The AI Times

PRESENTED BY THE AI REPORT

Welcome back from a long weekend, Future Party. How many of you have heard of the term “reheating nachos” that’s taken over social media? Although it originated in the reality show Baddies West, the term has taken off as a way to describe either an artist revisiting the type of music or style that made them famous or another artist trying to steal someone’s vibe. The internet can be a lot to follow sometimes… but it did really make us want a plate of actual nachos. And, for that, we’re thankful.

Along with approving several AI tools for staff use, NYT has built its own chatbot and is rolling it out to reporters, editors, and other employees in hopes of optimizing its processes.

Why It Hits: The storied publisher, which is one of the few major papers not to have a licensing deal with one of the major AI companies, is currently suing OpenAI and Amazon for allegedly scraping its content without permission. So, it’s safe to say that NYT has never been pro-AI. But the rollout of its own chatbot shows that it’s not allergic to the tech — it just wants it to be used ethically.

Between the Lines: NYT would like to introduce you to its newest employee: “Echo.”

The Future: Despite all the allowances, the company has told staff they shouldn’t use AI to “draft or significantly alter an article, circumvent paywalls, input third-party copyrighted materials, or publish AI-generated images or videos without explicit labeling.” That’s because NYT has promised that “Times journalism will always be reported, written, and edited by our expert journalists” … with the understanding that “generative AI can sometimes help with parts of our process.”

In other words… AI is here to stay, so we better figure out how to implement it correctly. Building an LLM in-house may just be the best way to do that.

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A new streaming service called Olyn has launched to give indie filmmakers the ability to sell their movies directly to audiences by tapping critics, content creators, and fans as a paid-marketing engine via affiliate links.

The Big Picture: Indie film is in a tough spot, with titles from top markets like Sundance and Toronto looking for distribution sometimes a year after they premiere. By using a streamer that relies on (a compensated) word of mouth over an algorithm, films could break out from two simple factors: the strength of the movie and the strength of their grassroots marketing.

Behind the Scenes: Olyn can best be described as a mix between Shopify and YouTube.

Closing Credits: Olyn, which has only raised $2.8 million so far, has already scored its first buzzy film on the platform, the Studio POW-produced biopic of Beatles collaborator Brian Epstein titled Midas Man. Producer Perry Trevers told TechCrunch that the British film inked a licensing deal with Prime Video in the UK but has the ability to sell the film in other markets however they choose, so they decided to give Olyn a try.

The movie, backed by good reviews and a well-known cast, serves as a great test case for the platform’s potential. If successful, it could put Olyn on the radar of the indie market at large and maybe inspire other productions to pre-sell their films in select territories to fund their projects… then distribute them through Olyn in others once completed.

Imagine passing on Ring before Amazon scooped it up for $1.2 billion.

That’s exactly what happened to the Sharks — a 67,765% return gone.

Now, another smart home startup is making waves, and investors have a chance to get in before the next big buyout.

🏠 Meet RYSE — the company revolutionizing smart shades with patented retrofit technology that installs in minutes and is controllable via your smartphone or voice.

Why we’re paying attention:

🔹 $10M+ in revenue with 200% year-over-year growth

🔹 Available in 127 Best Buy stores with a Home Depot expansion in 2025

🔹 10+ patents protecting its game-changing technology

🔹 The smart home market is booming — growing 23% annually

🫴 RYSE’s public offering is now live at just $1.90/share.

Missed out on Ring? This could be your second chance.

👉 Find Out More

76.4% of you voted Time in yesterday’s poll: What’s more valuable to you: time or money?

“Time is finite! Money comes and goes.”

“You can always make more money. You cannot make more time.”

“My last role was head of a creative agency, and it used to drive me crazy how our clients had all these rules to take care of their own employees (like no meetings between 12 and 1pm or on Fridays, and everyone leaves at 6pm), yet they would constantly give us deadlines that were impossible to reach, unless we pulled all-nighters week after week. I was so burnt out by the constant disregard for our time management and mental health that I quit to take a year off and remind myself who I was as a normal and rested human being!”

“You can’t get back time.”

“Value your time, so you can make more money.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, 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.

🎤 Kendrick Lamar is the first rapper to have three albums in the Billboard 200 top 10 simultaneously, with GNX, DAMN., and good kid, m.A.A.d city.

😂 Saturday Night Live’s 50th Anniversary Special scored 14.8 million viewers across NBC and Peacock.

📺 Ampere Analysis reports that the new normal in TV is about three-fourths of the volume seen during Peak TV.

📈 TikTok Shop sales jumped 153% last month, taking market share away from Shein and Temu.

📉 Speaking of Shein, shareholders are urging the company to drop its valuation from $100 billion to $30 billion before going public.

🧽 Supreme x SpongeBob SquarePants is the collab the fashion world didn’t know it needed.

💰 Banks sold their debt in X for $4.7 billion despite initially seeking $3 billion.

🤖 YouTube terminated a channel called “True Crime Case Files” after discovering it was all AI slop.

📱 Instagram may release a downranking button for comments, similar to Reddit.