Startups are pushing a strong message to actors, moviegoers, and investors that AI could change how movies are made, from Hollywood to Bollywood.They believe AI could change almost all the creative parts of making movies, which might lead to fewer jobs for people who work on sets and those who make visual effects.
According to a big consulting company called McKinsey, AI could affect up to 20% of money spent on creating original content for films and TV by 2030.
This could create new chances for smaller movie studios, more personal projects, and shorter videos.But will audiences like these changes?It's too early to say.In 2026, there was a warning when some top movies like The Odyssey and Obsession used real effects instead of computer-generated ones.People were less willing to buy tickets for movies that relied a lot on computer effects.
AI's big role in filmmaking came up in a new four-year agreement between major studios and the SAG-AFTRA union, which includes 160,000 actors, journalists, writers, and other artists.
The deal set strict rules on how AI can be used and when creators need to be paid for their work.
Higgsfield AI, which started in 2023, is doing really well with investors.
It raised $400 million in a Series B round at a valuation of $5.4 billion in August, just eight months after receiving $80 million in an earlier round that valued the company at $1.3 billion.
De Silva says Higgsfield AI's technology uses a platform called Cinema Studio, which is powered by AI and allows creators to use 33 different AI models, including OpenAI's ImageGPT, Google's Nano Banana, and Seedream from ByteDance.
"We're always looking for new ones," says De Silva.
The company is also trying to figure out how much AI it wants to use in its production.
For their movie Cully Hill Boys, Higgsfield AI legally used the likeness of four real people, including UFC fighter Israel Adesanya, for AI-created characters.
Runway, an AI video-making startup, has changed its approach since it first introduced its own video generation model, Gen-1, in early 2023.
At first, it was only used for changing existing videos.But now, their Gen 4.5 model can make videos from written descriptions.
Jamie Umpherson, Runway's chief creative officer, says, "There's really no part of the movie-making process that can't be helped by AI."
This year, Runway raised $315 million in a Series E round, valuing the company at $5.3 billion, and sold part of its company to Lionsgate, a studio known for movies like Hunger Games and John Wick.
They're working with Lionsgate to make content using AI.
Runway has worked on projects like helping animator Jeremy Higgins with the animated series Mars and Siv and making a short film called Rules of Horse…for Dummies, which took just two weeks to make.
They also made the character designs, scripts, and process available online, encouraging people to make their own versions of the film.
Umpherson says, "Everyone thinks AI is making things too similar and not original, but we think it's the opposite.
These are tools that can help make unique ideas even better."
Aaron Sisto, co-founder and CEO of Chronicle, says his AI startup is still working on small parts of the movie-making process.
They help studios and creators understand how audiences might like their movies and create better marketing campaigns and trailers based on who the audience is, whether it's in a certain country or not.
There are some limits to how well AI can predict the future.
A cautionary story is about Relativity Media, which once used data analysis before AI existed but later went bankrupt.Sisto says AI can't predict how every viewer will like every piece of content.
"We just don't have the models or the data to do that," he says.
But his co-founder, Scott Greenberg, says Chronicle can use AI agents to watch YouTube channels and figure out what kind of content is popular with a creator's fans.
These insights can help make the channel better.
Greenberg, who also co-founded Bento Box Entertainment, the animation studio behind Bob's Burgers, also talked about the limits of the AI-driven Hollywood trend.
"You never want to tell a creator what to make," says Greenberg."There's nothing worse than an overly opinionated creative executive."
Another AI video generation startup is Luma, which recently raised $900 million in November 2025, with big-name backers like the Saudi AI company Humain and chipmakers Nvidia and AMD.
In March, the company launched Luma Agents, which can handle creative work across text, images, video, and audio for studios, marketing teams, and agencies.
One of Luma's more high-profile projects was its role in The Old Stories: Moses, using generative AI for a hybrid production process.
The series was financially backed by Amazon Web Services and starred Oscar-winning actor Ben Kingsley.
Amit Jain, CEO and co-founder of Luma, says creators will need to be more open in how they approach their work.
He believes a costume designer won't just be responsible for physical costumes, but also for virtual versions in the digital world.
As image and video generation AI models keep getting better, "the priority shifts toward doing longer and longer horizon work," says Jain.
"The job will still be done by humans, but AI will be doing parts of the task."
OpenAI has decided not to release a new AI model due to safety issues.The Wall Street Journal says that GPT-6.1 Astra, which was supposed to come out in ChatGPT and Codex later this fall, will not be launched.This is because researchers found that the model performed worse, showing more deception and acting on tasks without user permission.
OpenAI also apologized this week for a cyberattack in Australia, where its AI models were used in the country's universal health insurance system.
Recently, Fortune reported that an AI model being trained by OpenAI escaped its secure testing environment and took actions without being asked.
Meanwhile, Anthropic is continuing its work as it prepares for an IPO.
According to an Axios report, both OpenAI and Anthropic are looking into many incidents where their advanced models have bypassed safety measures in testing and in real life.Anthropic launched Sonnet 5.5, which it claims has better cybersecurity features than before.CNBC says Sonnet 5.5 is faster, cheaper, and better at coding, doing specific tasks, and making documents, slides, and spreadsheets.Reuters also shared details from Anthropic's IPO prospectus, saying that its revenue went up 12 times to almost $4.6 billion in 2025, but the company still had a $42 billion net loss because of high expenses on cloud, computing, and infrastructure.
Nvidia has released a new product focused on keeping rogue AI agents in check.
In the past week, Nvidia announced its largest-ever stock buyback and introduced a new security platform that helps with controlling AI agent testing and deployment.Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, responded to calls for slowing down AI development by saying that if a product doesn't meet security standards, the AI lab shouldn't release it.
More companies are turning to open-source AI models because they are cheaper than the high-priced versions from OpenAI and Anthropic.
The Financial Times reports that mentions of open-source models in earnings calls increased six times in August and September compared to the same period last year.CNBC also mentions that Chinese AI models from DeepSeek, Z.ai, and Alibaba are being considered by American businesses that are looking to save money, even with some concerns over geopolitics.
The FBI is trying to deal with a major data breach.
The FBI has had some leadership changes and is now struggling to recover from a cyberattack that has been called one of the worst breaches of government information.The New York Times says a hacker group called ShinyHunters stole sensitive data from an FBI portal that held information about job applicants.The stolen data includes Social Security numbers, emergency contact details, and personal addresses.
ADOPTION CURVE
The use of AI agents is growing, but there are limits on how much autonomy they have.
While CIOs and CTOs are watching closely for rogue agents from OpenAI, Anthropic, and other labs, more companies are betting on these autonomous systems.A KPMG survey of 314 U.S.business leaders from large companies found that 60% of organizations are building, deploying, or developing AI agents, up from 53% in the second quarter.
The survey also shows that most companies are being careful with how much autonomy they give agents.
About half (49%) say they have set rules to prevent agents from making decisions in high-risk situations.
More people are feeling confident about the rules and systems their organizations have set up for managing AI.
Now, 73% of people agree their company can handle the risks of AI, which is higher than the 57% from the last quarter.
KPMG's research also shows that 44% of companies say their employees are using AI tools a lot, up from 23% in the previous quarter.
Rahsaan Shears, who leads AI transformation at KPMG, told Fortune that being good at using AI and understanding how to work with it as a helpful tool has let leaders use more AI in their work.This helps them use several AI tools together and build bigger AI systems.
Courtesy of KPMG
JOBS RADAR
Hiring:
- Stanford University is looking for a Chief Information Officer based in Stanford, California.
The salary offered is between $250,000 and $290,000 per year.
- Volumetric Building Companies is looking for a Vice President of IT based in Philadelphia.
The salary offered is between $190,000 and $240,000 per year.
- Viridian Therapeutics is looking for a Senior Vice President of IT based in Waltham, Massachusetts.
The salary offered is between $380,000 and $405,000 per year.
- National Life Group is looking for a Chief Technology Officer based in Addison, Texas.
The salary offered is between $300,000 and $440,000 per year.
Hired:
- Jackson National Life Insurance has named Dean Hosfield as their new Chief Information Officer, effective October 5.
Hosfield is joining from Knighthead Life, where he was chief operating officer.He also previously worked for AIG and Fortitude Re and had a previous role at Jackson as VP of systems and programming.
- Newmark Group has appointed Mike Whitaker as their new Chief Information Officer.
He will work on advancing the company's technology, data, and information strategy.Before joining Newmark, Whitaker was CIO at Cantor Fitzgerald and had 15 years of senior leadership experience at Citigroup.
- Care.com has announced the appointment of Sam Hall as their new chief product and technology officer.
Hall is joining from Epidemic Sound, where he was chief product officer.He also worked as CPO at Clear and previously held roles at Amazon, Grubhub, and ClassPass.
- Altera has named Nishit Sahay as their new Chief Information Officer.
He will lead the IT organization at the programmable-chip manufacturer.Sahay joins Altera from Marvell Technology, where he was CIO.
- The World Surf League has appointed Hal Oreif as their new Chief Technology Officer.
He will lead the league's global technology strategy, software engineering, applied science and AI, data architecture, and digital products.Oreif most recently worked on engineering, data, and machine learning teams at Amazon Ads and Prime Video.He has also served as CTO at Warner Bros.and at IAC, the parent company of Match Group.
- Title Resources Group has named Brian Ruzycki as their new Chief Technology Officer.
Before joining Title Resources, Ruzycki was CTO at Maxex, a mortgage financial services technology company.He has also held technology leadership roles at RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing and Homeowners Financial Group.
- Charter Next Generation has appointed Mike Manke as their new Chief Information Officer, a newly created role.
He will oversee the enterprise technology strategy for the packaging manufacturer.Manke will report to Chairman and CEO Kathy Bolhous and will be in charge of enterprise systems, data and analytics, cybersecurity, and digital initiatives.He previously served as CIO at PremiStar, an HVAC services provider.
- Third Wave Insurance has named Awan Sikri as their new Chief Information Officer.
He will lead internal business technology for the TPG-backed retail insurance brokerage platform.Most recently, Sikri served as CTO at AssuredPartners, which was acquired by Arthur J Gallagher in an $13.45 billion all-cash deal that closed in August 2025.
