The Machine Cinema Times - August 29, 2025
... still wondering if robots have celluloid dreams.
Edited by Elizabeth Kealoha. Pod Digest by Ant Neely. Images by Elizabeth Kealoha & Ant Neely.
In this issue:
Real Creative “Pick of the Week”
Overheard in… “Basecamp” and “We Love Robots”, for the week August 14-20, 2025
Too busy to read?? Listen to the NotebookLM recap!
“GenTalk” from August 27, 2025
Want to See Your Art in the Newsletter? Reach out —we’d love to feature your work.
Real Creative “Pick of the Week”
Each week the Machine Cinema members + the Real Creative team obsess over social feeds in search of the world's best AI creative video, gaming, and music projects. This week one project stuck out:
About this project
Carol Delgado’s short film “Me, Myself and AI” unfolds as a self-portrait masquerading as a cinematic piece, stitched together with layers of AI and irony. The video uses generative tools to deconstruct the creator’s own experience of burnout. In just a couple of minutes, Delgado puts herself under the microscope, turning her own exhaustion into both narrative anchor and meta commentary on tech-augmented identity.
About the Artist
Carol Delgado emerges as a filmmaker who pulls back the curtain on her inner life. By positioning burnout not as a dramatic plot twist but as raw, relatable truth and letting AI serve as both medium and metaphor, she shows how personal storytelling can harness the tools that often threaten our sense of self.
Connect: IG
You can find this and over 300 AI filmmakers and their projects over at realcreative.ai which features some familiar faces from the Machine Cinema community.
Overheard - Week of August 21-27, 2025
Our Machine Cinema Community is a firehose of activity and even the most diehard members can feel overwhelmed. This weekly digest brings you hot topics, links and articles shared and discussed in the “Basecamp” and “We Love Robots” channels to make sure you never miss a beat. If you’d like to join the community, this link is your invitation.
Full disclosure, we had our robot friend help us pull all this together and sometimes they are prone to making harmless mistakes.
“Basecamp” Channel 🔥 HOT TOPICS
🎓 Why Gen Z Isn’t Buying AI
A UGA GenJam revealed surprising resistance: while older attendees embraced AI, students heckled or abstained. Some cited ethics, others said it was “too easy” and devalued craft. Professors report similar pushback—fear, mistrust, and a desire to prove their own skills. The community stressed the human role in vision, authority, and originality.
Youth skepticism may stem from polarized online discourse and fears of job loss.
Some compared this moment to the DSLR “anyone can shoot” era.
The community debated whether the field is still waiting for its “Toy Story moment.”
💬 “It has to also look hard somehow.”
🎥 Disney, Studios & the AI Tipping Point
Members imagined a near future where major studios expect creatives to arrive fluent in Runway, Veo, MidJourney, and more. Others urged caution, citing studio politics, guild pressure, and slow-moving legal departments.
Disney’s Bob Iger has signaled bullishness, but insiders say legal bottlenecks remain.
Integration is happening behind the scenes at Disney and Netflix, just quietly.
Some argued AI will mirror the iPhone—transformative, but adoption takes time.
💬 “AI is a 22nd century technology that 19th century organizations try to apply to 21st century problems.”
🧑🎨 Redefining Craft in the AI Era
A recurring theme: “easy” equals “no value.” Many agreed that the narrative must shift from cost-cutting to empowerment and storytelling. Students romanticize film sets and heavy gear, while veterans see bloated, expensive workflows ready for disruption.
Hybrid filmmaking (AI + traditional sets) may be the sweet spot.
Editors are increasingly seen as “directors of emotion” in AI pipelines.
The myth of filmmaking remains powerful, but emotion on screen—not process—may win in the end.
🏆 Gen48 Creations Roll In
This week saw a flood of 48-hour challenge films—from vintage-vibe shorts to polished micro-dramas. Community feedback highlighted both craft lessons and inspiration.
AI is compressing production cycles but not eliminating crunch.
Subtitles, dubbing, and multi-language reach were recurring topics.
The showcase spirit of Gen48 continues to rally the community.
View the MC community submissions that were shared:
🤖 Platforms, Tools & Feature Wars
Seedance, Nano Banana, and CapCut dominated chatter. Members were wowed by improved lip-sync and environment consistency, while others raised alarms over TOS and ownership.
CapCut’s rights grab makes it a no-go for pros.
Nano Banana is praised as a “one-click” fix for prompt adherence and restoration.
Competition feels like a “platform death match.”
💬 “CapCut likely just wiped out a dozen well-funded startups.”
⚖️ The Legal and Guild Drag Factor
From India’s Anurag Kashyap blasting an AI film to U.S. guild silence, industry politics loomed large. Lawsuits, EU AI Act debates, and copyright battles frame adoption as much as tech itself.
Entertainment execs are cautious not to alienate guilds or talent.
Many studios are experimenting—but staying quiet.
Members flagged lawsuits as both threat and forcing function.
🎭 SCP, Backrooms & Gen Z Horror
The SCP universe and “backrooms” aesthetic surfaced as prime examples of grassroots storytelling that resonate with younger audiences. Could AI help birth the next cultural mythos at scale?
💬 “Dude, that whole genre—SCP, back rooms. That’s Gen Z horror right there.”
🔗 LINK DROP- What the Community shared
🧪 Tools & Industry
🎥 Film & Art Projects
📚 Thought Pieces
Climate Think Pieces:
“We Love Robots” Channel 🔥 HOT TOPICS
🤔 Real or Fake? Ad Confusion in the Attention Economy
A viral Chipotle “drone burrito” campaign sparked debate over consumer trust. Some quickly verified it was real (via Zipline), while others flagged the rising burden of fact-checking every post.
Audiences are increasingly unsure what’s marketing, what’s parody, and what’s AI fakery.
Brands may need to act as gatekeepers of authenticity—ironically echoing the old TV model.
Others argued the ambiguity is the engagement: “We all know about Zipline now.”
💬 “If we have to Google every ad, that’s a bigger issue about trust in the attention economy.”
📉 Charts, Carbon, & Climate Cost of AI
Two widely shared charts comparing AI emissions with streaming and aviation triggered a deep dive into sustainability. Opinions diverged between exaggerated panic vs. underreported risk.
Reports suggest streaming now emits double aviation.
Film production’s footprint (travel, sets, crew) is “astronomical” in its own right.
AI’s water and energy use is contested—some see corporate spin, others see solvable inefficiencies.
💬 “The scale of server farm expansion is hard to ignore. And water is an utterly finite resource.”
🎓 Cheating, Education & AI Adaptation
One of the most animated threads of the week: is AI eroding learning—or exposing broken systems?
Students using AI to “cheat” may reflect outdated tests more than lazy learners.
Suggested adaptations: oral exams, live presentations, group projects, design-thinking tasks.
Debate boiled down to: does AI replace thinking, or shift where critical thinking happens?
💬 “Pilots use simulators. Why not integrate AI into the curriculum the same way?”
🧑💻 Open Source vs. Hyperscalers
Members sparred over whether open-source tools like ComfyUI and locally run models can realistically challenge Midjourney, Runway, or Bytedance-scale platforms.
One side: user base and distribution decide winners, not clever backends.
The counter: open systems may quietly power future apps, invisible to end users.
Analogy: “mainframes vs. garage hobbyists” in early computing.
💬 “User count is a lagging indicator of something truly transformative.”
👓 Gen Z Pushback on Surveillance Tech
A report on smart glasses sparked discussion: even the “most online” generation is drawing the line at constant passive recording in public spaces.
Echoes past resistance to Google Glass—but with more distrust today.
Raises new questions: if Gen Z resists, will AR adoption stall at the cultural level?
🌐 AI Skepticism & Cultural Trust
Several noted that misinformation, lobbying, and corporate spin mirror fracking-era tactics. Some remain deeply skeptical that AI’s environmental costs and societal risks are being honestly presented.
Big Tech is already hiring the same lawyers/lobbyists that once shaped fossil fuel narratives.
Others remain optimistic—arguing AI at least has direct, trackable benefits in daily life.
💬 “It’s better for the world if I’m wrong, so I want you to be right.”
🧑🎨 Applied Knowledge > Domain Knowledge
A recurring theme: knowledge is no longer scarce, execution is.
What matters: producing, collaborating, and showing how you made something.
Echoes from GenJams: essays feel stale, but live demos under pressure teach resilience.
💬 “Knowledge is no longer ‘specialized domain’—unless it’s applied.”
⚠️ Security Gets Weird: AI-Powered Ransomware
A link circulated about PromptLock—the first AI-powered ransomware discovered in the wild.
Raises alarms about generative AI not just disrupting media, but fueling cybercrime.
Reinforces that “AI security” may be its own fast-emerging industry.
Machine Cinema “GenTalks” — August 27, 2025
Our GenDojo Community Call is a weekly digital get together to connect on how we are all making our way through this new era for creative industries and AI among other emergent technologies. Each week we invite artists, builders, thought leaders to share their knowledge, their works in progress and their ideas on this emergent space. If you’d like to be added to the recurring invite please DM.
🧠 Meeting Summary
This week’s GenTalks spanned from the technical rollout of Google’s Nano Banana model to real-world insights on AI in Bollywood filmmaking, XR pipelines, legal issues, coding workflows, and the future of independent creative networks.
FEATURED GUESTS: Vivek Anchalia and Dulce Baerga shared decades of filmmaking and XR expertise, alongside practical experiments in AI games, VR nightclubs, and cross-platform storytelling.
🍌 Nano Banana – Google’s New Image Editing Model
Prompt: Fred Grinstein asked if anyone had “Nano Banana” stories, calling it a “centering moment” for Gemini.
What it is: A highly effective image editing model, works natively inside Google Net.
Access points: Already on platforms like Krea and Freepik; corporations are integrating its APIs.
Big update: Google officially released Nano Banana yesterday in Google AI Studio.
✨ Highlights & Themes
🎥 Vivek Anchalia – Bollywood Filmmaking with AI
Career Journey
20 years in filmmaking, starting in network television before moving into independent directing.
First film released on Geostar.
Adoption of AI in India
India was initially slow to adopt, but in the last 6 months AI has “exploded” into advertising and filmmaking.
Studios: Very receptive, eager for faster/cheaper content.
Traditional filmmakers: Strong resistance, some encounters described as “very violent.”
Industry Dynamics
Business pressures: 3+ years of industry decline → studios seeking cheaper production methods.
Collaboration requests: Growing interest, especially in micro-drama production.
Filmmaking Perspective
Sees AI as a way to make stories possible that budgets or actors would otherwise block.
Compares the workflow to documentary filmmaking—assembling a story from imperfect or unexpected material vs. the precision of a live-action set.
Notes the “surprise factor” of AI often pushes projects into new creative directions.
Representation of Indian Characters
Early tools rendered Indian faces poorly (skewed toward Chinese/Malaysian).
Now: Tools handle Indian characters well, resolving prior barriers.
Legal & Business Issues
Indemnification:
Google is the only platform indemnifying creators, which makes networks and clients more comfortable.
This is why Air India and Tata have begun using AI for promos and ads.
Copyright concerns:
U.S. Copyright Office says AI outputs are not copyrightable.
Proposed workaround: create content offline first (establish IP like Iron Man or Mickey Mouse before uploading).
Collaboration Outlook
Currently raising funds for a slate of AI projects.
Sees AI as an opportunity for global collaboration from the very start of story development.
Open to partnering with international artists for diverse perspectives.
🕹️ Dulce Baerga – XR Technologist & Immersive Builder
Background & Vision
XR technologist with roots in AI back to 1996 (first domain purchase).
Path: web development → interactive film → XR/WebXR.
Believes AI now enables the original vision for immersive internet projects.
Game Development with AI
Built a Candy Crush-style game in 48 hours using Claude.
Claude: Generated the initial layout + composed the music.
Used iterative feedback loops to refine and fix hallucinations.
Debugged and extended with GitHub Copilot in VS Code.
Comparing AI Models for Coding
Claude: Imaginative and expressive → best for creative front-end work (animations, interactive visuals).
Gemini: Logical and structured → excels at frameworks, back-end architecture, and workflow distillation.
ChatGPT (“Chat”): Minimalist → reliable for small steps, but limited to ~3 tasks at a time.
Gen Jam Proposal
Proposed a 48-hour “Gen Jam” festival with workshops + coaching.
Goal: help participants rapidly prototype apps and explore new pipelines for virtual environments.
Example focus: building a nightclub in VR for avatars.
Fred Grinstein endorsed the idea as a strong opportunity for the community.
VR Club & Lee Bowery Project
Created a VR nightclub experience featuring AI avatars inspired by Lee Bowery and their iconic costumes.
Built as a progressive web app for cross-platform access: Meta, Horizon Worlds, Fediverse.
Sees this as a way to expand independent web experiences beyond corporate ecosystems.
Open call for collaborators to expand this project further.
🌐 Alternative Networks & Community Building
Sultan Sharrief emphasized the importance of building alternative platforms to escape reliance on major social media.
Proposed idea of a “bouncing community”: one that gains energy as it flows through different events and gatherings.
Dulce connected this to their Lee Bowery project, inspired by a previous award-winning hackathon collab with Sultan’s team.
🔮 Future Engagements & Scope
Fred spotlighted opportunities for future workshops to develop a core cohort around Dulce’s projects.
Upcoming guest sessions:
John Gada – VFX Supervisor on The Matrix.
Animatics.ai team – AI-driven pre-visualization.
Underscored the wide scope of the community: from Bollywood to XR, gaming, and VFX pipelines.
🔥 Key Quotes
“AI filmmaking feels like documentary work—you piece together what you get, not always what you expect.” – Vivek Anchalia
“Google is the only platform indemnifying creators right now. That changes everything.” – Vivek Anchalia
“Claude is expressive, Gemini is pragmatic, Chat is the bare minimum.” – Dulce Baerga
“We need bouncing communities that grow as they move between events.” – Sultan Sharrief
📌 Resources & Links
Vivek Anchalia
Ulluman Promo
Dulce Baerga