Rift Theory: A Pragmatic Future of Creativity - AI/Tech in Music, Filmmaking, Game Dev, Art, Culture

Get ready for a whole new set of series dealing with the different segments of the arts, creative, and maker world. With a focus on AI and its cross over with gaming, music, and the visual arts, you'll find something you love.

In this episode of  We Are the Machine , host Chris dives into the  best AI tools for designers in 2025  — and what they mean for artists navigating the rapidly changing creative landscape. Fresh off stories of AI colliding with the art world, Chris turns the conversation toward the practical side: the tools that are saving creators time, money, and frustration… while also raising hard questions a...

In this episode of We Are the Machine (September 8, 2025), we take you on a tour of the biggest and strangest ways AI is reshaping the creative world right now. From red-carpet animated films to robot-painted portraits, the line between human creativity and machine assistance has never been blurrier. Here’s what we cover:AI at Cannes: Critterz, the first AI-driven animated feature backed by OpenAI...

🎶 Ever dreamed of selling your songs and making real money as a songwriter — whether you’re working with artists, producing AI-assisted music, or licensing tracks for film, TV, and ads? In this episode, we break down the many ways songwriters today can turn their creativity into income. We’ll start with the basics of how songwriters actually make money, from performance royalties and mechanical r...

In this episode of We Are the Machine, we dive into the fast-moving collision of AI and the creative world. From music to writing, visual arts, and tech battles, AI is rewriting the rules of creation—and the legal, ethical, and economic consequences are unfolding in real time. We kick things off with Oliver McCann, a British designer turned AI-native musician, who signed a record deal after genera...

"Why does music suck now?" It’s the question that won’t die — and lately, everyone’s pointing their finger at AI. From TikTok trends to lawsuits against AI music platforms, the story goes that machines are flattening creativity, stealing authenticity, and making everything sound the same. But here’s the twist: AI isn’t the real villain here. In this episode of We Are the Machine, Chris d...

We Are the Machine dives headfirst into the week’s biggest stories at the crossroads of AI and creativity. From billion-dollar platform deals to Dorothy’s algorithmic makeover, this episode unpacks how the machine keeps reshaping music, film, video, and games—and what it all means for working artists. What’s inside this week’s episode:Meta x Midjourney — The New Look of Social MediaMeta signed a l...

This isn’t just another “AI writes a song” story. We’ve heard that one before. The real revolution? AI is quietly embedding itself into every stage of music production — not just generating melodies, but co-writing songs, mixing, mastering, remixing, and even live jamming. In this episode of We Are the Machine, Chris takes you on a deep dive into how AI is changing the music-making process from to...

This episode of We Are the Machine dives deep into the rapidly evolving world of AI in music—covering breaking stories, hidden industry moves, and hands-on ways AI is reshaping the creative process from idea to final master. Host Chris guides listeners through the collision of artistry and algorithms, revealing both opportunities and threats for today’s creators. Segment 1 – Peter Garrett’s AI Cop...

🎮 The AI Gameplay Revolution — Beyond Smarter BotsFor years, AI in games has meant smarter enemies or procedurally generated levels — like the ever-expanding universe of No Man’s Sky or tactical foes in The Last of Us Part II. But Genie 3 takes it up several levels. It fuses large language models with deep comprehension of 3D game environments, enabling real-time dialogue, memory-based interactio...

First up, ElevenLabs—known for their realistic AI voices—launched Eleven Music, a text-to-song generator creating full tracks with vocals and instruments. They’ve secured licensing deals with Merlin and Kobalt, aiming to offer royalty-safe AI music for creators like podcasters and indie filmmakers. This could solve legal headaches other AI music tools still face, though it might mean less creative...

AI isn’t just creating art—it’s redefining how we authenticate, consume, and experience visuals. On this episode of AI x Visuals , we explore the cutting-edge intersection of AI and creativity for artists, animators, filmmakers, and visual storytellers. First, we dive into Peter Macdonald’s Cambridge exhibition , ‘Is This All Your Own Work?’, where AI collaborates with humans to create gestural pa...

In this week’s episode, we dive deep into the latest breaking news on AI and creativity —from Hollywood blockbusters to bestselling books, indie film festivals, cutting‑edge art platforms, and even the future of coding as an art form . We start with Disney’s AI film experiment , where the studio tested deepfake‑style technology to digitally replace Dwayne Johnson’s face in the live‑action Moana re...

Welcome to the first episode of We Are the Machine, a podcast exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping creativity—from music and film to authorship, identity, and the way we understand what it means to make something that matters. This show is about more than AI tools. It’s about the fears, fractures, and flickers of hope that define the creative life. It’s about letting go of perfection...