The Medium identifies essential signals on how technology is shaping the business of culture, and how the marketplace is evolving in response.

[Author’s note: Apologies. This email accidentally was sent to Platinum subscribers, only.

Also a reminder: This series of interviews will be free for all subscribers]

“I mean like a Hollywood creator, an artist, whomever… If you want your stuff to be seen, machines need to show it to people. If you want your stuff to be seen, machines need to show it to people. It's not like a theater needs to decide to show it or a movie studio decides to green light it. The culture that we live in and the devices that we use to consume content are now so personalized that a lot of that decision making is either happening in the cloud or on our device itself.

So the ideas that you have, if you want them to be successful, you have to decide, again, are you making it for people or are you making it for machines? We want to say both, but if you really want to be successful, you really should be focusing on the machines.”

For my seventh interview in the Voices In ChAInge interview series, I spoke with Ian Schafer, President and Co-Founder of Ensemble, a Hoorae Media company. Ensemble is a next-generation branded entertainment studio, co-founded and curated by acclaimed producer, writer, actress, and entrepreneur Issa Rae. Ensemble collaborates with brands, platforms, and publishers to produce and distribute epic content and activations that shape culture, engage audiences, and move product.

About Voices in ChAInge

Voices in ChAInge is a series of 12 short interviews (1.5 to 5 minutes long) that offer a wide variety of answers to this simple question: “What is a recent market signal or development in AI that forced you to rethink a key business assumption?”

These interviews were recorded at The ON_Discourse AI Transformation Summit with over 100 participants “representing every C in the suite.”

My selection standard was simple: A shared interest in a conversation.

The responses varied widely. Some explored abstract concepts about humanity and creativity. Other narrowly focused on how AI is changing customer relationships with brands and brand product development.

Each conversation offers a rare window into how decision-makers across industries are recalibrating their thinking in real-time as AI transforms their business fundamentals.