It's Football Season. Time to Chalk Out Your Generative AI Game-Plan
Here's Your Winning Strategy for Calling the Right Plays in an Increasingly Generative AI Media & Entertainment World
Summer’s over, shake off those vacation vibes! There’s no more time to rest (sorry about that!). Things are moving too fast in AI-land. What does that mean? It means it’s time for your Monday morning weekly brAIn dump!
First, all eyes are on Apple today! Tim Cook and crew stream live starting at 10 am Pacific to reveal its AI (“Apple Intelligence”) infused iPhone 16 (here’s a link with all the ways to stream the event, dubbed “Glowtime”). Will OpenAI’s Sam Altman share the stage? Apple, together with Nvidia, is reported to be mulling over an investment in OpenAI at $100+ billion valuation. And will the new iPhone (or any other announcement by Apple) be more “next big thing” or more “smoke and mirrors”?
Next, it’s “the mAIn event” — followed by the “AI legal case tracker” (updates on the key AI copyright infringement cases winding their ways through the courts). And finally, a provocative “guest essay” — “Can AI Make Art?” — about the oft-overlooked power of every single human experience and micro-decision artists make during the creative process that generative AI derails in the name of tech-driven efficiency — at the peril of creating human-connecting “art.” So … LET’S GO!!!
I. The mAIn event - Your 6 Plays to “Win” on an Increasingly Generative AI Media & Entertainment Playing Field
Some of you have seen my “6 Step Plan” before. But whether you have (or haven’t), it’s always good to revisit and revise/update it — and then be disciplined to do the work and execute. One thing’s for certain. Generative AI’s impact on the media and entertainment turf — and everyone playing any position on it (that means most of you reading this) — is only accelerating. We see that in the growing number of direct content licensing deals between those wearing the Big Tech jersey and those on the Big Media team (for generative AI companies to train their AI models on their content). And we see it in the growing litigation amongst those same frequently warring tribes on the field of the courts (check out the latest in the “AI legal case tracker” below).
It’s disruption — and new opportunity — beyond even Super Bowl proportions. So, what mindset will you take? Passivity and fear? Or action and optimism? This isn’t about “wearing rose colored glasses,” people. It’s about recognizing that our AI tech transformed times have just kicked off and will transform everything in our lives (both personally and professionally). So how do we best position ourselves to “win” the big g-AI-me? (however you define “winning”)? That’s what this post is all about.
Here are your 6 key plays to best position yourself for the big “W” in the AI game. Consider it your genAI “cheat sheet” (something even Bill Belichick would be proud of).
Key Play #1: AI-ccept!
First, open your mind and accept our new transformational generative AI reality. Just like with any new technology, once it’s out of the box, that genie ain’t going back in. Breakthrough new technologies never do. They always disrupt the established order of things — companies, norms and business models. If nothing else, the internet and iPhone/smartphone revolutions taught us that.
Remember Blockbuster Video? It was the undisputed Super Bowl video champ - until it wasn’t. Blockbuster execs dithered and dismissed the obvious internet revolution in front of them. The rest, as they say, is history. All stores shuttered. Tens of thousands of jobs lost. All that remains is Blockbuster’s place in entertainment infamy as an industry cautionary tale.
Meanwhile, innovators seized the transformational tech opportunity and birthed entirely new categories of mega-companies and the jobs that went with them. Netflix is one of them, of course (i.e., what Blockbuster should have been).
Key Play #2: Study!
So you’ve moved past acceptance. Now it’s time to act! Study the AI playbook and educate yourself about generative AI, because it will significantly impact all aspects of your personal life and professional career. The more you know about AI, the more control you’ll have over it — and the better positioned you’ll be to evolve in these relentlessly changing times. Generalists who demonstrate basic knowledge, genuine interest, job flexibility and an openness to new possibilities are far more likely to prosper than those who are passive, complacent, and overly confident about their current place in the entertainment ecosystem — and too dismissive about the current state of AI-ffairs.
As your co-AI-ch, your daily practice sessions are to track developments in generative AI closely. Your careers depend on it! Skim the headlines. Read your favorite AI-focused newsletters (hopefully, this is one of them!). Listen to your favorite media-tech podcasts (try “Hard Fork” from The New York Times, and my “the brAIn'“ companion podcast). Learn the media and tech players calling the big plays. Equally important, learn the basic jargon so that you can effectively huddle with others. Your expanded knowledge base and insider lingo may lead you to your next job and next team, especially since your current one may be trimming down for this new season.
Key Play #3: Practice!
Now you’re ready to take your AI knowledge to the playing field and practice! Use the generative AI tools that are openly available. Experiment with them. Call your own audibles. You can’t understand the strength of your AI-rm until you throw the ball downfield. Yes, of course, use ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Co-Pilot, Perplexity and all others of that ilk to supercharge your research or write the first draft of that next memo. But generate images and short videos too. And create “new” music with “ethically trained” generative music services like Jen Music and PlusMusic (music for video games). Both use only licensed music.
I remember when I first used ChatGPT almost 2 years ago. Its impact was immediate and visceral. I knew that nothing would ever be the same. And it isn’t (no matter how much Nvidia’s stock fluctuates). Yes, we may feel short-term pain. But that pain leads to long-term gain.
Key Play #4: Scrimmage! (Practice “AI-ctive Serendepity”)
Now get off the sidelines, out of your comfort zone and football watching easy chair, and onto the practice field to scrimmage live and in-person with others. Attend industry meetups hosted by Digital Hollywood (lots of great upcoming events, including CES of course), AI LA, and a growing number of others. Westside Digital is an organization that hosts and tracks these great events (register for its newsletter here.)
Media and entertainment executives: call up generative AI tech entrepreneurs and startups to your home practice field to showcase their strength and speed (consider it your very own combine). They’ll be happy to strut their stuff and team up with you. And, on the flipside, you entrepreneurs out there should reach out to the media and entertainment companies that need you to make it to the pl-AI-yoffs. That outreach may lead to game-changing opportunities and execution. Everyone wins.
When you get out of your comfortable screen-filled apartment, condo or home (and away from your hot wings and bowl of chips), you’re actively injecting yourself into the bloodstream of real life to allow for things to “happen.” Because they do, when you least expect it. This is what I call “active serendipity.” Not chance. Not coincidence. It’s “active serendipity” because you took action. “Active serendipity” leads to new relationships. Which brings us to …
Key Play #5: Bond!
Here’s your single most important play in your playbook. Invest in relationships! I’ll scream it louder (it’s a pep talk after all). INVEST IN RELATIONSHIPS! Wash. Rinse. Repeat. If you get nothing else out of this 6 play drive down the field, really soak this one in. Hollywood and the entire media and entertainment industry have always been built on relationships first and foremost.
And don’t be afraid of using some trick plays either. People are not as unattainable as you think. Reach out to them directly, even if you don’t know them. So long as your outreach is authentic, personalized (demonstrates some kind of shared interest or connection), and bubbling with enthusiasm and a desire to bring value to them (and not just seek gain for yourself), then the results may surprise you.
LinkedIn is a surprisingly powerful tool here (spring for an upgraded subscription). But before you reach out, always invest the time to scout the person - what they do - and what makes them tick. Mention a common connection if you have one, and put real time and thought into it. It shows. Appeal to something that interests them (not you). And take the time to make sure your LinkedIn profile concisely captures who you are and what unique value you bring to the table.
Ironically, the more that technology takes over our lives, the more that human relationships matter. That human connective tissue is impenetrable, even by the most adept artificial minds and hands. And let’s be really practical here. Relationships are far more likely to lead to your next job than a ChatGPT-created resume that just gets lost amidst a stack of others. No matter how good you are, blindly sending resumes is essentially a waste of time. The bots have won that game.
Key Play #6: Respect!
And, amidst all the AI crowd noise out there, don’t forget to respect and elevate humanity. Support the human talent at the center of the creative universe with your energy, positivity, time and dollars. Remember, true originality only flows from the human mind (rather than generative AI’s algorithmic recycling of earlier plays). This doesn’t mean you fear or disrespect AI’s new rules of the game. To the contrary, it’s recognition of AI’s immense, yet limited, creative powers. It’s a tool, not a panacea.
So dig deeper, advocate for — and demand — common sense guardrails and “ethically trained” AI. Use and champion only those AI services from tech teams that trained their AI models on licensed content and copyrighted works.
Most of all, exert your human agency. Take action to put yourself on a path to “win” on an increasingly generative AI media and entertainment playing field. You are your own MVP in this g-AI-me.
II. The AI Legal Case Tracker - Updates on Key AI Litigation
I lay out the facts - and latest critical developments - via this link to the “AI case tracker”. You’ll get everything you need (including my detailed analysis) for each of the cases listed below. Lots of recent legal AI-ctivity (including this recent ruling against Stability AI and others, about which I wrote, by a federal judge in California that helped the cause of copyright owners). So much you need to know. So little time. I do the work so you don’t need to!
Here’s the bottom line: generative AI companies should get access to the content they need (it’s all just “data” to them) only when they seek consent from — and pay compensation to — the relevant content/copyright owners whose content they scrape. And when they don’t, they will increasingly find themselves in court.
(1) The New York Times v. Microsoft & OpenAI
(2) UMG Recordings v. Suno
(3) UMG Recordings v. Uncharted Labs (d/b/a Udio)
(4) Universal Music Group, et al. v. Anthropic
(5) Sarah Silverman, et al. v. Meta (class action)
(6) Sarah Silverman v. OpenAI (class action)
(7) Getty Images v. Stability AI and Midjourney
NOTE: Go to the “AI case tracker” tab at the top of the page at “the brAIn” website.
III. Guest Post: Can AI Make “Art”? (The Great Debate)
by Michael Zink, VP Strategic Technical Partnerships, LG Electronics
The essay from Ted Chiang in The New Yorker explored his perspective on “Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art.” I found the article very thought-provoking, especially considering that some artists started utilizing AI tools & techniques as part of their creative process.
One of Chiang’s core arguments is the fact that: “art requires making choices at every scale; the countless small-scale choices made during implementation are just as important to the final product as the few large-scale choices made during the conception […] the interrelationship between the large scale and the small scale is where the artistry lies.”
His main critique is the perspective that “Generative A.I. appeals to people who think they can express themselves in a medium without actually working in that medium. But the creators of traditional novels, paintings, and films are drawn to those art forms because they see the unique expressive potential that each medium affords.”
This essay prompted an interesting debate about the role of AI and what constitutes “Art”. Matteo Wong published a rebuttal in The Atlantic and his position is best summarized by the statement that “humans are creative enough to make and even desire a space for generative AI.” He outlined several stages where generative AI could be helpful in the creative process, such as “role-playing a character or visualizing color schemes or, in its ‘hallucinations,’ offering a creative starting point." In other words, this technology can be useful as part of the creative process, yet “AI need not make art ex nihilo to be used to make artworks”.
As I contemplated both sides of this debate, I noticed the latest essay from B. Earl, who summarized the issue very succinctly: “The question will always go back to intention.” He further posits that “art is meant to evoke a feeling. There is something sacred in this, as the artist’s intention drives the creation into existence. The artist, be it visual, aural, or text, has taken their amalgamation of experiences (both lived and studied) and coupled it to their own spiritual being. In this new realm of generative AI, the only thing that exists is the studied amalgamation (trained data) — it is missing both the experiences and the soul. But with a human intention driving the creation, can this gathered data […] actually create meaningful art?”
Chiang similarly mentioned that “[w]e are all products of what has come before us, but it’s by living our lives in interaction with others that we bring meaning into the world.” So, the unique experiences and intention of the artist – the human element – is what makes art meaningful. Or in the words of B. Earl, there are those “who will let inspiration be their guide and create art that taps into the spirit, activating others in ways they may have not yet been opened to see the world.“
