8 AI Predictions for 2025: From an AI-Made Hollywood Blockbuster to ‘Immersive’ TV Viewing

The world of artificial intelligence had a remarkable 2024. Tech companies and venture capitalists poured billions of dollars into further developing the technology in a furious race to stay competitive. Hollywood studios and AI startup firms pushed to incorporate more AI into the production of film and television content, while media companies began to experiment with using AI to automate news feeds and generate stories.

By the start of the fourth quarter, global venture capital investment in AI had already surpassed 2023 levels, with funding through September reaching $55.3 billion — $1.2 billion more than last year.

Heading into 2025, TheWrap spoke to eight AI experts, including Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela and MARZ chief executive Jonathan Bronfman, to get their predictions for how AI will play a role in tech and entertainment this year.

Their bets range from a studio releasing a hit movie made entirely with AI to a forecast that news organizations like The New York Times will score key legal victories in their battle to limit how AI companies scrape online content to build up their models.

Here’s a look at some of 2024’s biggest AI headlines:

• OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed company behind ChatGPT, took steps to shift out of its nonprofit status, a move that would make CEO Sam Altman $10.5 billion richer. (The company is valued at $157 billion after its latest funding round closed in October.) OpenAI’s push to become a for-profit company has received stiff criticism and legal pushback from Meta and Elon Musk, OpenAI’s most vocal critic, as 2024 comes to a close.
• In September, filmmaker James Cameron joined the board of directors of Stability AI, an artificial intelligence company that allows users to create images, as well as audio and visual content via text and image prompts.
• A number of news organizations — including the New York Post, Time Magazine and Vox — struck licensing deals with OpenAI, allowing the company to use content from the outlets in responses from ChatGPT.
• The media-AI relationship was not all roses, though: The New York Post and Dow Jones sued Perplexity AI, claiming the startup illegally ripped off a “massive amount” of its reporting. The New York Times sued Open AI and Microsoft for copyright infringement in December 2023 and also sent a “cease and desist” order to Perplexity, demanding the company stop using its content.

Here is where some industry leaders see AI heading in 2025:

AI and Hollywood

Jonathan Bronfman — CEO of MARZ, an Emmy-nominated VFX and AI company:

In my opinion, AI will start to permeate Hollywood in a meaningful way in 2025.

It may not fully replace departments, but it will enable almost every department from physical production crews to post production. AI in Hollywood is akin to a tarmac full of planes ready to take off. In 2025 we will see the first few get off the runway.

Cristóbal Valenzuela — CEO of Runway, a creator-focused AI company that specializes in AI video generated by text, video and image prompts:

The prospect of an AI-generated feature film achieving mainstream success feels increasingly inevitable. I strongly believe that by 2025 there will be at least one hit feature film made entirely with AI.

New forms of storytelling

Edward Saatchi — CEO of Fable Studio, the company behind Showrunner, an AI-powered streaming platform where users can create their own animated series:

By the end of 2025 you will be able to tell your TV, “Give me an episode of my favorite TV show” — for example, “Rick and Morty” — “where me and my kids are part of the story, and Rick recruits our family to go on a mission to save Morty.”

It’ll be immersive, fun and create whole new revenue opportunities for studios and show creators: rejuvenating old libraries, finding new artistic voices and monetizing fans who want to subscribe to make their own “fan scenes” and episodes.

In this future, the “story world builders” are king — and rich, detailed story worlds that fans can lose themselves in and create within will be the first trillion dollar IPs.

Yangbin Wang — CEO of Vobile, a SaaS company that leverages its AI technology for digital content protection and monetization services:

Generative AI is transforming the media and entertainment industry by fostering diverse and inclusive storytelling while reducing barriers to entry for creators. 

In 2025, AI-powered storytelling tools will become more accessible to a wide range of creators. We will also see the emergence of revenue-share models that allow rightsholders to be compensated, along with generative AI platforms that respect intellectual property and copyrighted works.

EEE (Enhanced Entertainment Efficiency) unlocks creativity

Sean King — general manager of media at Veritone, a leading enterprise AI software provider that helps a number of media and entertainment firms enhance and protect their content:

Over the next year, AI will become an indispensable part of the creative supply chain in the entertainment industry.

Studios and creative production teams will increasingly leverage AI to enhance efficiency across the entire creative process — from script development to visual effects and marketing strategies. AI won’t replace creativity, but will act as one of many powerful tools that can enable creators to focus on storytelling and innovation while streamlining time-intensive tasks like managing, distributing and monetizing content.

This synergy between human creativity and AI-driven efficiencies will unlock unprecedented opportunities for storytelling at scale.

Teresa Phillips — CEO of Spherex, which leverages its AI technology to generate age ratings for its content partners, ensuring video content complies with local regulations in a myriad of markets:

In 2025, generative AI will enable real-time, in-stream editing, automatically adjusting scenes and dialogue for regional compliance and audience sensitivities without disrupting the narrative flow.

This capability will transform how media companies approach localization, eliminating multiple content versions while ensuring cultural relevance and regulatory compliance. Viewers will rarely notice these dynamic adjustments, allowing content to flow seamlessly across cultural boundaries without additional investment.

Dom Perella — CEO of Character.AI, a chatbot service that offers users millions of AI-generated characters to interact with:

To date, a huge amount of attention and investment has been devoted to AI as a utility.

In 2025, I believe the focus will shift. We’ll see more personal applications in interactive entertainment, and advancements in AI-driven video and voice tech will help create a more engaging, entertaining and personal consumer experience.

The AI-media legal battle heats up

Peter Csathy — chairman of Creative Media, an entertainment and tech business advisory and legal services firm:

In 2025, federal courts hearing generative AI copyright infringement cases (e.g., NY Times v. OpenAI, Dow Jones v. Perplexity) will make their first “fair use” decisions, and those initial decisions will come down on the side of rightsholders (rejecting fair use).

That won’t mean the “fair use” issue will be conclusively resolved, of course, since the generative AI companies on the losing end will certainly appeal. But these critical initial legal victories by media will impact and accelerate the market for licensing their content for generative AI purposes, significantly (and properly) increasing the dollars and overall economics that flow to rightsholders.

The post 8 AI Predictions for 2025: From an AI-Made Hollywood Blockbuster to ‘Immersive’ TV Viewing appeared first on TheWrap.