In this episode, I feature my exclusive interview with Karan Anand, CEO of Character.AI — the controversial “AI companion chatbot” company that has been at the center of the AI storm (including tragic stories of teens who commit suicide after having established deep relationships with their chatbots).

Likely surprising to many of you (it was to me), Character.AI is now pivoting to be first and foremost an AI entertainment company — courting major studios and creators alike to build and monetize fandom. This is Anand’s elevator pitch: “Think if Roblox, TikTok, and Wattpad had a baby ... this is what Character.AI is rapidly evolving into.”

But can Character.AI successfully make this pivot? And how credible and powerful is its new pitch, including on the critical issues of teen safety? Can the company gain the trust of major studios, IP owners and celebs/influencers from whom they'd like to license content for fandom?

I ask Anand the hard questions. And to his credit, he doesn’t shy away from any of them.

It’s an important, fascinating, and candid conversation — and Peter and Karan covered a lot of ground in 60 minutes, every minute of which is newsworthy.

NOTE: After our interview, Character.AI asked me to include its official response to the new litigation filed by the state of Pennsylvania. Here it is.

“We do not comment on pending litigation. Our highest priority is the safety and well-being of our users.

The user-created Characters on our site are fictional and intended for entertainment and roleplaying. We have taken robust steps to make that clear, including prominent disclaimers in every chat to remind users that a Character is not a real person and that everything a Character says should be treated as fiction. Also, we add robust disclaimers making it clear that users should not rely on Characters for any type of professional advice.

Character.ai prioritizes responsible product development and has robust internal reviews and red-teaming processes in place to assess relevant features.”

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This week I feature last week’s exclusive Digital Hollywood expert panel discussion about AI and copyright — the latest legal and business updates.

I moderated this great panel, which featured AI expert lawyers Lisa Oratz of Perkins Coie, Anthony Glukhov of the RAMO firm, and Jonathan Handel of Feig, Finkel — together with AI and marketing expert Albert Thompson of Walton Isaacson.

We covered a lot of ground in 50 minutes — and it’s worth listening to all of it. You’ll learn a lot, no matter what role you play in the worlds of media, entertainment, AI and tech.

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Just when you thought Hollywood’s increasingly open embrace of AI coincided with newly emerging AI economics and Big Tech norms of engagement, we have a major plot twist. TikTok’s owner from China, ByteDance, just re-launched largely guardrail-less Seedance 2.0 worldwide — and the Hollywood industry’s latest AI pariah is now readily available in the U.S.

Welcome to the new “AI Trade War!”

In this episode, the co-hosts discuss Peter Csathy's article of the same name which tackles the subject - and lays out the implications. (Peter generated the episode using Google NotebookLM - listened to it - and approves the content.)

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This special bonus episode -- just in time for the first weekend of Coachella --features a "deep dive" discussion based on host Peter Csathy's recent article of the same name (here's the link), in which Csathy writes that Artists and Musicians can, in fact, recapture their U.S. copyrights to their songs, recordings and other creative works even if they originally signed publishing and recording agreements under U.K. law (or other international law).

It's conventional wisdom in the music industry that the now infamous U.K. "Duran Duran" court case blocks a Musician's recapture of their U.S. copyrights. But Csathy debunks that conclusion, and lays out why Section 203 of the U.S. Copyright Act (the relevant reversion right) is an absolute right that cannot be taken away by U.K. or any other contractual law.

Csathy represents Musicians in music catalog deals, and has negotiated and facilitated deals on behalf of music icons and legends that include Devo, Prince, A Flock of Seagulls, Boston, Air Supply, Sheila E., Count Basie, Sarah McLachlan, Half Pint, and Wailing Souls.

His Artist-first music catalog representation and advisory firm is DEEP CUTS MEDIA (deepcutsmedia.com), and Csathy can be reached either at peter@deepcutsmedia.com or peter@creativemedia.biz.

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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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