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Entertainment’s future is not just a question of new screens or formats. It depends on how artificial intelligence changes production, whether networks and devices can support interactive experiences, and how companies handle standards, rights and revenue. MIT Technology Review Insights’ 2025 report Designing the future of entertainment examines those forces through interviews with media executives, startup founders, analysts and other experts. Its central message: technology can extend what creators and audiences can do, but it does not make creative judgment or sound business decisions optional.
What the report says is changing
The report organizes the shift around four connected forces: AI in production and analytics; new hardware and connectivity for immersive or interactive experiences; media standards that help content work across systems; and business-model changes as audience habits fragment. These are interdependent. A compelling format still needs a way to produce it, deliver it reliably, reach audiences across devices and earn revenue.
The findings are qualitative perspectives from interviews, not a representative survey of the entire entertainment industry. The report says its research is editorially independent, while its foreword is by Nokia’s Arvin Patel, Chief Licensing Officer New Segments, and should be understood as the sponsor’s perspective. Read the report; the publisher announced it on February 13, 2025, in a release summarizing its findings.
How AI may change entertainment work
AI is already being applied to specific workflows rather than only discussed as a distant possibility. The report identifies audience predictive analytics, virtual production, automated editing and captioning, and efficiency improvements in animation and dubbing. Those uses can help teams manage complex or costly tasks and may support new formats or revenue opportunities.
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Automation does not settle questions of authorship or taste. The report flags intellectual-property concerns, the risk of data leakage when external models are used, and questions of authenticity and creativity. Its executive summary recommends treating AI as an intelligent partner rather than a replacement, arguing that human creativity remains critical to stories that resonate.
The report cites McKinsey’s estimate of $80 billion to $130 billion in potential economic value from generative AI in media and entertainment. That is a forecast of potential value, not realized revenue or a guarantee of industry-wide results. It also cites a YouTube survey in which 89% of independent creators reportedly believed AI would level the playing field; that figure reflects the cited survey, not a broad measure of all creators’ views.
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What immersive entertainment needs to work
Virtual reality, metaverse experiences, volumetric video and smart glasses appear in the report as emerging possibilities, alongside entertainment that blurs boundaries between games and movies. They could make audiences more active participants, including in multi-user experiences, but the report does not predict that any one format will become mainstream on a set timetable.
The experience depends on more than a headset or a novel piece of content. The report points to device innovation, bandwidth, speed, connectivity, and processing at the edge or on-device as enabling conditions. These factors shape how complex media can be produced, delivered and experienced; a weak link can constrain the whole experience. The report discusses VR but does not recommend a particular device or establish compatibility for any product.
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Why media standards affect the audience experience
Standards and supporting technologies are easy to overlook because viewers encounter their effects rather than their names: whether video plays efficiently, metadata travels with a media file, streaming works across devices, or voice recognition supports an interaction. The report highlights video compression, media formats and metadata, streaming, and voice recognition as foundational elements of digital media.
As formats become more interactive and complex, interoperability matters: systems need to work together across platforms and devices. The report connects this need to experiences in gaming, sports and esports, music, and metaverse settings, including near-live and multi-user content.
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In the report’s foreword, Nokia’s Arvin Patel urges businesses to adopt newer video-compression standards and describes potential benefits for efficiency, storage, compatibility and interoperability. That recommendation is the sponsor’s position; the report does not provide an independent comparative test of compression standards.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How entertainment businesses may need to adapt
Technology choices affect rights, partnerships and revenue, not just production. The report describes companies facing fragmented consumer landscapes and pressure to find new income sources while managing infrastructure, data and content rights. It points to subscriptions, ad-supported or freemium services, a la carte offers, partnerships and gaming micropayments as examples of digital-era approaches—not a prescription that suits every company.
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AI adds a long-term rights question: how can content owners protect future revenue as models are trained and used in ways that may be difficult to predict? Noah Levine, Databricks’ Global Head of Media and Entertainment, is quoted in the report: “IP holders need to preserve future revenue rights as large language models and other models gain traction, because the future is very hard to predict.” Practical decisions about data handling, licensing and partnerships therefore sit alongside decisions about creative tools.
The report also argues for broader alliances and an expansive view of potential partners. Its wider implication is that business strategy and technical strategy must move together: new formats need infrastructure and distribution, while new revenue models depend on audiences, rights and workable partnerships.
What this outlook can—and cannot—tell readers
Designing the future of entertainment is an industry outlook, not a consumer product review or a forecast that one technology will win. It identifies current AI workflows and the infrastructure, standards and business questions surrounding emerging formats, but does not establish a timetable for mainstream adoption or compare specific devices and services.
The report’s foreword says Nokia created almost 5,000 inventions over the preceding 25 years that enable streaming, online gaming and social media platforms. This is Nokia’s claim, presented in its foreword; it is not an independently audited inventory. Read such figures and forecasts in context, and distinguish an interview-based industry perspective from measured, representative evidence.
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