{"podcast":{"title":"The AI XR Podcast.","slug":"the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732","podcast_index_feed_id":1291732,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/5f2ae0b91ea7197e1ef08ed6","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/this-week-in-xr-podcast","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5f2ae0b91ea7197e1ef08ed6/1736361729991-15e2e673-ad12-4a45-b117-7e42a45c0af8.jpeg","author":"Charlie Fink","episode_count":303,"summary":"Get the inside story on the biggest tech developments from founders, former executives, and industry veterans who built companies like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta Reality Labs, Apple Vision Pro, Microsoft HoloLens, and Unity. Join Charlie Fink (Forbes), Ted Schilowitz, (Red Camera, Fox, Paramount Futurist) & Rony Abovitz, (founder Magic Leap).as they interview startup CEOs, ex-Google/Meta/Apple insiders, Hollywood directors, and AI researchers reshaping spatial computing. Every week we break down the latest tech news with our signature hot takes, then dive deep with a founder or industry leader. We cover artificial intelligence breakthroughs, virtual reality hardware, augmented reality applications, synthetic media tools, and how enterprises are adopting these technologies. We're industry insiders who have the connections to get the biggest names on the show, but we're not afraid to ask the tough questions about where big tech is heading. Our guests trust us because we've been in their shoes. Listen now to get ahead of the next wave of computing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-25T20:20:59.917359+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732"},"episode":{"title":"Big Tech Buy Hollywood For Soft Power: AI Film & The Cost of Empty Sound Stages ft. Alan Lasky","slug":"big-tech-buy-hollywood-for-soft-power-ai-film-the-cost-of-empty-sound-stages-ft-alan-lasky","published_at":"2026-06-19T06:43:27+00:00","page_url":"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","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732","url":"https://shows.acast.com/this-week-in-xr-podcast/episodes/tech-giants-buy-hollywood-for-soft-power-ai-film-the-cost-of","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5f2ae0b91ea7197e1ef08ed6/e/6a34e5104a8189f2c3993033/media.mp3","summary":"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…","meta_description":"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 Gr…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3074,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"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/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"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","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}