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Reel AI: Erik Barmack’s biweekly article for The Ankler
Instagram’s 72-Hour AI Fail Exposes the Engagement Trap
Erik Barmack’s Reel AI Column from The Ankler
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Apple Music’s Big AI Test: Will Fans Always Choose the Human?
A third of new uploads are synthetic, but account for less than 0.5% of listening. The platforms are betting that may not last.
Will Audiences Watch AI Actors? In China, the Answer Is Yes
38% of its top 100 short-form shows now feature ‘digital humans’ as fans cross the uncanny valley with ease
Elon Musk’s ‘Odyssey’ and the Coming Mockbuster Wave
Grok doesn’t need to beat Nolan. It just needs to ride Universal’s $125 million marketing campaign
Instagram’s 72-Hour AI Fail Exposes the Engagement Trap
As with Netflix and other streamers, the audience isn’t infinite. But attempts to hold attention are — and some will get ugly
The Hottest AI Video Startup Calls B.S. on the Movie-in-a-Prompt Fantasy (Copy)
Yes, the internet hates the new partnership, but the risks fall entirely on one side — and it’s not about jobs
The Hottest AI Video Startup Calls B.S. on the Movie-in-a-Prompt Fantasy
Luma’s COO on the $4 billion bet that the future belongs to Hollywood pros, advertisers and creative teams
Call My Agent: Hollywood’s Data Wants a Deal
New middlemen are breaking the standoff between studios and Big Tech — and bringing in millions for clients
James Harden, Carmelo Anthony & the AI-Powered Hollywood Pivot
Forget star production companies. This company creates athlete IP faster than Hollywood can call ‘foul’
USC to NYU: AI’s Stealth Film School Takeover Has Begun
How Adobe, Google and Runway are funding adoption of their tools — even as guilds negotiate against them
Grok, Kling, Runway: AI Video’s Future Has Hollywood on the Outside Looking In
Post-Sora, the space is fragmenting into separate ecosystems — and studios and streamers aren’t in any of them
Why OpenAI Needs ‘TBPN.’ Badly
Sam Altman now knows the next AI arms race isn’t about tech — it’s about narrative
How Sora Played Hollywood On Its Way to Dying
It turns out entertainment was too small for OpenAI. The bigger game is still coming.
Val Kilmer and Immortal IP Stars: Private Equity’s Next Play
Hollywood’s answer to the music catalog boom may be here
Why Did Ben Affleck Start an AI Company in Secret?
Hollywood stars issue stern warnings while quietly building startups behind the tech
How Hollywood Choked Sora 2’s Rise
ByteDance’s AI reconnaissance strike and the four strategic choices now facing the studios before the next attack
How Hollywood Choked Sora 2’s Rise
The numbers don’t lie. And it turns out this industry still knows how to close ranks
The Oscars’ AI Lie: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Last year’s ‘Brutalist’ controversy gave way to a landscape where the tech is rewarded — as long as it’s cloaked in prestige
Anthropic Is a $350 Billion Problem for Hollywood About to Strike
Soon, the company’s Claude will be as standard in industry offices as Slack and Excel — reshaping who gets hired and what gets made
8 AI Companies Doing This the Right Way (and Won’t Get You Sued)
My picks for Hollywood to get behind in 2026 as Big Tech’s shortcuts catch up
5 Burning Questions Hollywood Should Ask After Trump’s AI Executive Order
From guilds to Gavin Newsom: what studios and creatives need to reckon with now