Today’s AJ highlights: The media market is at war: the bidding for Warner Bros. Discovery has escalated into a hostile takeover attempt by Paramount (CNN). This massive consolidation is drawing antitrust scrutiny from the Trump FTC, a move one analyst argues would be a good thing for competition and market diversity (Slate). Amid the corporate struggles, smaller studios like A24 and Neon dominate the Golden Globes nominations (The New York Times). But small presses face a deep financial crisis due to market oversaturation by big publishing (LitHub).
There’s a profound AI identity crisis. The very definition of human intelligence is under threat, as scientists admit AI is passing nearly all human tests for cognitive ability (Nature). Even our private musical preferences are now a corporate scorecard, with a critique arguing that Spotify Wrapped is corrosive to genuine taste (The Guardian).
Amidst all this, the field of Architecture is redefining its purpose, pivoting from the “lone genius” model of the past to one focused on collective activism and social challenges (ArchDaily).
Bonus: I wrote a post that adds up how much of the creative work around us is now generated by AI (Diacritical). What happens if machines make the art and nobody cares?
All of our stories below.
