By AFP
October 31, 2025
US actress Zoey Deutch poses as she attends the premiere of Netflix’s "Nouvelle Vague" during The American French Film Festival (TAFFF) at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Theater in Los Angeles - Copyright AFP VALERIE MACON
Andrew MARSZAL
Can great art be made without human genius and all its flaws? It’s a vital question at a time when artificial intelligence threatens to subsume Hollywood.
Through new movies “Nouvelle Vague” and “Blue Moon,” director Richard Linklater offers an answer — delving into the lives of two brilliant, volatile men whose films and plays shaped French New Wave cinema and Broadway.
His conclusion?
“AI is not going to make a film,” the US indie auteur tells AFP.
“Storytelling, narrative, characters? Something that connects to humanity? That’s a whole ‘nother thing,” says the Texan whose notable films include “Boyhood,” the “Before” trilogy, “School of Rock” and “Hit Man.”
Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague,” streaming on Netflix from November 14, charts how young French director Jean-Luc Godard defied all filmmaking convention to create his 1960 classic “Breathless.”
It captures the swagger, charisma and impulsiveness with which Godard convinced financial backers and Hollywood starlet Jean Seberg to make a debut feature that had neither a script nor a workable filming schedule.
“He’s a little full of shit, but he’s a genius. A revolution is going on, but he’s the only one who knows it,” Linklater says of Godard, an icon of cinema’s French New Wave movement in the late 1950s and 60s.
By contrast “Blue Moon,” in cinemas now, depicts Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart at the end of his career.
With composer Richard Rodgers, Hart wrote classic songs like “The Lady is a Tramp,” “My Funny Valentine” and, of course, “Blue Moon.”
But the film captures a single evening, in which it becomes clear Rodgers has moved on to even greater success with new partner Oscar Hammerstein II, with the debut of their hit musical “Oklahoma!”
Within months, Hart will be dead from alcoholism.
“It’s become very clear that the times are leaving him behind. They’re leaving behind his genius,” says Linklater.
– ‘No algorithm is gonna do that’ –
Which brings us back to the question of human genius and art.
For Linklater, AI is “just one more tool” that artists can use, but it “doesn’t have intuitions or consciousness.”
“I think it’s going to be less revolutionary than everybody thinks in the next few years,” he told AFP in an interview ahead of the Los Angeles premiere of “Nouvelle Vague” at The American French Film Festival (TAFFF).
The French New Wave’s trademark documentary-style realism was made possible in part by technology — the arrival of cheap, light, portable cameras.
But Linklater rejects the claim that the cost savings and flexibility offered by AI could unleash another filmmaking revolution.
“You’re gonna see some cool stuff,” he concedes.
But “the hardest thing to do is still to tell a compelling story that people want to see and be engaged with,” he says.
“That’s a lot of points you have to hit — that’s acting, that’s story structure, that’s pace, style.
“No algorithm is gonna do that. No prompt is gonna do that.”
– ‘Authentic’ –
Among Linklater’s future projects is “Merrily We Roll Again,” adapted from Stephen Sondheim’s musical.
Set over two decades, “Merrily” charts the demise of a friendship between three artists, and is told in reverse chronology.
As if to prove his point about technology, Linklater has decided to shoot the film over a 20 year span, allowing the actors to truly age backward on screen.
It is a more complex variation of his Oscar-winning “Boyhood” — which he filmed across 12 years.
Of course, AI has recently been used to “de-age” actors, like in Tom Hanks’ 2024 film “Here.” But Linklater has little interest.
“It’s not a visual trick, you know? I really want an actor of a certain age to be playing a character,” he explains.
Asking a 25-year-old to play a 45-year-old is “not authentic” because young people “don’t know what that even means,” he says.
“I want the actors to be that much older and wiser.”
So, don’t expect to see “Merrily” in theaters any time soon.
“That’s my hanging-on-to-humanity approach!” chuckles Linklater.
Op-Ed: AI music, the hype, the facts, and missing the point entirely for musicians
By Paul Wallis
EDITOR AT LARGE
DIGITAL JOURNAL
November 1, 2025
British singer Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics has joined more than 1,000 musicians who have released a silent album to protest proposed changes to UK copyright law around AI - Copyright AFP/File I-Hwa CHENG
AI music can be pretty blah. The ancient patches, the lack of direction, and the credulous ignorance don’t make a very appealing picture. Also closeted in the background are the efficiencies, the flexibility, and the opportunities for experimentation and exploration.
AI music is basically a mixer.
The content released is still formulaic. The music distribution industry just goes for a market and produces tons of that stuff, whatever genre. The off-key white chick with a guitar of the ’90s has been replaced with the soulful non-existent black girl of the 2020s.
According to Billboard, AI artists are showing up regularly and doing well. A bit of investigation reveals human artists creating AI artists.
The big question is “How many AI artists are black?”
Xania Monet and Unbound Music are good examples of getting a core sound right. If you’re a musician, you can argue, rightly, that the sound still seems a bit shallow, a few tracks. It’s nothing like complex.
Both artists deliver pretty good acoustic mixes and clean sound, also oversighted by the human artists. Unbound Music, in particular, does good, generic guitar rock blues.
What’s being missed? Just about everything.
These are the points being missed:
AI can’t, and doesn’t, do these things itself.
AI doesn’t do much well by itself.
Technology is, in fact, a limitation.
To get outside the chicken coop of the mainstream, creativity is the only way.
Formulaic algorithms don’t do much. The antiquated waveforms are no better. Remember that human artists have also been putting out forgettable slop for generations. Between laziness and cluelessness is a longstanding relationship. That garbage eats up as many recording contracts as anything else.
The mix of timid artists and insipid arrangements isn’t confined to AI. You can say AI has no soul, but neither does pure dreck with an artist’s name.
OK, now we can get technical.
If you’ve ever recorded anything at all, you know what happens next. Second guessing. Tweaking. Much sincere umming and ahhing. Fiddling. Little questions like “What was that supposed to be?” pop up regularly.
These things are grim. They’re also time-consuming, picky, and expensive in a studio. Do you actually need any of that?
How do you develop a musical idea? McCartney famously said to try a few things and take it from there. A song or a symphony can come from anywhere inside your head.
You need to explore your ideas. That can take years, or minutes when it comes to recording. What works? What doesn’t work? What have you mysteriously botched?
What didn’t you think of?
AI isn’t “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination”. It can’t be.
Music is.
What’s needed is that unlikely catalyst, the musicians.
Listen to that Unbound Music link above. What happens if you add some strings, or a female soul choir?
That’s what musicians do. AI can’t do that. It can do things like that a lot quicker, but it can’t think of them. It can’t relate to them.
AI could be the way out of the grind. It could be the most useful option for mixing, arranging, and experimentation.
Don’t shoot the golden goose.
__________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
Opinion: How AI and the arts are creating an inclusive future where students shape their own stories
ByKay Boamah
October 31, 2025
Ilekun si ęda (Door to Creation) by Nazar Bombata (Image courtesy of Swiirl)
Opinions expressed by contributors are their own.
In the vibrant landscape of South Los Angeles, at Marlton School, LAUSD’s pioneering pre-K through 12 campus for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, a unique creative initiative is taking shape.
It’s a project poised to fuse accessibility, art, and artificial intelligence, challenging our conventional thinking about technology’s role in education.
As the buzz of LA Tech Week fades, this collaboration is a potent reminder that the most meaningful innovation often blossoms not in conference halls, but within the focused energy of our community classrooms.
What if the true potential of AI lies not in automation, but in amplification, helping every student in every community find and share their unique voice?
For too long, the narrative around technological advancement has celebrated disruption without addressing inclusion. In an age where user data is an invaluable currency, who gets to be seen and heard?
Students in underrepresented groups, including those with disabilities, frequently find themselves on the sidelines, lacking access to the platforms where tomorrow’s stories are being crafted. This creates a dangerous imbalance where corporations and algorithms benefit, while the communities providing the foundational insights are left out of the economic equation.
A different future is possible. The initiative at Marlton School, spearheaded by the non-profit Pulse Arts, exemplifies this. By integrating accessible technology tools with arts education, they are creating a space where students can actively create and share their stories.
For example, a student can use an accessible generative tool to sign a poem in ASL, and the platform helps translate those gestures into a dynamic, shareable piece of visual art.
This is agency.
As one Pulse Arts teaching artist noted, “For the first time, our students aren’t just the subjects of a story. They are the authors.”
This hyper-local project mirrors a broader shift from top-down, extractive models toward partnerships built on shared value. This shift is essential, and it’s the core of my company, Swiirl.
Our work centres on enabling brands to move beyond advertising at communities and into genuine dialogue with them. We’ve built a platform that allows brands, through sophisticated AI agents, to respectfully join permission-based community conversations.
The goal isn’t to sell, but to listen, learn, and build understanding.
Crucially, this process ensures community members are compensated for their insights, transforming the dynamic from extraction to equitable exchange. The authentic understanding gleaned from these conversations then becomes the foundation for co-creating campaigns with the community, ensuring the final message resonates because it originates from within.
This listening-first model is not confined to a single classroom. It’s power unfolds nationally through our partnership with NBA legend Jerome “JYD” Williams on the “Shooting for Peace” 40-city educational tour.
In each city, students first attend financial literacy workshops. Using our platform’s accessible tools like simple voice-to-text video capture, they record their own stories about money and ambition. These authentic narratives are then shared with brand partners, proving the program’s impact and ensuring student voices are central to the campaign.
While the generative AI market is projected to top $1 trillion by 2032, initiatives like these prove that AI, when guided by human-centered values, can strengthen community bonds and democratize opportunity.
Los Angeles, with its vibrant intersection of technology and culture, is the perfect crucible for this work. Pioneering schools like Marlton and programs like Pulse Arts are demonstrating that technology doesn’t have to be a divisive force. It can be a tool driven by the educators and students who put these ideas into practice.
The conclusion is simple: AI must serve humanity, not the other way around.
Technology finds its highest purpose when it empowers individuals to share their unique perspectives and participate fully in the economy. When students who have been historically marginalized use these tools to craft their own stories, technology transforms from a potential threat into an instrument of justice and creativity.
The path forward requires clear action. Brands must invest in these models, educators must be empowered to adopt them, and policymakers must champion the inclusive future we are building together, classroom by classroom.
November 1, 2025
British singer Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics has joined more than 1,000 musicians who have released a silent album to protest proposed changes to UK copyright law around AI - Copyright AFP/File I-Hwa CHENG
AI music can be pretty blah. The ancient patches, the lack of direction, and the credulous ignorance don’t make a very appealing picture. Also closeted in the background are the efficiencies, the flexibility, and the opportunities for experimentation and exploration.
AI music is basically a mixer.
The content released is still formulaic. The music distribution industry just goes for a market and produces tons of that stuff, whatever genre. The off-key white chick with a guitar of the ’90s has been replaced with the soulful non-existent black girl of the 2020s.
According to Billboard, AI artists are showing up regularly and doing well. A bit of investigation reveals human artists creating AI artists.
The big question is “How many AI artists are black?”
Xania Monet and Unbound Music are good examples of getting a core sound right. If you’re a musician, you can argue, rightly, that the sound still seems a bit shallow, a few tracks. It’s nothing like complex.
Both artists deliver pretty good acoustic mixes and clean sound, also oversighted by the human artists. Unbound Music, in particular, does good, generic guitar rock blues.
What’s being missed? Just about everything.
These are the points being missed:
AI can’t, and doesn’t, do these things itself.
AI doesn’t do much well by itself.
Technology is, in fact, a limitation.
To get outside the chicken coop of the mainstream, creativity is the only way.
Formulaic algorithms don’t do much. The antiquated waveforms are no better. Remember that human artists have also been putting out forgettable slop for generations. Between laziness and cluelessness is a longstanding relationship. That garbage eats up as many recording contracts as anything else.
The mix of timid artists and insipid arrangements isn’t confined to AI. You can say AI has no soul, but neither does pure dreck with an artist’s name.
OK, now we can get technical.
If you’ve ever recorded anything at all, you know what happens next. Second guessing. Tweaking. Much sincere umming and ahhing. Fiddling. Little questions like “What was that supposed to be?” pop up regularly.
These things are grim. They’re also time-consuming, picky, and expensive in a studio. Do you actually need any of that?
How do you develop a musical idea? McCartney famously said to try a few things and take it from there. A song or a symphony can come from anywhere inside your head.
You need to explore your ideas. That can take years, or minutes when it comes to recording. What works? What doesn’t work? What have you mysteriously botched?
What didn’t you think of?
AI isn’t “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination”. It can’t be.
Music is.
What’s needed is that unlikely catalyst, the musicians.
Listen to that Unbound Music link above. What happens if you add some strings, or a female soul choir?
That’s what musicians do. AI can’t do that. It can do things like that a lot quicker, but it can’t think of them. It can’t relate to them.
AI could be the way out of the grind. It could be the most useful option for mixing, arranging, and experimentation.
Don’t shoot the golden goose.
__________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
Opinion: How AI and the arts are creating an inclusive future where students shape their own stories
ByKay Boamah
October 31, 2025
Ilekun si ęda (Door to Creation) by Nazar Bombata (Image courtesy of Swiirl)
Opinions expressed by contributors are their own.
In the vibrant landscape of South Los Angeles, at Marlton School, LAUSD’s pioneering pre-K through 12 campus for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, a unique creative initiative is taking shape.
It’s a project poised to fuse accessibility, art, and artificial intelligence, challenging our conventional thinking about technology’s role in education.
As the buzz of LA Tech Week fades, this collaboration is a potent reminder that the most meaningful innovation often blossoms not in conference halls, but within the focused energy of our community classrooms.
What if the true potential of AI lies not in automation, but in amplification, helping every student in every community find and share their unique voice?
For too long, the narrative around technological advancement has celebrated disruption without addressing inclusion. In an age where user data is an invaluable currency, who gets to be seen and heard?
Students in underrepresented groups, including those with disabilities, frequently find themselves on the sidelines, lacking access to the platforms where tomorrow’s stories are being crafted. This creates a dangerous imbalance where corporations and algorithms benefit, while the communities providing the foundational insights are left out of the economic equation.
A different future is possible. The initiative at Marlton School, spearheaded by the non-profit Pulse Arts, exemplifies this. By integrating accessible technology tools with arts education, they are creating a space where students can actively create and share their stories.
For example, a student can use an accessible generative tool to sign a poem in ASL, and the platform helps translate those gestures into a dynamic, shareable piece of visual art.
This is agency.
As one Pulse Arts teaching artist noted, “For the first time, our students aren’t just the subjects of a story. They are the authors.”
This hyper-local project mirrors a broader shift from top-down, extractive models toward partnerships built on shared value. This shift is essential, and it’s the core of my company, Swiirl.
Our work centres on enabling brands to move beyond advertising at communities and into genuine dialogue with them. We’ve built a platform that allows brands, through sophisticated AI agents, to respectfully join permission-based community conversations.
The goal isn’t to sell, but to listen, learn, and build understanding.
Crucially, this process ensures community members are compensated for their insights, transforming the dynamic from extraction to equitable exchange. The authentic understanding gleaned from these conversations then becomes the foundation for co-creating campaigns with the community, ensuring the final message resonates because it originates from within.
This listening-first model is not confined to a single classroom. It’s power unfolds nationally through our partnership with NBA legend Jerome “JYD” Williams on the “Shooting for Peace” 40-city educational tour.
In each city, students first attend financial literacy workshops. Using our platform’s accessible tools like simple voice-to-text video capture, they record their own stories about money and ambition. These authentic narratives are then shared with brand partners, proving the program’s impact and ensuring student voices are central to the campaign.
While the generative AI market is projected to top $1 trillion by 2032, initiatives like these prove that AI, when guided by human-centered values, can strengthen community bonds and democratize opportunity.
Los Angeles, with its vibrant intersection of technology and culture, is the perfect crucible for this work. Pioneering schools like Marlton and programs like Pulse Arts are demonstrating that technology doesn’t have to be a divisive force. It can be a tool driven by the educators and students who put these ideas into practice.
The conclusion is simple: AI must serve humanity, not the other way around.
Technology finds its highest purpose when it empowers individuals to share their unique perspectives and participate fully in the economy. When students who have been historically marginalized use these tools to craft their own stories, technology transforms from a potential threat into an instrument of justice and creativity.
The path forward requires clear action. Brands must invest in these models, educators must be empowered to adopt them, and policymakers must champion the inclusive future we are building together, classroom by classroom.
Written By Kay Boamah
Kay Boamah is a co-founder of Swiirl and a leader dedicated to building ecosystems where profit and purpose converge. Driven by the belief that the most successful businesses are those that create shared value, he co-founded Swiirl to solve a fundamental market failure: the disconnect between brands and the communities they exist to serve. At Swiirl, Kay is the chief architect of the partnership ecosystem that powers this new model.
No comments:
Post a Comment