Film and television production saw groundbreaking AI integration this week. Netflix revealed it used AI-generated video footage in the Argentine sci-fi series *El Eternauta*, where a building collapse scene was created entirely by AI. This approach completed the visual effects shot 10 times faster and 10 times cheaper than traditional methods. Netflix's co-CEO Ted Sarandos emphasized that AI empowers artists rather than replaces them, calling it an "incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better". Beyond production, Netflix is also developing AI-powered ads and personalized content recommendations.

In publishing, Vietnamese companies reported using AI to streamline textbook production and translation. The technology significantly reduced editing costs while enabling publishers to expand into global markets through automated multilingual outputs. Industry experts noted this shift is transforming how educational content is created and distributed worldwide.

The UK government took significant steps to address copyright concerns in the AI era. On July 16, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy chaired the first meeting of new expert working groups with representatives from Sony Music, The Guardian, OpenAI, Amazon, and Meta. These groups aim to develop solutions that support AI innovation while ensuring "robust protection for our creators and vibrant creative industries". The initiative responds to a December 2024 consultation that received 11,500 responses about AI's impact on copyright.

Agentic AI platforms advanced substantially this week. Amazon announced AgentCore – a comprehensive toolkit for building AI agents on AWS – alongside a $100 million investment fund for agentic AI startups. AWS executive Swami Sivasubramanian called agentic AI a "tectonic change" that "upends how software is built and used". The platform includes seven new services and an AI Agents Marketplace.

In funding news, Mira Murati's Thinking Machines raised $2 billion at a $10 billion valuation to develop autonomous agentic AI systems for enterprise decision-making. This marks one of 2025's largest funding rounds and signals growing investment in post-foundation model AI innovation.

These developments highlight AI's accelerating impact across creative sectors, from transforming production pipelines to prompting new copyright frameworks. As Netflix's Sarandos observed, this represents "real people doing real work with better tools", while UK officials work to ensure these tools respect creative rights.