Digital replica APIs market projected to reach $2.4 billion by 2036, South Koreans use AI videos to remember deceased loved ones, China curbs AI companions as tech companies limit chatbot features

Artificial intelligence companies are expanding digital replica technology across business, marketing and bereavement services, as developers build systems that can generate personalized videos, simulate emotional conversations and recreate deceased loved ones. The digital replica APIs market is projected to grow from $145 million in 2026 to $2.4 billion by 2036, according to Fact.MR. The expansion is bringing new scrutiny from regulators and researchers. China has introduced restrictions on AI companions that encourage emotional dependency, while studies and emerging services are examining whether replicas of deceased people can comfort mourners without creating new risks involving consent, privacy and emotional attachment.

Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood PR consultancy Ginger Media & Entertainment, a journalist and researcher on technology and entertainment, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech

Europe’s AI funding is surging, with capital concentrating in a handful of breakout startups and the U.K. pulling ahead as the region’s leading market. At the same time, AI is moving deeper into entertainment production, with digital twins, generative video and VFX tools reshaping how film, TV, gaming and live experiences are made. The result is a clear picture of an industry shift: investment is accelerating, a small number of companies are capturing most of the money, and AI is spreading from model development into the workflows that power content creation and distribution.

AI in VFX market set to top $1.07 billionDigital Twin in entertainment market set for rapid growthEurope’s AI funding boom is led by the U.K. as investment spreads across the regionGenerative AI in movies market set to reach $1.03 billionMIPCOM Cannes adds microdramas to 2026 agendaGinger Liu is the founder of Hollywood PR consultancy Ginger Media & Entertainment, a journalist and researcher on technology and entertainment, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech

BAFTA adds AI disclosure rule to awards submissions, Aronofsky seeks new funding for Primordial Soup, Gossip Goblin’s AI film set for theatrical release, Anthropic settles landmark author piracy case for $1.5 billion, and other news.

Gossip Goblin’s Gods Don’t Give Gifts is headed to U.S. theaters on Oct. 30, Ash Koosha’s Dreams of Violets was the first fully AI-generated film to screen at Tribeca earlier this year, and Koosha has now released Odysseus: The Fall to coincide with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, as Darren Aronofsky’s AI studio push and the backlash around Neill Blomkamp’s Nightborne show how heated the debate has become.

This week’s Entertainment AI Tech News roundup covers the industry’s push to draw clearer lines around AI use, from BAFTA’s new disclosure rule for awards submissions and Anthropic’s $1.5bn settlement with authors over pirated training data, to Netflix’s admission that generative AI appeared in roughly 300 titles and its $587m acquisition of Ben Affleck’s postproduction startup, while also tracking AI-native content moving toward mainstream distribution with Gossip Goblin’s theatrical release, Darren Aronofsky’s fresh funding push for Primordial Soup and the mixed reactions to high-profile AI experiments from Neill Blomkamp and others.

Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood PR consultancy Ginger Media & Entertainment, a journalist and researcher on technology and entertainment, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech

Entertainment AI Tech News with Ginger Liu

AI-generated Odysseus: The Fall released ahead of Nolan’s The Odyssey, Netflix admits generative AI used in 300 TV shows and films, PixVerse raises $439 million as AI video

Netflix has confirmed that generative AI was used in the production of around 300 films and television series in 2026, underscoring how rapidly the technology is becoming embedded in mainstream entertainment.

Singapore-based AI video-generation startup PixVerse has raised an additional $439 million in a Series C extension, pushing its valuation above $2 billion and underscoring investor confidence in the fast-growing AI video sector. The new capital follows an earlier Series C close this year and brings the total raised in the round to $439 million.

Congress is advancing the No Fakes Act, a bipartisan bill in Washington designed to curb AI deepfakes that copy a person’s voice and image without consent.

Amazon MGM Studios has pulled the AI-animated series Punky Duck from its GenAI Creators Fund after director Jorge R. Gutiérrez quit the project following a wave of online death threats and doxxing.

Ten filmmakers have premiered AI-native short films at the Raindance Film Festival in London as part of Lost Canon, a new series produced by Moonmax and built entirely inside CapCut Video Studio.

AI film studio Fountain Zero will release Odysseus: The Fall, a 135-minute, AI-generated adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey from Dreams of Violets director Ash Koosha, for rental and purchase on its website later this summer.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a Los Angeles startup is recruiting writers and creators with credits on Sharknado and Doctor Who for a slate of AI-driven films, in one of the clearest signs yet that the technology is moving deeper into mainstream screen production.

A German feature film has become the first to use the Auschwitz Memorial’s new digital replica of the former concentration camp, marking a departure from decades of strict rules that had largely barred fiction productions at the site.

Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood PR consultancy Ginger Media & Entertainment, a journalist and researcher on technology and entertainment, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech

Oscars draw firmer line on AI, Art Directors Guild Criticizes Scorsese’s AI Storyboarding Promotion, London Startup Cascade Opens AI-Native Production Platform

Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood PR agency, Ginger Media & Entertainment, journalist and researcher on technology and entertainment, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech

Google DeepMind’s new partnership with A24 signals how AI filmmaking tools are moving into mainstream production, with the focus on storyboards, workflows, and creative support rather than training on studio IP. This episode also covers SAG-AFTRA’s expanded AI protections, Obsidian Studio’s human-plus-AI filmmaking model, legal pressure on Meta over AI training, the proposed No Fakes Act, and backlash in China over AI actors and portrait rights.

Google DeepMind’s $75 million partnership with A24 marks one of the clearest signs yet that AI filmmaking is shifting from experimentation to real studio workflow. The deal gives A24 Labs and Google’s researchers a chance to build new tools for filmmakers, including AI-assisted storyboarding, while stopping short of using A24’s film and TV catalog for model training. That makes the collaboration less about replacing creative development and more about shaping how directors, producers, and production teams work inside a studio environment.

The broader episode shows that Hollywood is now negotiating AI on multiple fronts at once. SAG-AFTRA has ratified a new contract with stronger protections around synthetic performers and digital replicas, while Obsidian Studio is pitching AI as a production accelerator that still depends on human judgment. At the same time, publishers are suing Meta over AI training, Congress is weighing the No Fakes Act and its impact on digital replicas, and China’s rise of AI actors is triggering backlash over celebrity lookalikes, consent, and portrait rights. Together, these stories point to an industry that is still deciding where AI belongs, who controls it, and what counts as legitimate creative use.

Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood PR agency, Ginger Media & Entertainment, journalist and researcher on technology and entertainment, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech

Hollywood studios drop Sam Altman biopic after Amazon exit, Michael Caine’s AI voice to narrate new Odyssey audiobook ahead of Nolan film, The new AI film battleground is usability, not raw model power, and other news.

Hollywood’s response to AI is becoming a business story as much as a creative one, with Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial and the Sam Altman biopic controversy showing how distributor politics, studio relationships, and AI partnerships can shape what reaches audiences. This episode also covers AI-driven entertainment developments including synthetic voice narration, AI art spaces, new filmmaking tools, and the growing use of AI across film, media, and digital storytelling.

Hollywood is changing the way it responds to AI-related stories, and one of the clearest examples is the reported distribution trouble around Luca Guadagnino’s nearly completed Sam Altman biopic, Artificial. As Amazon MGM and other major studios step back, the film has become a sign of how commercial ties to AI companies may be influencing what Hollywood is willing to release, especially when the subject is a powerful figure at the centre of the AI industry.

That same tension runs through the rest of this episode, from Michael Caine’s AI voice narrating a new Odyssey audiobook to the opening of DATALAND, the world’s first museum of AI art. It also shows up in the rise of AI filmmaking tools designed for real production workflows, not just experimentation, and in the way microdramas are moving into theatrical promotion. Together, these stories point to a bigger shift in entertainment, where AI is affecting film distribution, voice performance, visual art, and production itself.

Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood PR agency, Ginger Media & Entertainment, journalist and researcher on technology and entertainment, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech

Meta once explored an AI system that could keep posting on behalf of users after death, simulating their likes, comments, messages, and even calls from beyond the grave. This episode also looks at the wider rise of grief tech, AI resurrection tools, and new research warning that digital likenesses and chatbots can turn the dead into monetized “spectral labor” while raising serious questions about consent, memory, and digital afterlife culture

Meta’s old patent for an AI system that could simulate deceased users has reopened a bigger debate about what happens to our digital selves after death. The company’s concept imagined a large language model trained on a person’s past activity to keep liking, commenting, messaging, and even appearing in calls long after the user was gone, but Meta now says it has no plans to pursue the idea. That retreat comes as grief tech startups, funeral chatbots, and AI avatar tools continue to expand, making digital afterlife services a growing part of the broader AI economy.

The issue is no longer just whether AI can imitate someone, but whether it should. Researchers studying AI resurrection technology argue that recreating dead people’s voices, faces, and personalities can amount to “spectral labor,” turning the dead into reusable digital workers without clear consent or legal protection. At the same time, related AI concerns are spreading into mental health, with studies warning that chatbots can reinforce delusions and intensify harmful thinking in vulnerable users. Together, these stories show how AI is moving deeper into grief, identity, and emotional dependence, while companies and regulators struggle to keep pace.

Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood PR agency, Ginger Media & Entertainment, journalist and researcher on technology and entertainment, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech

The entertainment media market is projected to more than double by 2035, driven by streaming, gaming, digital content, and AI-powered recommendations that are reshaping how audiences consume entertainment. In this episode, we also look at the UK’s record film and high-end TV spending, the rapid rise of AI video generation, and how Oscar recognition still influences theatrical viewership even as streaming changes audience habits.

The global entertainment media market is entering a major expansion phase as streaming, gaming, and on-demand digital content continue to reshape how audiences consume entertainment. According to market projections, the sector is expected to grow from $3.24 trillion in 2025 to $6.17 trillion by 2035, while the U.S. market alone is forecast to rise from about $971.77 billion to $1.43 trillion over the same period. Much of that growth is being driven by digital streaming, which now makes up nearly 40% of industry revenue, alongside rising demand for original programming, mobile gaming, esports, and immersive formats such as virtual and augmented reality.

At the same time, the industry is facing pressure from piracy, rising production costs, and the need to keep audiences engaged across increasingly fragmented platforms. Studios and streamers are investing heavily in exclusive content, while gaming and ad-supported digital formats continue to expand their share of the market. Regional growth is also shifting the balance of power, with North America still leading and Asia Pacific emerging as the fastest-growing market thanks to mobile-first audiences in countries like China, India, Japan, and South Korea. In the UK, film and high-end TV spending has also surged, reinforcing how competitive the global content market has become. Even the Oscars remain influential, with awards recognition still capable of driving audience interest in theatrical releases and streaming viewership, even as viewing habits continue to evolve.

Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood PR agency, Ginger Media & Entertainment, journalist and researcher on technology and entertainment, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech

Artificial intelligence is now reshaping every stage of film and TV production, from script development and planning to editing and viewer analytics. Streaming platforms are racing to feed global audiences, and AI tools that speed up workflows and reduce costs are becoming essential in the cutthroat competition. Actors face little direct threat. Synthetic performers and digital doubles are still experimental. The bigger change is in the production engine, with scheduling software, editing systems, and simulation tools transforming how films take shape well before release.

Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood PR agency, Ginger Media & Entertainment, AI and Entertainment Reporter and researcher, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech