The Colbert Conundrum

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Happy Monday, Future Party. As Superman takes over the summer, one trend soaring online is “hopecore” — an aesthetic rooted in kindness, doing good, and helping your community — inspired by the positivity of David Corenswet’s take on the Man of Steel. While many online trends are steeped in cynicism, seeing one this earnest feels like a breath of fresh air. We’ll take it for as long as it lasts.

CBS’s cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a franchise that’s been running for over 30 years, shows how depressed economics, changing viewing habits, and potentially political pressure are spelling the end of the format.

The Big Picture: Once upon a time in the monoculture, late-night talk shows were the water coolers of the national conversation. But the digital revolution has fractured and personalized cultural discourse to the point where it seems, for the most part, that late-night hosts are speaking into a growing void… slowly ceding the throne to social media.

Behind the Scenes: Even though The Late Show was the highest-rated late-night show (an average of 2.47 million viewers per night), that wasn’t enough to save it.

Final Taping: While investigations are underway to explore whether there was a political or corporate angle to the show’s cancellation (which, perhaps), CBS has already signaled it was getting out of the late-night game. The broadcaster canceled The Late Late Show with James Corden a couple of years back, replacing it with After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson… only to cancel that too when Tomlinson didn’t return. The dominoes are just continuing to fall.

Up Next: With Jimmy Kimmel’s deal at ABC expiring in 2026, and Jimmy Fallon’s and Seth Meyers’ deals with NBC ending in 2028, the late-night landscape could be almost non-existent by the end of the decade.

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AI startup Decart has developed an AI model, Mirage, that can manipulate live video in real time.

The Fake Picture: Smart internet scrollers already have their antennas up for spotting deepfake videos. But now that livestreams can be AI-generated too, determining whether what you’re watching is real could become exponentially harder.

Behind the Code: Without wasting any time (or potentially ensuring any safety checks), Decart has released a website and an app for people to use Mirage.

The Future: In a perfect world, Decart will be a fun addition to gaming, Twitch streams, or other creative content — almost like a cutting-edge version of adding filters to your Zoom feed to liven up work meetings. But as the tech evolves to look more realistic, it’s easy to see how Mirage could be manipulated to alter newscasts or deceptively edit documentary footage. That can have scary implications.

Prediction: While Leitersdorf says he has no intention to sell the company, expect one of the larger AI firms to pull a Zuckerberg and create a very similar feature with their AI system (our bet’s on Meta, of course).

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94.3% of you voted Small, curated venues in Friday’s poll: What do you think provides a richer cultural experience?

“The experience is more intimate and immersive. You can feel, hear, and almost touch the soul and energy of the creatives before you.”

“Sometimes, a large crowd can add to the experience, but most of the time, a smaller venue brings the experience to life. It’s just more intimate and personal.”

“I think the small, curated events are too closed off to be useful as a cultural movement. Too few people can go to the events, and they cost so much.”

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.

📽️ Indie film studio Black Bear Pictures (Dumb Money, Mudbound) is launching a theatrical distribution arm under CAA vet Benjamin Kramer.

📺 Congress voted to rescind a billion dollars in funding from NPR and PBS — a potentially existential cut.

🎞️ Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that its Argentine show El Eternauta used generative AI for a scene where a building collapses.

₿ Shares in crypto firms like Coinbase and Robinhood popped after Congress passed the GENIUS Act.

✈️ Delta announced that it’s testing AI to determine the maximum price it thinks specific customers would be willing to pay for a flight.

💻 Browser DuckDuckGo rolled out a feature that lets users hide AI-generated images from search results.

📱 Meta has named Connor Hayes, its VP of generative AI, as the new head of Threads.

🖊️ TikTok is making it easier for songwriters to get discovered on the app with a suite of new features.

👀 Roblox is introducing an age-verification check for young users that works by scanning their selfie videos.