# Big Tech Buy Hollywood For Soft Power: AI Film & The Cost of Empty Sound Stages ft. Alan Lasky

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732/big-tech-buy-hollywood-for-soft-power-ai-film-the-cost-of-empty-sound-stages-ft-alan-lasky
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732/big-tech-buy-hollywood-for-soft-power-ai-film-the-cost-of-empty-sound-stages-ft-alan-lasky.md
Podcast: [The AI XR Podcast.](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732)
Published: 2026-06-19T06:43:27+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/this-week-in-xr-podcast/episodes/tech-giants-buy-hollywood-for-soft-power-ai-film-the-cost-of
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5f2ae0b91ea7197e1ef08ed6/e/6a34e5104a8189f2c3993033/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732/episodes/big-tech-buy-hollywood-for-soft-power-ai-film-the-cost-of-empty-sound-stages-ft-alan-lasky
Duration seconds: 3074

## Resource

Alan Lasky arrived at the AI XR Podcast straight from Las Vegas ahead of NAB. An MIT Media Lab graduate under Nicholas Negroponte, a veteran of Silicon Graphics and Amazon Web Services, and an advisor to investment banks on AI and media, he brings technical depth, industry history, and financial realism about where media is actually going. The conversation covers Hollywood's structural collapse, AI's role in the production renaissance, and the harder question of why trillion-dollar tech companies keep buying media businesses that can't generate comparable returns. Alan's answer: soft power. Amazon makes $950 million Lord of the Rings spinoffs so you order more paper towels. Apple is making Neuromancer. His five-year weighted moving average of Disney stock — flat from 2018 — makes the argument clean. AI XR News You Should Know: Artemis ignited a new space boom. Amazon acquired Global Star satellite to build Project Kuiper, a direct Starlink competitor. Apple's AI audio smart glasses are reportedly arriving this year per Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, entering a market where Meta owns the optometrist channel and Google is moving through Warby Parker. Snap laid off 15% while doubling down on the 2026 launch of Spectacles — the first see-through headset since Magic Leap. Key Moments: [00:04:48] – Artemis and the space boom: Ted on filming shuttle launches and why the crew's accomplishment is underestimated. [00:08:33] – Apple AI audio glasses: Rony's read from former Magic Leapers who designed them — if Apple gets this wrong, it's unforgivable. [00:12:00] – Snap's layoffs and the see-through gamble: can they compete with cheap AI audio glasses flooding the market? [00:16:43] – Hollywood is no longer the center of the universe — Alan on why most of the industry hasn't metabolize…

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