on storytelling and cognition, he has spent years helping studios brace for a shift he sees as both inevitable and wrenching. Now, he says, the groundwork is finally being laid.

“We’re seeing very aggressive efforts behind the scenes to get studios ready for AI,” Bergquist says. “They’re building massive knowledge graphs, getting their data ready to be ingested into AI systems and putting governance committees in place to start shaping real policy.”

In an algorithmically accelerated landscape where trends can catch fire and burn out in hours, staying relevant is its own challenge. To help studios keep pace, Bergquist co-founded Corto, an AI startup that describes itself as a “growth genomics engine.” The company, which also works with brands like Unilever, Lego and Coca-Cola, draws on thousands of social and consumer sources, analyzing text, images and video to decode precisely which emotional arcs, characters and aesthetics resonate with which demographics and cultural segments, and why.

“When the game is attention, the weapon is understanding where culture and attention are and where they’re going.” Bergquist says, arguing media ultimately comes down to neuroscience.

Corto’s system breaks stories down into their formal components, such as tone, tempo, character dynamics and visual aesthetics, and benchmarks new projects against its extensive data to highlight, for example, that audiences in one region prefer underdog narratives or that a certain visual trend is emerging globally. Insights like these can help studios tailor marketing strategies, refine storytelling decisions or better assess the potential risk and appeal of new projects.

With ever-richer audience data and advances in AI modeling, Bergquist sees a future where studios can fine-tune stories in subtle ways to suit different viewers. “We might know that this person likes these characters better than those characters,” he says. “So you can deliver something to them that’s slightly different than what you’d deliver to me.”

But adapting won’t be easy, especially for legacy studios weighed down by entrenched workflows, talent relationships, union contracts and layers of legal complexity. “These AI models weren’t built for Hollywood,” Bergquist says. “This is 22nd-century technology being used to solve 21st-century problems inside 19th-century organizational models. So it’s blood, sweat and tears getting them to fit.” ...

See the full story here: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-08-07/hollywood-tomorrow-ai-studios-storytelling-luma-asteria

Citizen Lab director warns cyber industry about US authoritarian descent

Ron Deibert, the director of Citizen Lab, one of the most prominent organizations investigating government spyware abuses, is sounding the alarm to the cybersecurity community and asking them to step up and join the fight against authoritarianism. 

On Wednesday, Deibert will deliver a keynote at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas, one of the largest gatherings of information security professionals of the year. 

Ahead of his talk, Deibert told TechCrunch that he plans to speak about what he describes as a “descent into a kind of fusion of tech and fascism,” and the role that the Big Tech platforms are playing, and “propelling forward a really frightening type of collective insecurity that isn’t typically addressed by this crowd, this community, as a cybersecurity problem.” ...

Historically, at least in the United States, the cybersecurity industry has put politics — to a certain extent — to the side. More recently, however, politics has fully entered the world of cybersecurity. ...

“If we stay silent when experienced, mission-driven leaders are sidelined or sanctioned, we risk something greater than discomfort; we risk diminishing the very institutions we are here to protect,” Easterly wrote in a post on LinkedIn.  ...

“I think that there comes a point at which you have to recognize that the landscape is changing around you, and the security problems you set out for yourselves are maybe trivial in light of the broader context and the insecurities that are being propelled forward in the absence of proper checks and balances and oversight, which are deteriorating,” said Deibert.

Deibert is also concerned that big companies like Meta, Google, and Apple could take a step back in their efforts to fight against government spyware — sometimes referred to as “commercial” or “mercenary” spyware — by gutting their threat intelligence teams.  ...

Deibert believes there is a “huge market failure when it comes to cybersecurity for global civil society,” a part of the population that generally cannot afford to get help from big security companies that typically serve governments and corporate clients. “This market failure is going to get more acute as supporting institutions evaporate and attacks on civil society amplify,” he said. ...

Deibert is concerned that these threat intelligence teams could be cut or at least reduced, given that the same companies have cut their moderation and safety teams. ...

See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/06/citizen-lab-director-warns-cyber-industry-about-us-authoritarian-descent/

Explainer: What are AI TVs and how do they work?

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One of the most visible applications of AI in televisions is real-time picture enhancement. AI TVs can recognise the kind of content you're watching—whether it’s an action movie, a cricket match, or a nature documentary—and automatically adjust the brightness, contrast, colour tone, and frame rate accordingly. ...

Sound processing is another area where AI makes a significant impact. AI-powered TVs can identify dialogue versus background noise and adjust the audio output to make speech clearer or create more immersive sound profiles depending on the scene. If you’re watching a thriller in a quiet room at night, the TV might boost dialogue clarity and reduce sudden spikes in volume. ...

Voice recognition and smart assistant integration also fall under the AI umbrella. AI TVs often come with voice-enabled remotes or hands-free controls powered by assistants like Google Assistant or Alexa. ...

Another area of AI integration is personalisation. AI TVs can learn from your viewing habits to recommend content you’re likely to enjoy—across streaming platforms, live TV, and apps. This is similar to how Netflix or YouTube recommends videos, but the AI is embedded into the TV’s operating system itself, creating a much more seamless experience across all platforms. ...

In some newer models of AI TV, AI extends to energy efficiency too. ...

See the full story here: https://www.storyboard18.com/digital/explainer-what-are-ai-tvs-and-how-do-they-work-78243.htm

Top Google Executive Warns AI Is Coming For Your Job: ‘There Is No Middle Class’

A former Google top executive has warned that the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) could disrupt society as the technology eats away jobs, rendering the middle class non-existent. Mo Gawdat, who left Google X as its chief business officer in 2018, said the 'hell' will begin as early as 2027 as AI eliminates white-collar jobs, with no one spared, including software developers, CEOs, and podcasters.

"The next 15 years will be hell before we get to heaven," Mr Gawdat told British entrepreneur Steven Bartlett on his "Diary of a CEO" podcast. ...

Mr Gawdat said the emergence of AI will trigger 'social unrest' as people still come to terms with losing their livelihoods and sense of purpose, resulting in rising rates of mental health problems, increased loneliness and deepening social divisions. ...

"Unless you're in the top 0.1 per cent, you're a peasant. There is no middle class," he predicted. ...

The warning by Mr Gawdat comes in the backdrop of Geoffrey Hinton, regarded by many as the 'godfather of AI', stating that the technology could soon develop its own language, making it impossible for humans to track the machines. ...

See the full story here: https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/top-google-executive-warns-ai-is-coming-for-your-job-there-is-no-middle-class-9024185

Bipartisan ‘Block BEARD’ Anti-Piracy Bill Surfaces in Senate

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced what they’re calling “a discussion draft” of a new anti-piracy bill, the Block Bad Electronic Art and Recording Distributors Act of 2025, known as the Block BEARD Act. Inspired by laws in the UK and Australia, Block BEARD proposes to allow federal courts to order ISPs to block foreign piracy websites that violate U.S. copyright law. It would provide copyright owners who have had their property stolen a new form of relief by having the courts interrupt foreign online piracy operations, preventing them from making unauthorized content available to U.S. households. ...

See the full story here: https://www.etcentric.org/bipartisan-block-beard-anti-piracy-bill-surfaces-in-senate/

ElevenLabs Launches Eleven Music

ElevenLabs has launched Eleven Music, their new AI music generation service, and they say they've done it with a new strategy: don't get sued. While competitors Suno and Udio are in litigation with major labels for allegedly training on copyrighted material, ElevenLabs secured licensing deals with Merlin Network (a digital rights agency for independent labels) and Kobalt Music Group before launching. That's revolutionary thinking in AI circles. ...

On the consumer side, ElevenLabs says it has built safeguards to prevent users from generating songs with specific artist names or copyrighted lyrics. They're essentially creating AI guardrails that acknowledge artistic ownership while still enabling creation. It's like building a copy machine that refuses to photocopy currency. ...

 It's hard to say whether or not you need the biggest artist's works to train a model. It's more important to be able to reference an artist as most people associate a "sound" with a name. You are more likely to prompt, "Give me a song that sounds like Bob Marley" than to prompt, "I need a 72-96 bpm reggae groove with a one-drop pulse, skank guitar, and bubble organ." ...

See the full story here: https://shellypalmer.com/2025/08/elevenlabs-launches-eleven-music/

White House Seeks AI Progress Through De Minimis Regulation and Allocation of Federal Resources

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The plan outlines three strategic pillars as its foundation, which include more than 90 federal policy actions. The pillars are titled “Accelerating Innovation,” “Building American AI Infrastructure,” and “Leading in International Diplomacy and Security.” The president also contemporaneously signed three executive orders to implement the plan. They include “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government,” directing federal agencies to procure only ideologically neutral large language models (LLM); “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure,” to provide federal lands and resources for AI data centers; and “Promoting the Export of the American AI Technology Stack,” to create and implement the “American AI Exports Program.” ...

Accelerating Innovation

The plan notes that integrating AI technology is often difficult due in part to “a complex regulatory landscape, and a lack of clear governance and risk mitigation standards.” It seeks to facilitate such integration through regulatory sandboxes, or “AI Centers of Excellence,” to be established nationwide, allowing industry to “rapidly deploy and test AI tools while committing to open sharing of data and results.”

The administration is also using the plan to advance broader political and policy objectives. The Department of Commerce and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are directed to remove references to “misinformation,” climate change, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. Federal procurement guidelines must now be adjusted to ensure that any government-used LLM is “objective and free from top-down ideological bias.” ...

See the full story here: https://www.regulatoryoversight.com/2025/08/white-house-seeks-ai-progress-through-de-minimis-regulation-and-allocation-of-federal-resources/

The uproar over Vogue’s AI-generated ad isn’t just about fashion

... The latest uproar came after Vogue’s July print edition featured a Guess ad with a typical model for the brand: thin yet voluptuous, glossy blond tresses, pouty rose lips. She exemplified North American beauty standards, but there was one problem — she was AI generated.  ...

They said the Guess ad drama highlights questions arising within creative industries being touched by AI’s silicon fingers: When high-quality creative work can be done by AI in a fraction of the time and cost, what’s the point of humans? And in the world of fashion, what happens to the humans — the models, photographers, stylists, and set designers — performing those jobs? ...

“E-commerce is where most models make their bread and butter,” Bovell said. “It’s not necessarily the path to model fame or model prestige, but it is the path for financial security.” ...

“What Vogue does matters,” Odell said. “If Vogue ends up doing editorials with AI models, I think that’s going to make it okay. In the same way the industry was really resistant to Kim Kardashian and then Vogue featured her. Then it was okay.”

See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/03/the-uproar-over-vogues-ai-generated-ad-isnt-just-about-fashion/

61% of white collar workers think AI will replace their current role in 3 years—but they’re too busy enjoying less stress to worry right now

Artificial intelligence is picking up in the workplace. But even with the potential threat of unemployment on the horizon, white collar workers are just happy that they’re less stressed out. New research reveals 4 in 10 say it has provided better work-life balance, reduced stress, and better decision-making. 

See the full story here; https://fortune.com/2025/07/31/most-white-collar-workers-think-ai-will-kill-their-job-in-3-years-but-too-busy-enjoying-less-stress-to-worry/

US government will ingest all federal data into AI models, WH tech director says

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"The way that these…models operate on the government level is all the government data that the government has is going to be ingested into models to provide citizen services — whether it's the way you pay your taxes, whether it's through health-care records, whether it's small things that apply to get a permit through international park or a campsite. All of this stuff is going to be part of the AI fabric, and it would be a huge problem if the model that is fine-tuned to generate these AI solutions isn't from America," he said.

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He said a “stringent and strong” regime of know-your-customer requirements imposed on data center operators along with monitoring for the scope of AI training runs will help identify bad actors. 

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Kratsios said the Trump administration is weighing the trade-offs of protecting U.S. security while ensuring American tech companies have access to the global market and get the world running on U.S. products. 

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See the full story here: https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/07/white-house-tech-director-breaks-down-plan-balance-ai-national-security-and-export-promotion/407102/