With a distinguished career at the nexus of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain, Dominic Jainy has become a leading voice in how technology is fundamentally reshaping our world. His work focuses on the practical application of these complex systems across industries, offering a clear-eyed perspective on the monumental shifts happening in media and communication. Today, we delve into the trends of 2025, exploring how generative AI is rewriting the rules of content creation, why our phones may soon become obsolete, the challenges of building truly immersive live experiences, and the ethical tightrope of hyper-personalized advertising.
The article highlights generative AI streamlining production to create more authentic content. How are studios integrating these tools into their daily workflows, and what has been the measurable impact on production timelines and audience engagement? Please provide a step-by-step example.
It’s a fascinating and rapid evolution. Studios are moving beyond seeing AI as a novelty and are embedding it directly into the creative pipeline. For instance, a production might start with an AI model analyzing real-time social media trends and viewer data to generate several high-potential story concepts. This immediately bypasses weeks of manual research and brainstorming. From there, a different generative tool can take the chosen concept and create dynamic storyboards or even pre-visualize entire scenes, giving directors a tangible feel for the project almost instantly. The impact is twofold: production timelines are compressed dramatically, but more importantly, the content feels more alive and relevant. By using AI to create a feedback loop with the audience from the very beginning, studios are crafting narratives that resonate on a deeper, more authentic level because they are, in a sense, co-created with viewer preferences in mind. We’re seeing this lead to higher user retention and a genuine excitement for content that breaks free from old, tired formulas.
There’s a vision of phones evolving into pure AI interfaces, making individual apps obsolete. What does this shift toward simplicity mean for the average user’s daily routine, and how must a company that currently relies on a dedicated app pivot its customer engagement strategy to remain relevant?
For the average user, this shift is about reclaiming mental energy. Imagine your daily routine without the friction of navigating a dozen different apps. Instead of opening one app to order coffee, another for a car, and a third to check your calendar, you simply make a request to a central AI: “Get me a large latte and a ride to my 9 a.m. meeting.” The AI seamlessly interfaces with all the necessary services in the background. It’s a profound move toward simplicity, where technology anticipates your needs and serves you, rather than you serving the technology. For a company built around an app, this is an existential threat if they don’t adapt. Their focus must pivot from acquiring app downloads to becoming the most reliable and efficient service layer for these AIs. Customer engagement is no longer about push notifications or in-app promotions; it’s about API excellence and ensuring your service is so good that the AI defaults to you every time. You’re no longer marketing to a person tapping a screen, but to an intelligent system making a choice based on pure performance.
With immersive technologies like AR enhancing live events, the text points out that poor connectivity is a major hurdle. What specific infrastructure upgrades are venues implementing to support these experiences, and can you share an anecdote of how this technology has tangibly improved fan engagement at a concert or game?
This is one of the biggest behind-the-scenes battles being fought right now. You can have the most spectacular AR experience designed, but it’s completely useless if the network collapses under the strain of 50,000 people trying to use it simultaneously. Venues are now undertaking massive infrastructure overhauls, deploying robust 5G and multi-gigabit wireless solutions that are less like public Wi-Fi and more like industrial-grade data networks. This ensures the low latency and high bandwidth that real-time AR demands. I remember hearing from a colleague about a recent basketball game where fans with 5G-enabled phones could point their cameras at any player and see real-time stats and biographical information appear as an AR overlay. During a replay, they could view the shot from multiple camera angles right on their device. That’s a world away from just watching the Jumbotron. It transforms a passive spectator into an active participant, giving them a personalized, data-rich view of the action. It creates a stickiness and a level of engagement that keeps people coming back, but it all hinges on that invisible, absolutely essential network foundation.
Reports show a surge in targeted video ads on social platforms that aim to feel relevant, not intrusive. What key data points and AI models make this personalization possible, and can you elaborate on the ethical process for designing a campaign that genuinely enhances the user experience?
The level of personalization we’re seeing now is powered by incredibly sophisticated AI. The models go far beyond simple demographics. They’re using predictive analytics to process a vast array of signals in real-time: your viewing history, how long you linger on certain types of content, the sentiment of your comments, and even the time of day you’re most receptive to certain messages. This allows advertisers to move from broad targeting to creating campaigns where the ad feels like a natural continuation of the user’s content journey. Ethically, this is a very fine line to walk. A responsible campaign begins with absolute transparency and user control. It’s about ensuring the data being used is anonymized and that users can easily understand and adjust their preferences. The creative process itself must prioritize the user’s experience—the goal is to design an ad that offers genuine value or entertainment, something that feels like a helpful suggestion rather than a jarring interruption. When done right, as the Deloitte report suggests, it drives growth because it respects the user’s time and attention.
A key prediction is that high-quality VFX will become as accessible as an iPhone app, disrupting traditional jobs. What new skills are becoming essential for creators in this environment, and how are established studios adapting their business models to compete with this democratization of production tools?
The core skill set is shifting from technical execution to creative direction. When anyone can generate stunning visual effects with a few prompts, the value is no longer in knowing how to operate complex software; it’s in having a unique vision. The most essential skills now are creative problem-solving, prompt engineering—the art of communicating your vision effectively to an AI—and the ability to curate and assemble AI-generated elements into a cohesive, emotionally impactful story. You’re becoming less of a digital painter and more of an orchestra conductor. For established studios, this is a massive wake-up call. They can’t compete with the cost and accessibility of these new tools. Instead, their business model is shifting. They are leveraging their vast archives of proprietary assets to train unique AI models that no one else has. Their new value proposition is their ability to manage immense, complex projects and to offer an integrated, end-to-end creative partnership that a solo creator with an app simply can’t match. They are selling not just the effect, but the entire managed ecosystem.
What is your forecast for the intersection of AI-driven communication and immersive entertainment over the next five years?
Over the next five years, I forecast that the distinction between communication and entertainment will almost completely dissolve. We won’t just send messages to each other; we will invite friends into shared, persistent AR spaces to experience things together, whether that’s watching a movie where you can interact with the environment or collaborating on a project in a virtual room that feels completely real. Entertainment will become radically personal and participatory, with AI-generated narratives that change based on your mood, your past choices, and even your real-time biometric data. The most significant change will be the move toward what I call “ambient intelligence,” where these systems are so seamlessly integrated into our world that we no longer consciously think about using them. Technology will simply be the invisible fabric that connects us, entertains us, and helps us communicate in richer, more meaningful ways than ever before.