Inevitable AI
The unavoidable future of generative content?
Editor’s Note: 18 Industry leaders in NYC joined us for breakfast to talk about the future of content. The word inevitability was uttered many times, generating a lot of pushback.
We hosted our breakfast in the back room at Gemma Italian Trattoria at the Bowery Hotel in New York City.
The discourse centered on this prediction about AI:
The future of content will be generative, ephemeral, and prompted by your needs, wants, and desires.
This future will come in 3 distinct phases
(we are currently in phase 1)
Phase 1
AI tools for professionals to produce more content more efficiently.
Phase 2
AI tools for non-professionals to produce professional-looking content (similar to blogs and print)
Phase 3
Brands generating consumer content based on targeted user data.
This theory does not predict a total takeover of the content supply chain; cinema will still exist; live sports will still exist; but the majority of content consumption will be generative.
Why it matters
As AI moves from assisting creators to generating personalized content in real time, we’re on the brink of a media transformation that could either revolutionize how we consume or isolate us further into echo chambers.
Matt Chmiel
Head of Discourse
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The table had several key reactions:
The Dystopian Risk
Some attendees warned this will create tribal bubbles, reinforcing personal biases and isolating communities. One participant pointed to political radicalization, noting AI’s role in amplifying divisive content.
"We’ll end up in a civil war before we reach this inevitability."
The Loss of Choice
Concerns were raised about algorithms controlling our consumption:
“We’re just TikTok zombies at this point.”
The fear is that AI will strip away free will, reducing us to passive consumers.
Hope for Personal Content
Others embraced the potential for wildly creative, personalized experiences, like one attendee’s dream of blending Darth Vader with Rocky in a custom AI-generated adventure.
Interactive, participatory content could reshape entertainment into a collaborative experience—where viewers not only watch but star in their own creations.
Too Much?
What happens to shared experiences? If everyone gets a different ending to the same movie, are we losing cultural touchstones? Some worried this could fragment society further, erasing the moments that bring us together.
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