The Replacement Trap: What Hollywood and Big Tech Learned About AI the Hard Way

Everyone is racing to replace creatives, replace workflows, replace entire products with AI. It doesn't work. We arrived at this conclusion from opposite sides — Pouya runs an AI-native film studio where AI makes every creative more productive, not expendable. Chris built GenAI products at Amazon and Meta where the wins came from adding convenience, not forcing adoption. In this fireside chat, we share what actually worked, what failed, and why the biggest mistake in AI right now is assuming the technology sells itself. If you are building AI products or leading teams through AI adoption, this conversation will change how you think about where AI actually wins.