AI Round-up: The time, is now (9.12.25)
The AI Round-up: Year 3, Issue 29
It’s just a thing. Not THEE thing. But is a thing.
Friends, I bring you Bubblewatch 2025!!!
We have hit a point in AI coverage where it seems like you can get your coverage one of two ways:
- It’s not as big of a deal as everyone thought. People overhyped it. The tech companies will lose money. People are fine if they decide not to indulge in some sort of AI training.
-OR-
- The complete opposite of that.
Bet ya can’t guess what category this newsletter falls into…
Dammit Bethany, they guessed it. Folks, I am not going to mislead you and tell you that we are seeing definite signs of number one. This ain’t that kind of newsletter. I care too much about my profession…my clients…my readers…my company to pretend that’s a viable outcome. We are realists here, no matter how that reality makes us feel.
As luck would have it, most of this week’s stories simply reinforce that despite a growing number of voices and some mass market coverage that say the AI bubble is close to popping, we are ‘still on the fastest route’ to a Co-Intelligence reality.
Before we jump into those stories..just a reminder that MAICON 2025 is roughly a month away.
Everything you need is right here. Register. Check out the agenda. Resources. Etc. From Paul Roetzer to Christopher Penn to Andy Crestodina…you will see a lot of familiar names on that lineup!
Also, you can use the AKHIA200 promo for $200 off your registration fee! Thank you to Marketing AI Institute for making that possible. If you go…let me know! See you there!
Anyway, onto this week’s 10 stories.
Story 1: OpenAI is getting its ‘Toy Story’ moment (CNet)
In a move that should shock no one, OpenAI is getting behind an animated movie called ‘Critterz’ which will be a full-length animated feature based on a short film made back in 2023 using OpenAI’s Dall-E. The budget? $30M. The process? Feeding illustrated story boards into ChatGPT to bring them to life.
The impact/savings? Well for that we need to tap into Shelly Palmer, who covered this in a recent newsletter. Here are some of the key takeaways:
- For those keeping score, "This s#%t just got real." We're witnessing the emergence of "vibe-movie-making," a process where you describe (prompt) what you want and AI generates it for you.
- According to new research fromai, at least 65 AI-centric film studios have launched globally since 2022, with 30 appearing in 2024 alone. Companies like Promise (co-founded by former YouTube executive Jamie Byrne) and Asteria (backed by XTR and staffed with DeepMind alumni) are developing enterprise-grade AI tools specifically for animation and hybrid productions.
- The economics are compelling and dangerous. "Critterz" demonstrates production timelines compressed by 70% and budgets reduced by 75%. For independent creators, AI tools do more than democratizing access to studio-quality production capabilities, it replaces "Lights, Camera, Action" with a prompt.
- I've been clear about the timeline. Within 34 months (I'm counting down), code and content will be free.
Wait. Hold up. Shelly, what do you mean by that 34-month timeline? I sent him an email asking for more details on this; will share once I hear back. Stay tuned.
But for now…what do you think? Icky feeling about AI animated movies? Excited? It matters now but won’t in a year? Let me know!
Story 2: If you missed it, Salesforce needs 4,000 less (human) heads. (CNBC)
We were off last week…but I’m guessing you saw the news coming out of Salesforce that only a few months after saying AI wouldn’t impact jobs, CEO Marc Benioff is saying that AI is totally impacting jobs. You can read more about it in the article linked in the headline. BUT…
…I would encourage you to listen to The Artificial Intelligence Show as Paul breaks down the interview that gave us that amazing pull quote/lead as well as the reality of what this all means. Because it’s a pretty big reason our third story exists.
Story 3: Are you a CEO? You need an AI forward memo. Like, now. (Paul Roetzer)
I don’t know what’s more grabbing – all the CEO quotes, about AI, in one place (oh, so we’re cool with openly talking about AI’s impact on jobs now?) or Paul’s point that the time is now to make a statement on it.
Let’s call it a tie and insist you read his post.
Story 4: Let it out everyone…just let it out. The truth will set you free! (The Verge)
If you’ve been reading this round-up long enough (or hell, even if it’s just been a few weeks) you can no doubt sense my cynicism when it comes to believing what we’re being told regarding these tools’ impacts. I 100% believe in them…what they can do…and am amazed, daily. I could just do without the forced rhetoric and spin the companies are putting on ‘how’ we should feel about them. In my opinion, that’s irresponsible. Not saying you need to issue a user’s manual…but spare us the minimal disruption or impact please.
The most recent example since stories 2 and 3 is the story linked in the headline above – Google is now admitting that the open web is in ‘rapid decline’.
Wonder why?
Story 5: OpenAI is taking some responsibility for lost jobs. (Bloomberg)
It’s creating a jobs platform to train workers in AI. The goal is to help 10M people be AI-compliant/certified by 2030. Now, of course, this means that a good chunk of those people will have been displaced from their existing jobs by AI…but hey, it’s a start. And they’re doing just that – working with Walmart to actually create the program. This was announced in conjunction with a White House task force tackling the topic of AI and education. This was hosted/chaired by the First Lady (yes, it’s the one where she said ‘the robots are here).
PERSONAL NOTE: It’s stories like this that led me to open the round-up the way I did…we are talking about OpenAI, Walmart and the government. This isn’t a drill. It’s not a phase. The sooner we accept and understand what this means for us, the sooner we can begin applying to our careers.
Story 6: AI + Manufacturing: making the workplace safer. (Institute for Supply Management)
Let’s interrupt this string of somewhat concerning articles to share a story about the impact AI is having on safety programs for manufacturers. Cool read. Must read (if you’re focused on safety…and who isn’t?!).
Story 7: What is the Hierarchical Reasoning Model? And why are people buzzing about it?
Shelly Palmer dives in and explains the new reasoning model from Singapore-based Sapient Intelligence that is beating everyone at everything.
Story 9: Claude can now create, edit Excel files (engadget)
A step closer to getting your own (AI) assistant. If you ever worried about having to move data from a report, research document, etc. into an Excel…you can stop. This looks pretty amazing and will save a lot of time. Oh, you can also turn it into PowerPoints.
I know, I know…just when you thought PowerPoint was dead…it pulls you back in! Like ‘Big Bang’ reruns, it will never go away.
Story 10: ChatGPT is having a “notable” impact on how we talk. This is “groundbreaking”.
Digital Trends just wrecked me. This is a fantastic piece on a very real outcome of working with ChatGPT. Look, we all know there are some key trigger words that can immediately suggest AI wrote a piece. Well, what if those words became our words? Words we started using all the time? Without realizing it…we are! The study featured in the article is pointing to that being a thing.
I’ll say I think Gen Z is having a bigger impact on the language we’ll be using 10 years from now than AI…
This week, I’m not talking about:
- ChatGPT has taken Gen Z’s job. Now it’s coming for their best friend. (The Information)
- The AI-powered pizza oven from Ooni (Shelly Palmer)
- AI’s prophet of doom wants to shut it all down. (The New York Times)
- Albania appoints AI bot as minister of corruption. (Reuters)
Thanks for reading.
-Ben
As a reminder, this is a round-up of the biggest stories, often hitting multiple newsletters I receive/review. The sources are many … which I’m happy to read on your behalf. Let me know if there’s one you’d like me to track or have questions about a topic you’re not seeing here.