Featured Articles
Reel AI: Erik Barmack’s biweekly article for The Ankler
When Pitt Fought Cruise — and Why Hollywood Could Barely Punch Back
Erik Barmack’s Reel AI Column from The Ankler
INTRO TO AI
Quick Explainers on Basic AI Terms and Tools
ALL ARTICLES
Netflix Buys Ben Affleck’s AI Studio
Why the streamer’s February acquisition signals a shift in how movies may be made
How Hollywood Choked Sora 2’s Rise
The numbers don’t lie. And it turns out this industry still knows how to close ranks
Runway Pushes Generative Video Toward Filmmaking
The February release of Gen-3 production tools targets professional creators
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
Brad Pitt and the Economics of the Digital Double
Why A-list stars are renegotiating longevity, not novelty, in the AI era
Awards Season Meets Artificial Intelligence
Why eligibility rules are becoming Hollywood’s next AI battleground
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
Why Hollywood Still Hasn’t Released a Fully AI-Generated Film
Despite the tools, studios are refusing to own the outcome
When Mickey Met Sam Altman — and What It Means for Every Other Studio Now
Scorched by the Streaming Wars, Bob Iger won’t let Mickey Mouse be steamrolled by Big Tech again. And eventually, all our studios will follow
AI Search and the New Hot Mess of Hollywood Discovery
‘What to watch’ is a minefield as Literate AI uncovers major biases around stars, Harry Potter and the MCU — and grim fallout for marketing, greenlights and talent
Fade to Black: Hollywood’s AI-Era Jobs Collapse Is Starting
Amazon plans a 75 percent automated workforce. Now full human creativity may soon only exist for a few indie weirdos
Sora 2 Shook Hollywood. This AI CEO is Helping the Industry ‘Take a F-ing Stand’
Backed by CAA and Comcast Ventures, Bryn Mooser and co-founder Natasha Lyonne’s Asteria is an AI model safeguarding IP in an era of copyright chaos
Sora 2 and the Day Hollywood Went to War
Forget Tilly Norwood. OpenAI’s new cinematic model can fake anyone and anything — and power players finally draw their line
Netflix’s New $700K AI Job Goes to a Human, Not a Machine
The streamer’s latest hire isn’t a robot—it’s a high-priced product manager tasked with building generative tools to make 13,000 employees more efficient.
‘Run It Through GPT-5’: The Phrase Changing Hollywood Overnight
Showrunners, writers, producers & marketing jumped on OpenAI’s update. Industry jobs will never recover
Hollywood’s New Power Title: “AI Production Engineer”
At Variety’s annual summit, producers report 30 percent faster prep cycles as AI reshapes pre-viz and scheduling—proof that automation is becoming infrastructure, not experiment.
OpenAI’s $30M Animated Film is Coming. Pixar Should Be Worried
‘Critterz’ will be made in 9 months and debut at Cannes ’26. The existential stakes couldn’t be higher
Musk’s X-Integrated Insta-Deepfakes: More Insidious Than You Imagine
Grok Imagine’s hellish ecosystem where writers, actors, directors — and copyright itself — cease to matter
Sphere’s ‘Wizard of Oz’: Hollywood’s Dazzling Future or Dark Warning?
Sphere’s ‘Wizard of Oz’: For audiences, it’s breathtaking; for the workforce, it’s a test