Hollywood’s A.I. Moment
The Daily
01/18/26
•37m
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There’s a lot of anxiety about artificial intelligence invading Hollywood; the general mood there right now could be called “doom and gloom.” But speculation about a future where A.I. actors perform A.I. scripts in A.I.-generated movies often obscures the role A.I. is currently playing in the industry.
In this episode, the host Michael Barbaro talks with the Hollywood reporter Brooks Barnes and the movie critic Alissa Wilkinson about the ways that A.I. is already showing up in our movies and television today, and how they see it contributing to — and complicating — the future.
On Today’s Episode:
Alissa Wilkinson is a Times movie critic.
Brooks Barnes is the chief Hollywood correspondent for The Times.
Background Reading:
Can You Believe the Documentary You’re Watching?
Disney Agrees to Bring Its Characters to OpenAI’s Sora Videos
‘The Wizard of Oz’ Is Getting an A.I. Glow-Up. Cue the Pitchforks.
Is ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Sphere the Future of Cinema? Or the End of It?
Photo: Roger Kisby for The New York Times
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
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In the 365 days since Donald J. Trump was sworn into his second term as president, he has fired, pardoned, prosecuted, tariffed, deployed, deposed, dismantled and deported his way to a new kind of American government, one designed almost entirely in his image. In the process, he has not only transformed the federal government, he has also changed, possibly forever, the very nature of the American presidency.
On today’s episode, Michael Barbaro speaks with three longtime chroniclers of Trump’s presidency about how to make sense of what Trump has done over the past year and what his next three years in office might bring.
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For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.
Photo: Kenny Holston/The New York TImes
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
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