My Keynote at AI on the Lot

Jun 20, 2025

Last month, I presented at the AI on the Lot conference in Culver City. Now in its third year, AI on the Lot has become a who’s who at the intersection of Hollywood and AI, with over 1,200 attendees this year.
Like other presentations I’ve posted, I attempted to synthesize my writing in The Mediator and provide a framework for thinking about what’s currently happening in the media business. Given the pace of change, I’m always trying to refine that framework and my message.
I spoke about:
Why digitization and the internet caused the “last great disruption” of media, the disruption of content distribution.
How that led to the five tectonic themes that dominate the broader media business today:
1. Price deflation
2. Stagnation of the revenue pie
3. Fragmentation of attention
4. Disintermediation of traditional intermediaries
5. Concentration of power in a handful of platforms and attention in a handful of hits
U.S. TV as a case study in disruption.
Why GenAI will lead to the “next great disruption” of media, the disruption of content creation.
And the key “known unknowns” about GenAI video today. These include:
1. How much will it really bring down costs?
2. How good will it get?
3. Will consumers embrace it?
4. How disruptive will it be?
5. How fast will it happen?
6. Are we thinking about GenAI too skeuomorphically?
7. What’s the business model of an AI-first studio?
8. Most important, what’s still scarce when content is infinite?

Here’s the full presentation:

And here are the slides.