AI Reshapes Media and Entertainment: MIT Report Highlights Opportunities and Challenges

Designing the future of entertainment

An entertainment revolution, powered by AI and other emerging technologies, is fundamentally changing how content is created and consumed today. Media and entertainment (M&E) brands are faced with unprecedented opportunities -- to reimagine costly and complex production workloads, to predict the success of new scripts or outlines, and to deliver immersive entertainment in novel formats like virtual reality (VR) and the metaverse. Meanwhile, the boundaries between entertainment formats -- from gaming to movies and back -- are blurring, as new alliances form across industries, and hardware innovations like smart glasses and autonomous vehicles make media as ubiquitous as air. At the same time, media and entertainment brands are facing competitive threats. They must reinvent their business models and identify new revenue streams in a more fragmented and complex consumer landscape. They must keep up with advances in hardware and networking, while building an IT infrastructure to support AI and related technologies. Digital media standards will need to evolve to ensure interoperability and seamless experiences, while companies search for the right balance between human and machine, and protect their intellectual property and data.

AI is reshaping media production: New MIT report reveals the challenges ahead

A new MIT Technology Review Insights report highlights how artificial intelligence is transforming the media and entertainment industry, enhancing content production while also posing challenges for businesses adapting to rapid technological shifts. The report, "Designing the future of entertainment," produced in partnership with Nokia, is based on insights from industry executives, startup founders, and analysts from organizations including PwC, Seneca College, StoryFit, Databricks, Twyn, Enders Analysis, MIT Sloan School of Management, and Nokia. According to the findings, AI is being increasingly integrated into media production workflows. Current use cases include: While AI is expanding creative possibilities, it also introduces concerns over intellectual property, monetization strategies, and workforce adaptation. Despite being early adopters of new technologies, media and entertainment companies often struggle to adjust business models during technological disruptions, the report notes. Success in the AI-driven era will require: Arvin Patel, chief licensing officer new segments at Nokia, noted that media brands must actively embrace AI: "They should forge new alliances and think creatively about routes to monetization." The report stresses that AI should be viewed as a partner in creativity rather than a replacement for human ingenuity. "The media and entertainment landscape is entering a transformative era where AI is no longer just a tool but a catalyst for creative reinvention and operational efficiency," said Laurel Ruma, global director of custom content at MIT Technology Review. "Success in this new era will require balancing experimentation with responsibility."