A little over a year ago, dozens of technologists and video production professionals met in a two-screen movie theater in Manhattan for the startup Runway’s first-ever film festival for videos produced with AI.

Darren Aronofsky, director of films like Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, and The Wrestler, raved about the tech’s potential to change moviemaking, and a series of short films exhibited the power of AI visual effects.

But a lot has changed in the months between then and the upcoming second iteration of the event in May. Video-generation models like Runway’s Gen-2, Google’s Lumiere, and OpenAI’s Sora have reached new levels of realism, and the labor movement in Hollywood notched two big wins regarding AI’s role in the creative process.

“Last year, we had a really great [festival] that really sort of interrogated the future of filmmaking, looking at the tools that existed at the time and extrapolating that further, and so we’re really excited for the conversation that’ll happen this year, given how much has come to fruition already in the last 12 months,” Runway’s head of creative, Jamie Umpherson, said.

As generative AI that can produce realistic-seeming copy and imagery has rapidly evolved in the past couple years, some in the field have come to see models that can produce video whole cloth as a natural next frontier.

But while still in its earliest stages, the tech is already raising questions around training on copyrighted material, labor issues, and disinformation potential.

Keep reading here.—PK

Infinity Fuel Cell & Hydrogen, Inc. tripled their revenue in the last three years—but their growth is far from over.

The rise of EVs, space travel, and clean energy initiatives are expected to boost the hydrogen market 536% by 2033.

That’s Infinity’s “bread and butter.” Specifically, the company is bringing hydrogen power to some of the most hard-to-reach environments in the universe.

They’re already working with NASA to bring renewable power to space. They’re doing it deep underwater with the US Navy. And they’ve had Air Force contracts to cover the firmament in between.

The ultimate vision? Powering moon rovers and Mars missions.

Become an Infinity shareholder now and advance the fuel of the future.

Like many companies these days, Intuit is betting big on AI. It’s invested around $20 billion on the acquisitions of Credit Karma and Mailchimp, and during a recent earnings call, CEO Sasan Goodarzi referenced its strategy to be “an AI-driven expert platform” for consumers and small businesses on multiple occasions. Over the long term, the company foresees small-business revenue growth of 15%–20% a year, and AI’s one reason why.

But Intuit’s not one of the many companies that jumped on the AI bandwagon after ChatGPT came out in 2022. It’s been developing its AI infrastructure since 2018, Intuit’s CFO and EVP, Sandeep Aujla, told CFO Brew. That development has enabled the company to roll out an AI assistant, called Intuit Assist, across all of its core products. Aujla spoke with us about how it works, and why it’s a key driver of Intuit’s growth strategy.

Keep reading on CFO Brew.—CV

Creator Michel Janse says she was on her honeymoon when she learned that her likeness was being used to promote erectile-dysfunction pills online.

“People had messaged me, saying, ‘Hey, I saw this ad, and it didn't look like you, but it was you,’” she told Marketing Brew. “It was me, in my clothes, in my bedroom, but I didn’t do an ad there.”

Janse says the ad, which she briefly showed on her TikTok account, was a deepfake, and depicted Janse talking about her husband “Michael” and his issues with ED. The ad pulled visuals from a 33-minute video about her divorce that she posted to YouTube a year ago, which she called “by far the most personal thing I’ve ever shared.”

That, along with the fact that the link in the ad directed to content that she described as “basically pornographic,” made the experience all the more violating, Janse told us.

AI-generated deepfakes are a new reality, and one that creators like Janse, Ida Giancola, and MrBeast, as well as celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, and Tom Hanks, are all grappling with.

“With celebrities, this is a real issue right now because anybody anywhere can take the likeness of somebody and use it,” Rahul Titus, global head of influence at Ogilvy, told us. “With the way social media works and the spread of fake news, the damage potential is endless.”

Keep reading on Marketing Brew.—KH

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Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

Total eclipse of your camera roll: In case you somehow haven’t heard, a solar eclipse is set to sweep over a huge swath of North America on April 8. Ars Technica’s senior space editor, Eric Berger, a certified meteorologist, has a great roundup of the essentials for the best eclipse experience, and the Washington Post has details on how to snap a picture of it if you simply cannot imagine being in the path of totality without documenting it for Instagram.

Hook, line, sinker: We’d all like to think we’re too clever to fall victim to a phishing attack, but there’s a reason they exist: Sometimes, they work. IT Brew’s Billy Hurley talked to IT pros and penned a list of steps to take if you (heaven forbid) get got.