Who decides when AI acts on your behalf?
AI agents are moving beyond screens into ambient experiences that interpret your intent from context, behavior, and biometric signals. They'll negotiate on your behalf and will do things like assembling content, executing payments, coordinating across platforms. But the issue is that when AI systems remix content from multiple sources, creators aren't paid most of the time, privacy boundaries don't exist, and rules are being treated like suggestions. The negotiation between your agent, creator systems, and platforms is already starting to happen. We've seen this pattern before when digital music distribution scaled faster than payment infrastructure. The difference this time is that we can build a better way to manage all this before things break.
Instagram Reels on TV isn’t Social TV (yet)
Instagram is bringing Reels to TV via Amazon Fire TV devices, but it's not Social TV. Instead, it's just mobile content on a bigger screen. In this blog post we make a comparison to how early films emulated theater plays because it was porting over an old way of doing things onto a new environment. This feels similar. The real opportunity isn't going beyond mobile social feeds on TV and designing experiences for how people actually gather around screens.
World Futures Day, AI Hot Takes, and the Future People Actually Want
December 2 is UNESCO World Futures Day, a reminder that everyone should have agency in shaping what comes next. In that same spirit, Ambistream has been hosting events, asking a variety of people their hopes, concerns, and predictions for a post-AI world. Their answers reveal what people actually want: human connection, creative tools guided by values, and technology that adapts to how we want to feel. Read the full conversation
Europe Podcast Interview with Ambistream
In this podcast interview, Michael breaks down how social TV, legal remixing, and AI-driven media tools are reshaping streaming, why Hollywood’s old IP model is collapsing, how Ambistream works with cultural institutions and creators to test interactive channels, and why Europe’s AI regulations set the tone for global expansion. He also previews new AI content-producer agents that blend human editing with predictive media generation.
AI Hot Takes #5: Websummit After Parties
More AI Hot Takes, this time from the after parties, taking people’s real opinions after they watched hours of panels and speakers sharing their wisdom (or selling their company’s products)
AI Hot Takes #4: Websummit, Ethics & Caution
More AI Hot Takes, this time from serious and regulation-minded people.
AI Hot Takes Part 3: At the unofficial Websummit LGBTQ+ Party
The Unofficial Web Summit LGBTQ+ Party at The Late Birds Hotel brought together queer founders, VCs, and community members to share their perspectives on AI. From optimism about creative freedom to concerns about human connection, attendees offered unfiltered takes on how AI will reshape work, relationships, and the future.
AI Hot Takes part 2: #LisbonAIweek at the AI Hub
Lisbon AI week included a fresh addition of AI Hot Takes. Creators, builders and skeptics came together at the AI Hub and shared ideas about how artificial intelligence will impact creativity, trust, and human connection.
Newsletter: What does an "AI Maximalist" actually mean?
Recapping our #AIweekNY party, plus beta testers wanted and fundraising updates
The Future of Ads Is Remixable: How Generative AI Hackathon Gave Old Ads New Life
We spent a weekend in New York building the AI Remix Engine, a system that uses video intelligence to turn long, archived ads into short, modern clips that feel natural in today’s feeds. Using TwelveLabs, we trained it to recognize emotion, pacing, and story within old commercials, finding the moments that still work and giving them new life. It’s a first step toward ads that blend with content instead of interrupting it.
AI Hot Takes from the #AIweekNY opening night party
At the Bohemian AI Salon we filmed some AI hot takes from builders, artists, investors, and the politely outraged. Here are the results!
Bohemian Ideas from a Disco Dancefloor
A disco tea party in the Village reminded me of how spaces like Romany Marie’s salons once shaped culture through conversation. So I’m hosting a small AI salon on Oct 6 during #AIWeekNY — no panels, just real talk between builders, artists, philosophers, and investors about where AI is headed (and what we want it to be). Access the event signup link