A few weeks ago, I joined a panel of experts at the Television Academy for a packed house Academy-only “AI Summit” weekend session. We discussed the latest business, legal, and regulatory AI issues and developments that impact Hollywood and the overall media and entertainment community. I tackled many of the business issues — including the latest licensing news and business models.

For the first time, non-Academy members can listen to this closed door session here on my "the brAIn" podcast.

So, sit back. Grab your popcorn. And enjoy. Think you’ll get a lot out of it.

Audio courtesy of the Television Academy. Special thanks to the Academy and to our great moderator at the event, Holly Leff-Pressman.

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In this episode, I feature a fascinating "deep dive" of my newsletter with the same title - generated using Google NotebookLM (all prompts were mine, and I approve the episode's content).

Here’s the headline: OpenAI killed Sora and its $1 billion deal with Disney due to the sheer economics of boundless consumer generative AI video, not AI tech. Enterprise use is in focus.

Here are the top 5 takeaways:

1. The "Compute Tax" is Unaffordable: High-quality video requires massive electricity and infrastructure; even for OpenAI, the cost of consumer-scale video generation is currently unsustainable.
2. Pivot from Toys to Utility: The industry is shifting from flashy consumer "toys" (like Sora) toward "Agentic AI" that handles high-value enterprise tasks like coding and logistics.
3. Rise of "Invisible" Professional AI: AI isn't disappearing; it’s moving into "unseen" professional workflows to solve specific production friction and VFX bottlenecks rather than replacing creators.
4. Prioritizing IPO-Ready Revenue: As OpenAI nears an IPO, it is abandoning costly consumer experiments in favor of scalable, enterprise-grade tools that offer clearer returns.
5. A Reality Check for Human Artistry: The dream of "prompting" a blockbuster from a couch has failed, reaffirming that human taste, skill, and creative effort remain essential.

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In this episode, I feature a fascinating "deep dive" of my newsletter titled "Market Substitution: Generative AI's 'Fair Use' Fail" that I generated using Google NotebookLM (all prompts were mine, and I approve the episode's content).

Here’s the headline: the Creative Community now has AI on its copyright litigation heels. That means that the “3 C’s” of so-called “ethical AI” — Consent, Credit and Compensation — are now taking hold via accelerating licensing deals and emerging “usage based” business models.

Here are the Key Take-Aways:

• 3 “fair use” decisions so far (Bartz v. Anthropic, Kadrey v. Meta, Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence). Anthropic settled for $1.5 Billion due to court pressure. Other two cases pending (Thomson Reuters’ decision is on appeal).
• Both Judges in Kadrey & Thomson Reuters focused on “market substitution” as the key rationale to beat back AI’s “fair use” defense, following the Supreme Court’s most recent copyright case (Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith).
• Meta prevailed on “fair use,” but the Judge made it clear that Meta would have lost if plaintiffs’ lawyers made the right “market substitution” arguments.
• Courts’ increased skepticism of AI’s “fair use” defense is fueling accelerating AI settlements and content licensing activity, which is good for both AI and media.
• New “usage based” AI content licensing models are being defined right now, following the same pattern as we’ve seen in past massive technology shifts impacting the entertainment industry. Napster’s music theft led to new streaming royalties. YouTube’s content IP theft led to its ContentID system.

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Occasionally, I'll take a break from my exlusive 1-1 interviews with top movers and shakers in the AI and media/entertainment worlds to feature fascinating "deeper dives" of my articles (that I generate, and approve, via Google NotebookLM).

This is one such "deep dive" - based on my recent newsletter article titled, "Maybe AI WILL Save the World? Join My Journey of Unbridled AI Optimism." I handled all the prompting - listened to the entire episode before posting it - and stand behind its contents (which accurately reflect my article and the issues surrounding it - including my vision of an inevitable "forced Utopia" even under the rosiest of AI "Accelerationist" scenarios).

I think you'll find engaging, thought-provoking, and enlightening. But let me know what you think. Send me a note to peter@creativemedia.biz.

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What happens when the chief spokesperson and lobbyist for the Human Artistry Campaign (the coalition of 180+ creative and Artist organizations worldwide) sits down to discuss the state of AI regulation and legislation in D.C.? You get a fascinating conversation with Dr. Moiya McTier. Moiya has spent time on Capitol Hill with members of Congress in support of the creative community’s interests.

Here are some highlights of our discussion:

• Legislative Progress: Federal legislation isn’t dead. But it’s certainly not moving fast, although bi-partisan support isgrowing for the NO FAKES Act (digital replicas) and the TRAIN Act (data transparency).
• “Stealing Isn’t Innovation”: Moiya discusses the Human Artistry Campaign’s recently launched “Stealing Isn’t Innovation” campaign, which educates the public on how AI models are trained using unlicensed data without permission.
• Ethical AI Standards: True ethical AI requires a framework of consent, credit, and compensation.
• Identity Protection: AI is uniquely dangerous because it can mimic an artist’s voice, likeness, and style, threatening their professional identity.
• Intrinsic Value of Art: Over-reliance on AI risks “creative atrophy” by removing the essential human struggle of expression.

35 minutes. Zero fluff. Total insight.

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In this episode, I revisit my conversation with Josh Freeman, VP of Business Development of "must watch" company ProRata.ai, which sits at the center of the generative AI/content divide. The company recently raised an additional $40 million (bringing its total haul to over $70 million). Its vision is to solve one of the most challenging issues at the center of generative AI — i.e., the use of IP/content without consent, compensation and attribution.

Josh tells me that the company's proprietary tech can do three critical things: (1) identify “proportionate attribution” to content sources used for generative AI training purposes, based on each source’s relative contribution to the ultimate GenAI output/display; (2) enable reporting of that attribution/contribution; and (3) enable ongoing payments to the relevant rights-holders.

Since this episode first posted one year ago, ProRata also launched its own AI search chatbot, Gist Answers, to compete directly with Perplexity, Gemini, ChatGPT and others in AI search. But unlike those AI chatbots, ProRata.ai says it does it “ethically” — training its AI models on — and then outputting/displaying — only licensed content sources.

The company counts 1,500+ media partners, including The Atlantic, The Guardian, Sky News and Vox. And here’s the fascinating part. The company gives its partners an ongoing 50/50 revenue split on any revenues generated by Gist Answers (not just a single up-front licensing payment).

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What happens when an entrepreneur looking for love finds dating perils instead? She builds a new AI dating App to spot those relationship red flags and deliver real-time coaching and safety. My interview today is with Blair Golden, Founder & CEO of Pair — your always-on personal AI dating coach that just launched in the App Store last week.

Blair & I Discuss:

• The “Dating Jungle” Inspiration. Blair’s motivation came from her personal return to dating after her divorce, an experience she describes as an “unsupervised and unsafe circus.”
• Bridging the Gap Between Therapy and Dating. She realized that professional dating advice is too expensive or unavailable when dating “disasters” actually occur. “As we all know, dating disasters don’t wait for Tuesday at 3 PM!”
• The Need for a Real-Time Confidant. “What if I had a wise, calm, judgment-free coach and confidant in my pocket? Someone I could ask, in real time, ‘Is this a red flag, or am I overthinking?’”
• Safety and Empowerment. “Desiring to help empower women and provide a new level of safety to all daters.”
• Trusting Your Intuition. “Pair is built to help singles trust their gut when spotting red flags and cut ties with toxic people faster.”

30 minutes. Zero fluff. Total insight. Just in time for Valentine’s Day.

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What happens when the top AI disruptor in the world of advertising, PJ Accetturo (aka PJ Ace, the “Viral AI Ad Madman”) — founder and CEO of leading AI creative studio and agency Genre AI — sits down to talk shop? You get a fascinating, blunt discussion of how AI is fundamentally transforming the world of big brand and Hollywood studio advertising and production.

PJ and I discuss:

• How Genre AI broke out with its AI-hyper fueled ad for prediction market, Kalshi – an ad that was viewed tens of millions of times. Since then, Oracle, Popeyes, Qatar Airlines have chosen Genre – and now, so do major Hollywood studios. You’ll learn why (hint: it’s a race to quality; not to the bottom).
• Why PJ turned down the opportunity to produce a massive Super Bowl ad.
• AI’s power to slash production costs & time-frames, without sacrificing quality. PJ walks us through the overall production process. Where AI shines. And where AI has limitations.
• The unchallenged power of human creativity for high quality ideation, pre and post-production. PJ’s team includes top directors and talent from film & television — critical differentiators from other AI studios. And he doesn’t expect that to change.

45 minutes. Zero fluff. Total insight.

Sign up for the companion "the brAIn" newsletter via this link.
Check out Peter and his firm Creative Media
Check out Peter's LinkedIn bio here.
And send feedback to bizdev@creativemedia.biz.