From Bachelor’s To Boardroom

PRESENTED BY PERPLEXITY COMPUTER

Happy Friday, Future Party. The biggest fashion flex is no longer a Birkin bag — it’s a T. rex bag. Some very smart minds from around the world somehow managed to analyze fragments of fossilized Tyrannosaurus collagen and then use AI to recreate the DNA sequences. Out of the oven popped T. rex leather, which was then turned into a handbag. It’s headed to auction in Paris and is expected to fetch $500,000. Who would’ve guessed that the fashion industry would bring us one step closer to Jurassic Park?

A growing number of public companies are looking to add board members in their 20s.

Why It Hits: Historically, boards have been reserved for more senior leaders, not people early in their careers. In the US, the average board member is just over 63 years old. By seeking out younger members, companies are signaling a need for fresh perspectives in a constantly evolving business environment.

Behind The Role: According to the Russell index of the 3,000 largest public companies, only 11 of more than 26,000 board seats are currently held by 20-somethings.

But that’s likely to change soon.

Final Interview: Sitting on a board is a major flex for someone in their 20s. It comes with a stipend comparable to a part-time job, extensive networking opportunities, and a leadership role that can provide a significant career boost. It’s the kind of corporate influence that was largely unavailable to young people just a decade ago.

Who needs an entry-level job when you can start at the top of the corporate ladder?

The Future: It’s only a matter of time before a Fortune 500 company installs a Gen Zer on its board. Our guess is that Silicon Valley will lead the way there.

Have an idea for a project in your head but aren’t sure how to execute it?

Perplexity Computer is now available to do the heavy lifting for you. All you need to do is provide the prompt.

So, we at TheFutureParty decided to put it to the test:

See what you can build with Perplexity Computer today.

Lionsgate announced that it’s taking an equity stake in AI video startup Runway.

The Big Picture: While Disney’s billion-dollar investment (since rescinded) was seen as the first major team-up between a film and TV studio and the fast-growing AI industry, Lionsgate’s move looks more like the true starting gun. Expect the rest of Hollywood to watch this partnership closely to see whether it pays off with both creatives and audiences.

Behind The Scenes: Lionsgate and Runway are deepening their collaboration, which began in 2024.

Final Render: The creative community is sure to have plenty of questions about how this partnership will actually work. Is the new content pipeline drawing from training data based on existing Lionsgate movies and shows? Will the underlying IP used in AI-generated content be tracked, so creatives can be compensated? And will talent tied to the IP used in those short-form projects receive a share of the revenue? (That’s one reason Disney’s Sora-generated content was limited to animated characters.)

Regardless of those thorny issues, Lionsgate is clearly bullish on its partnership with Runway, despite reports that it has underperformed expectations. The studio recently hired its first chief AI officer, and vice chair Michael Burns has said that AI could save the company “tens and tens of millions of dollars a year” in production costs.

Coming Soon: We wouldn’t be surprised if the first AI-powered short-form show Lionsgate creates is tied to marketing for the upcoming Hunger Games movie — the studio’s most important IP.

We weren’t done with Perplexity Computer yet, so the next challenge was turning the new top-performing-posts website into an interactive app that could predict potential virality.

The prompt? “Update this to be a fully functioning app that lists which five recent stories are most likely to go viral on social media.”

The request was technically complex, but Perplexity Computer simply asked a handful of questions and then got to work building exactly what was envisioned.

After about 10 minutes, it delivered this app.

There’s plenty more that could be done from here, including:

Whatever the project, Perplexity Computer can put in the work.

Try it for yourself and see what you can build with Perplexity Computer today.

30.8% of you voted 1970s in yesterday’s poll: What decade produced your favorite music overall?

“The ’70s were the era of Elton John, Led Zeppelin, disco (admit it, we all did The Hustle), Fleetwood Mac, John Denver, The Band, the Grateful Dead, and all the Southern rock greats. We were still reeling from the breakup of The Beatles. It was the birthplace of the soundtrack of our lives.”

“1980s — that’s when the new wave began, and I was dating my future wife!”

“Okay, it’s probably because I grew up in the ’90s, but when else did you get Nirvana, Hanson, Smash Mouth, Alanis Morissette, and Lou Bega? The variety is staggering.”

“There hasn’t been a more influential era in music since the ’90s grunge scene.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join Poll Of The Day, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

📽️ Daniel Blake Schwartz’s Cotton Fever won the award for Best US Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Festival.

💰 Disney revealed that the Toy Story franchise has generated $16 billion in revenue for the company. Whoa.

🍿 Harbor Lights Entertainment has sold the Redstone family’s movie theater chain to Kinepolis in a $30 million deal.

🚀 SpaceX’s IPO on the Nasdaq is officially cleared for launch, with shares priced at $135 and a potential valuation of $1.77 trillion.

🧠 AI startup Flourish has raised $500 million to develop the first synthetic intelligence system capable of matching the computational power of the human brain.

📱 Cash App is rolling out a mobile phone service in partnership with telecom operator Gigs.

🤑 Citigroup has introduced a blockchain-based platform for trading shares of private companies.

₿ A new study found that 30% of trading on Polymarket’s international platform comes from Americans — even though the platform is banned in the US.

🏀 Taylor Swift is trendsetting again… this time with custom merch to celebrate the New York Knicks.

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