Happy Monday, FutureParty people. If you can’t make it to Vegas anytime soon for a night at the casino, Dave & Buster’s is now allowing people to put bets on arcade games. The feature is made possible by a new partnership with Lucra Sports, which provides “gamificaiton services.” Although it’s weird to imagine the family establishment being overseen by bookies, we know some real hustlers are about to show off their Skee-Ball skills.

In other news… Fable debuts a streamer where you make the shows, luxury labels get casual, and Skydance is a step closer to taking over Paramount.

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• YouTube – The Bear - Season 3

• X (Twitter) – The Fall Guy

• Google – Caitlin Clark

• Reddit – Michael Bay on Bad Boys

• TikTok – “Turn to Stone” - Electric Light Orchestra 

• Spotify – “Lost In Space” - Foster The People

.ENTERTAINMENT.

Fable wants audiences to generate their own shows

The Future. San Francisco-based startup Fable is debuting a streaming service called Showrunner (filled with animated shows generated by AI), which gives audiences the ability to generate their own shows. As Hollywood wrestles with how to implement AI into their productions, the response to Showrunner’s content could influence whether studios and streamers think investing in AI-generated content is a worthwhile bet.

“Netflix of AI”
…that’s what Fable CEO Edward Saatchi hopes Showrunner will be billed as.

Here’s how the platform (currently in beta) works:

• Showrunner comes with 10 animated shows, including Silicon Valley satire Exit Valley and sci-fi horror Ikiru Shinu, which were mostly made using AI.

• Users are encouraged to generate episodes of the show after they finish using text prompts to create various scenes that can be stitched together.

• They can then edit the dialogue, shots, and flow of scenes for their generated episodes.

• The best user-generated episodes (as decided by the company) will be included in the shows’ episode lineups when the platform officially launches. The creators will receive an upfront payment and a share in revenue.

Fable, which won an Emmy in 2019 for innovation in interactive media, released an AI-generated episode of South Park last year to show off the tech. The episode was heralded as a fascinating proof of concept but also mocked for its poor timing, coming out right in the middle of two strikes where the use of AI in entertainment was a major point of contention.

Considering Saatchi’s response to allegations that AI systems are trained on copyrighted material is: “what matters to me is whether the output is original,” the company may be fine with wading into controversy.

58.1% of you voted Neither in Friday’s poll: Sam Altman or Elon Musk?

“Ugh.”

“Both have lost their connection to humanity somewhere along the way.”

“Way too much power.”

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Media, Music, & Entertainment

• Paramount Global’s directors evaluating takeover deals have approved Skydance’s latest offer after the David Ellison-backed firm sweetened the incentives for shareholders. [Read More]

• The Tribeca Film Festival announced that it will showcase five films made using OpenAI’s still-not-yet-publicly-available Sora video generator. [Read More]

• A new study found that LA’s share in film and TV employment contracted 8% during last year’s strikes. [Read More]

Fashion & E-Commerce

• Amazon received approval from the FAA to operate its shipping drones “beyond visual line of sight,” allowing it to make deliveries over much longer distances. [Read More]

• TikTok is slowing down its expansion of Shop in Europe to focus more on building the e-commerce feature in the US. [Read More]

• Consumer spending finally slowed last month — a key metric the Federal Reserve uses to potentially lower interest rates. [Read More]

Tech, Web3, & AI

• OpenAI relaunched its robotics team, which it had suspended four years ago when it didn’t yet have AI software to train the machines. [Read More]

• Google has decided to roll back its AI overviews after many users reported hilariously inaccurate search results. [Read More]

• Magic Leap has inked a “strategic technology partnership” with Google after the tech giant nixed its in-development AI-glasses project and laid off hundreds of AR employees. [Read More]

Creator Economy

• TikTok has denied a report that it’s secretly working on a version of its algorithm that could be owned and operated independently from Chinese parent company ByteDance. [Read More]

• Twitch has removed all its Safety Advisory Council members and will replace them with Twitch Ambassadors. [Read More]

• Jon Anderson, the lead singer of the rock band Yes, is touring alongside a cover band after he discovered them on YouTube. Dreams do come true online. [Read More]

.FASHION.

Luxury menswear gets a casual makeover

The Future. While tailored suits may be disappearing from the modern office, white-collar workers still want their more casual clothes to have a made-to-measure feel… and luxury menswear brands are now making it a part of their business. As more companies require employees to return to the office, expect the next batch of upstart luxury brands to cater specifically to designing tailored casual wear.

Tailored tees
Even when not in a herringbone-patterned suit, employees still want to flex their luxury taste.

• Thom Sweeney, the British menswear brand known for their Savile Row-approved suits, is stitching bespoke pants and bomber jackets.

• J. Mueser, of New York-based designer Jake Mueser, is tailoring more chore coats and overshirts.

• Zegna, a staple on Rodeo Drive, launched a ZEGNA X — a “3D digital configurator,” where customers can design over 2,300 products, including T-shirts and sneakers.

Thom Whiddett of Thom Sweeney says, “While we’re seeing there are less suits being sold globally, we see people are prepared to invest in something a bit more special — there are guys here who care about how they dress, and it doesn’t have to be a suit.”

Good design never goes out of style.

.A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BOYS CLUB.

Crypto but not cringe

Want to tap into web3 and crypto news but don’t dig the culture surrounding the industry?

Boys Club has you covered with their weekly newsletter The Session. It’s a funny TL;DR on the week’s crypto news, and we’re big fans.

Don’t worry: Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT *not* required.

• Listen: The Vergecast dives into the insights found in the big Google Search API leak.

• Watch: Billboard reporter Kristin Robinson breaks down how Metro Boomin’s Drake-diss beat, “BBL Drizzy,” sets a precedent for sampling AI-generated music.

• Read: Bloomberg goes deep into the existential crisis at Pixar and how the release of Inside Out 2 could represent a new franchise era at the company known for its originality.

When you really want to narrow your search.

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE

Today we get into the NFL potentially allowing private equity into team ownership, how brands are paying school tuition fees, and how streamers are trying to change the way they pay their talent.