Read the highlights from MIDiA's 'AI futures: Culture wars'

AI is transforming culture, entertainment, business, and society at a pace unprecedented in the digital era. Unlike previous tech, AI is evolving at the speed of computing, not the speed of the human brain. While some disillusionment with AI will inevitably follow, it is likely to be shallow and short lived. Meanwhile, entertainment business and culture will have been turned upside down. 

Building on MIDiA’s already-extensive body of AI analysis, we have just released our biggest and most comprehensive report yet. The report provides an exhaustive view of where AI is at right now, where it is heading, and how entertainment companies need to respond and adapt. With more than a hundred companies and brands referenced, nearly 30 pages of analysis, new data, workflow analyses, and scenario mapping, if you are in entertainment or the creator economy, this report is a must read. The report is immediately available to MIDiA clients. Below are just a few highlights from the report. 

Highlights from MIDiA's 'AI futures: Culture wars' report

The early buzz around AI has focused on what it can make rather than what it can do. The simple fact is, it is easier to gauge the potentially transformational impact of something by seeing or hearing what it does than by thinking about how it might change processes and workflows. Yet, it is the latter that we should pay most attention to – and this is where AI’s most important work will be done.

AI will reshape entertainment from three directions:

1. Creators using AI

2. Consumers using AI

3. Companies using AI

AI alone will not drive change and disruption to entertainment – it needs consumers, creators, and companies to use it. While the first wave of AI hype focused on creation, creators’ primary needs lie in their wider workflows, and the AI vendor landscape is evolving to meet this wide array of needs. The following are key workflow focuses:

●  Inspiration (e.g., Songstarter, CoSo, vidIQ) 

●  Creative co-pilot (e.g., CoPilot, Descript, CoProducer)

●  End-to-end creation (e.g., LTX Studio, Mubert)

●  Final touches (e.g., LANDR, Captions AI, Resound.fm)

●  Workflow (e.g., Podcastle, COSMOS, Dream Screen)

●  Career (e.g., MNGRS.AI, Replo, Albert)

While creators are leaning into workflow tools, consumers are engaging en masse with utility and creation tools. While much of this leans towards functional creation (writing cover letters, writing college papers, etc.) AI is also presenting wider creative opportunities to consumers, and this behaviour will grow. Rather than a blurred line between creator and audience, the overlap is more like a segment of a Venn diagram. AI will result in more consumers creating – not just for the results, but because creation will become a form of entertainment in its own right. 

Entertainment companies are adopting AI at pace too, integrating it across their workflows, from sourcing content through to royalties and reporting. The most interesting area to keep an eye on is entertainment companies using AI to stamp their visual or sonic identity on their releases and output and using AI to identify talent before it is talent. In other words, the top of the funnel is going to start outside the funnel!

It is becoming clear that, unless specific lanes are built for it, AI will encroach upon everything. There is a growing body of thinking about how to compete against AI, but the harsh reality is AI can compete with everything where it can exist, and we are going to reach a point where it is hard to distinguish between "AI" and "non-AI" content. It is the platforms, therefore, that must actively build walls around AI.

This is just a high level overview of the report. There are lots (and I mean, lots) of interesting reads about AI at the moment – but, this is not only an interesting read, it is a necessary read! 

If you are not yet a MIDiA client and would like find out more about the report, email businessdevelopment@midiaresearch.com