This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.
Typing isn’t always the best way to get your thoughts down. Sometimes talking through an idea leads to better clarity. New AI tools can reliably transform those spoken thoughts into clean, organized text.
I’ve spent months experimenting with voice AI toolsfirst on my phone, and now on my laptop. Theyve been helping me pull ideas from my brain onto paper. The tools below have become crucial to my workflow.
Why voice AI beats traditional transcription
Traditional transcription simply converts speech to text. Modern voice AI does much more:
Instant transformation: Speak naturally and get a polished draft, outline, or summary
Smart cleanup: AI removes filler words and adds proper punctuation
Format flexibility: Convert speech into various formats like bullet lists or structured documents
Context awareness: AI understands context and organizes your thoughts logically. Because its grounded in your own words, it doesnt hallucinate.
5 ways I like using voice AI
Here are some scenarios where voice AI is particularly valuable:
1. Journal entries
Instead of staring at a blank page, I speak my thoughts at day’s end. The AI transforms my stream of consciousness into organized reflections.
2. Meeting follow-ups
After an in-person meeting, I open my voice AI app, hit record, and talk through key points while theyre still fresh. I dont worry about the structure of my sentences or about pausing as I think. The AI waits for me and summarizes my rambling.
3. Presentation planning
Speaking through presentation ideas helps me figure out my narrative flow. The AI helps me organize my thoughts into a structured outline. I can talk through multiple potential versions, then compare them on screen later.
4. Book notes
To preserve insights from something Im reading, I turn on a voice AI app and flip through the pages or scroll through the text to remind myself out loud about intriguing passages or ideas. I then save the structured note the AI creates.
I like being able to look back at the text while dictating the note. And the editing part of my brain interferes less when Im talking than when Im typing.
5. Daily planning
Starting my day by verbally mapping out my priorities helps me think through whats ahead more effectively than typing out a list.
Voice AI apps to try
Letterly
Easy to use: Just press the apps big button. Up to 15 minutes per recording.
Cross-platform: Record or access your past text-from-voice across automatically synchronized desktop, web, and mobile apps.
Smart format detection: The magic transform option can automatically reformat your words, turning lists into bullets or structuring email drafts for quick copy-and-pasting into other apps.
Customizable outputs: Transform recordings into LinkedIn posts, podcast or video scripts, structured documents, or your own custom formats.
Iterative refinement: Try different transformations of the same recording until you get exactly what you need.
Multiple languages: Record in any of 90 languages, or record in one language and have the app translate your text into another.
Offline and screen-off options: Record anywhere, even without Internet access. Try using background mode without your screen on. I often record with my AirPods while walking with my phone in my pocket.
Founders tip: Dont confuse it with dictation, says Letterlys founder and CEO Anton Lebedev. You dont need to pronounce the perfect text you want to write. Instead, think out loud, speak slowly, quickly, or even chaotically. AI will understand you. Think of it like a writing assistant youre telling what to write. The assistant can understand you and figure out how to rewrite the text.
Letterly Pricing: $80/year after a free trial
Oasis
Multi-purpose output: Get your recording transformed simultaneously into various formatsfrom a memo or outline to a blog post or TED talk.
Make custom templates: Create and name short prompts that reflect your preferred styles or formats. Those become part of your personalized prompt library for transforming future recordings. I made one for my journal entries.
Web accessibility: Like Letterly and Audiopen, you can access your recordings and transformed text through a browser on any device.
Oasis pricing: $5/month or $50/year for enough credits for hundreds of monthly uses.
AudioPen
Customize rewrite length: Customize the length setting if youd prefer summaries of your transcribed recordings to be shorter or longer. Create and access them on your phone or on any device through your browser.
Shareable audio notes: Send individual audio note links to colleagues or collaborators. Or send then to other apps with a Zapier integration.
Flexible organization: Combine multiple audio notes or their summaries into larger collections. You can search for old notes or arrange them in folders.
Rich template selection: Choose from various transformation templates.
AudioPen pricing: $99/year or $159/two years after a free trial.
Bottom Line
Start with Letterly if you want simplicity and reliability. Consider Oasis if you want a slightly cheaper option or need to simultaneously access multiple format variations of the same content. AudioPen is useful if you want to customize the length of your voice summaries or if sharing or combining audio notes is important to your workflow.
Where to use voice AI
Voice AI shines when typing isn’t practical or when you want to think freely without your hands on a keyboard. Here are situations where you can try it:
At home
Comy chair: Capture book notes without interrupting your reading rhythm.
Kitchen: Document recipe adjustments or cooking notes while your hands are busy with ingredients.
Bedside: Record late-night musings without disrupting your wind-down routine with a bright screen.
Garden: Log landscaping ideas or random thoughts while your hands are dirty.
On the move
Walking: Capture project ideas and inspiration during your daily stroll.
Commute: Draft emails and plan your day while on the subway or bus.
Car: Record thoughts safely after parking but before you forget an important idea.
At work
Quiet space: Create reflective journal entries while looking out the window.
Conference: Capture insights between sessions to avoid being overwhelmed when you get home.
Doctor’s office: Record appointment details and follow-up steps while the info is fresh.
Active time
Outdoors: Draft journal entries or creative ideas while surrounded by nature
Exercise: Outline presentations or brainstorm on the treadmill
Shopping: Create lists or remind yourself about products
Voice AI on your laptop
I used to rely exclusively on mobile voice AI apps, but lately I’ve been relying on laptop voice AI apps. These are less focused on transforming text and more on putting your spoken text on your clipboard so you can paste into any tool youre using. It works with Google Docs, Word, email, or whatever else youre using. I use these on my laptop because its quicker and easier for me to talk than to type. Here are three worth trying:
Flow
Quick to start: Once youve installed the software, just hold down the function key to start recording in any of 100+ languages. Your recording gets instantly transcribed and the cleaned-up text is copied to your clipboard.
Works anywhere on your computer: Paste transcribed text directly into any applicationemail, documents, or messaging apps.
Reduces screen and hand fatigue: Record while looking away from your screen to reduce eye strain and give your hands a break.
Flow pricing: Free for up to 2,000 words/week; $12/month billed annually for unlimited words and extra features. $8/month for students and educators.
TalkTastic
Simple transcription: Made by the team that created the Oasis mobile app, TalkTastic is designed to be simpler. Instead of transforming your speech into various text types, it just puts a cleaned-up version of what you say onto your clipboard to paste into any app.
Smart text transformation: You can optionally set it to analyze your screen context to offer transformed versions of your text.
Free: While in beta, theres no cost for TalkTastic.
MacWhisper
Advanced transcription: Use this free software to transcribe online meetings, podcasts, or live dictation. You can even upload files to transcribe.
Pay once for pro features: Enable YouTube transcriptions, batch uploads, translation, and top AI model usage with a one-time purchase.
MacWhisper pricing: Free for basic usage; about $60 for pro upgrade; 20% discount with this link. Journalists, students, or non-profits can email support@macwhisper.com for 50% off.
Other ways to use your voice to benefit from AI
ChatGPT has a powerful voice mode in its mobile and desktop apps. Rather than typing out AI queries, you can have a conversation with an AI bot. Heres why thats so useful.
Perplexitys mobile app voice AI mode is terrific. I ask it a series of questions, like an oracle. It beats Google on many of my queries. The AI understands what Im asking, then gathers and summarizes a helpful response. Citations in the app ensure I can check on its info sources.
Googles Gemini and Microsofts Copilot have recently-upgraded mobile voice modes. Converse with human-sounding AI bots without thumb typing.
Open-source options abound.
This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.
In the business world, advertisers are the stunt performers. Our fragmented media and pop cultural landscape has forced brands to really push stunts into the weird and wonderful. Whether its Snoop threatening to give up smoking, Ben Affleck working a Dunkin’ drive-thru, or a devil baby terrorizing the streets of New York. Meanwhile in Hollywood, the stunt performers are the ones who actually pull off the death-defying action that can make us gasp. They’re a breath of IRL fresh air in a world blanketed by visual-effects technology.
Now, for the biggest night in entertainment, these two worlds converge for a pretty epic stunt by both worlds definition. Disney Advertising, Jimmy Kimmels Kimmelot, and Ryan Reynolds’s Maximum Effort, have enlisted five different brands to create six commercials that will air during the Oscars ceremony, tonight at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET, featuring more than 75 stunt performers executing classic Hollywood stunts like skydiving, high falls, and dynamic fight scenes.
John Campbell, Disney Advertisings senior vice president of entertainment and streaming solutions, says that a lot of their conversations with CMOs have revolved around looking to create quality content that can maximize a given cultural moment, in particular to live audiences. The Oscars ticked all of those boxes.
For the participating brandsCarnival Cruise Line, Kiehls, LOréal Paris, MNTN, and SamsungCampbell says they saw the advantage of teaming up on a unique concept.
We had this concept to shine a light on the stunt community and the tremendous impact that they have on film for all of us as fans, says Campbell. We see them as Hollywoods hidden heroes, so we put the hypothesis out there: What if we invited them to step into the spotlight on entertainments biggest night? And honestly, what came about is kind of wild. We had 75 real-life stunt performers, 150 crew members, and we did this in a little over a week of filming and producing.
The result may well be the biggest advertising stunt ever done for the Oscars.
Brands playing nice
Marketers typically do not like sharing the spotlight. But here, with Carnival Cruise Line, Kiehls, LOréal Paris, MNTN, and Samsung, theres a balance among brands across product categories so that they can creatively all row in the same direction.
Campbell says that the company has brands it works with on a consistent basis and had a sense of who might want to test the waters of a new concept like this. The question is, are brands really going to play together? So we’ve had to find the right brands who are going to trust Disney advertisers, going to trust the Academy in order to say, You know what, we are going to play together, and something really special is going to come about.
Kiehls general manager John Reed says this is the brands national TV-commercial debut, and it wanted to showcase authenticity, craftsmanship, and innovation. With this being a multibrand project, it was important to us that the Kiehls spot felt endemic to the brand while fitting into the larger storytelling, says Reed. That we can stand out while fitting in.
LOreal Paris USA president Laura Branik says this idea was a natural fit to showcase the performance of the brands Infallible 3-Second Setting Mist in a breakthrough way. The collaborative process was really rooted in a shared vision and creativity, says Branik. We worked closely with Disney Advertising from the very startfrom brainstorming concepts to shaping the final execution. We have all been working toward the same goal of elevating stunt performers who are so deserving of this spotlight, which has made the process truly collaborative and fun.
The Carnival Cruises ad features stuntwoman Hannah Betts jumping from a helicopter at 11,000 feet right into the pool of a Carnival Cruise ship. The clip in the ad was Betts first take. The Oscars delivers the right audience of prospective Carnival cruisers who love the fun of travel and live events, says Carnival CMO Amy Martin Ziegenfuss. This collaboration provided an opportunity to be more contextually relevant within the program, alongside other great brands and partners.
The only nonconsumer brand of the lineup is ad tech firm MNTN, the parent company for Reynoldss creative shop Maximum Effort. CEO Mark Douglas says that the company aims to showcase the power of storytelling during commercial time, and this stunt aligns perfectly with that mission. Its the ultimate way to show how advertising can be as thrilling and impactful as the content it complements, says Douglas.
Stunt Advertising Evolved
Its a novel concept getting five brands to collaborate on a six-ad extravaganza during the Oscars to celebrate stunt performers. But this isnt Disney Advertisings first crack at experimental ads.
Back in 2022, it worked with Kimmelot and Maximum Effort for the series finale of The Walking Dead. They created a series of ads for Autodesk, Deloitte, DoorDash, MNTN, and Ring, featuring four characters who died over the course of the shows 11-season run. All five commercials were shot in two days.
Last year, the companies colaborated again, this time for a Groundhog Day-like campaign for Lays. That was a series of eight ads starring Stephen Tobolowsky, who played Ned in the 1993 comedy-film classic Groundhog Day, just trying to buy a bag of chips. The spots ran 75 times on the calendar’s Groundhog Day, taking up a third of ABCs commercial inventory for the day, appearing during Good Morning America, General Hospital, Shark Tank, 20/20, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
Campbell says that the goal was to evolve the approach, this time with multiple brands, and on perhaps the biggest night of live-event TV outside of the Super Bowl. It was really asking, how do we continue to push ourselves, to push the boundaries, and use the full platform of Disney in order to keep pushing these creative boundaries? he says.
The Stunts
Chris Denison directed the Carnival spot and coordinated the stunts and cast every stunt performer across all six commercials. Hes performed stunts in films for Zac Efron, Jared Leto, and Ewan McGregor, as well as being Sam Worthingtons stunt double in James Cameron’s Avatar sequels.
Denison says that his first thought when he heard about this overall idea was, Dude, don’t mess this up!
All kidding aside, when I first heard of the concept of a series of stunts-centric commercials geared toward paying homage to our profession, I was struck by a tremendous sense of responsibility, both to my peers and the legends of the business who came before us, says Denison. I knew instinctively that if the commercials that we produced were anything less than amazing, they would fall far short of the mission of honoring the overall stunt community. As a result, my team and I poured absolutely everything we had into this process.
The biggest challenge from a stunt perspective was using the action to tell a meaningful story inside the boundaries of a 30-second spot. I’m a firm believer that action should be a storytelling device; that is, all stunts should be used to drive a story forward, else you risk losing your connection with the audience, says Denison. The creative team and our fantastic directors did us so many favors in this regard, but we as a department had to be absolutely ruthless about distilling the action down to its core.
He points to the Samsung Fight commercial. Our first iteration of the fight was over a minute long, says Denison. With the help of our fearless fight coordinator, Steve Brown, we literally workshopped that thing for weeks, stripping out the proverbial shoe leather while highlighting the individual storytelling elements. I believe that the finished product is as compelling as a 30-second fight can get. This challenge persisted across each of the spots, and in every instance we put a hard focus on hyperefficient storytelling through cool action to create what we felt was the best result possible.
What stands out to Denison about this advertising stunt is the sheer variety in the spots. From a massive drop off a 12-story office building and a practical skydive out of a helicopter over an ocean to precision-driving in a trophy truck out in the desert.
Each spot is wildly different, and yet they all tell a broader story of what kind of content the stunt community is capable of producing, says Denison. It was incredibly fun getting to switch gears so rapidly and complete so many different action sequences in a short amount of time. As under the radar as stunt performers are used to flying, there are individuals within the stunt community whose names are even less well-known, and yet their work is absolutely everywhere on screen.
Denison goes on to point out a few of the less-than-famous folks Oscars viewers will see. Whether or not the audience recognizes this, I think it’s a very fun Easter egg that the boom operator in the Fight commercial is a UFC Hall-of-Famer, the first assistant director in the Kiehl’s spot is an accomplished supercross racer, and the dude in the floatie in the Carnival Cruise ship pool is Hugh Jackman’s stunt double.
The line its an honor to just be nominated is a cliche, but it’s certainly true that landing an Oscar nomination comes with prestige, attention, and lots of award-season press coverage on the stories behind every film. But for Union, a documentary film that follows the historic efforts of a group of Amazon warehouse workers as they launchand winthe first-ever union campaign at the retail giant, theres a story in the fact that they werent nominated.
When the creative team behind Union first embedded with Amazon Staten Island warehouse workers in 2020, they werent looking to make a buzzy, commercial film. They raised their full budget before the Amazon Labor Union even won its election. They were committed, producer Samantha Curley says, to documenting this particular labor struggle, and asking questions about the modern workforce and how people are politicized through work, long before it was clear just how big the story would become.
But then they were there to capture that win, and they were ready with years of footage of Chris Smalls, the campaigns intrepid leader, before he became an overnight labor celebrityheading to the White House and onto the Daily Show and as the subject of major media coverage. And it seemed like their documentary could actually be marketableand big. They premiered at Sundance 2024, and won the festivals U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for the Art of Change. We really felt like there wasn’t a reason that it wouldn’t get picked up or distributed, Curley says. They knew Amazons streaming service wouldnt buy the film, of course, but they figured other places might.
[Photo: Martin DiCicco]
Distributors didnt clamor to pick it up, though. In fact, the filmmakers got pass after pass. Not even were waiting to see or its a soft pass or just not hearing back, but hard nos, relatively quickly, Curley says. So they pivoted to an independent self release, partnering with 250 labor organizations and affinity groups to screen the film for one night or limited runs in more than 20 cities. Those screenings often sold out, meaning Union was the highest-grossing film for the theaters on those nights. They held showings followed by Q&As with Amazon Labor Union workers, and screened the film near Amazon warehouses. They did an online rental release where viewers could donate so that an Amazon worker could watch the film for free.
In this way, Unions distribution became a story in itself, mirroring the one the film toldabout the power of organizing, how a small group of people can make a big impact, and who institutional systems really work for. Curley says none of the big distributions actually even said anything about Amazon. What we gathered, that was never explicitly stated, was that it was really about labor, she says.
[Photo: Martin DiCicco]
The Amazon Labor Union was just one part of a bigger wave of organizing taking place. Around the same time, Apple retail workers began organizing (and got their first contract in 2024), as did Disney park characters (who voted to unionize in 2024). Major actions from the United AutoWorkers, Hollywood actors and writers, and more dominated the news cycle of the past few years. This idea of the labor movement and worker power is so relevant and threatening that, I thinkand again, this wasn’t ever explicitly statedbut what we took from those conversations [with distributors] was like, these distributors don’t want people pointing the finger at them any moreso than they already are, Curley says.
Generally, some were also shying away from political contentthough Curley doesnt think that Union, or the experience of watching it, is overtly political. If youre reading the film that way, its definitely present, but I think the film is about group projects, and about the audacious belief that we can make anything better, or we can change anything about our circumstances, she says.
Even though the film itself focuses on Amazon, it offers a broad perspective of the labor movement at large. It is pretty insular to this group of Amazon organizers in Staten Island, Curley says, but we worked really hard to remind viewers this is just one small part of this huge machine. The timing of the film speaks to this as well: its not a 10-year retrospective of a historic moment, but came out amid an ongoing labor resurgence. We wanted the film to become part of the conversation about the future of work and labor organizing.
After all that effort, Union did manage to get shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar nominations. We were really fortunate to have such strong support and guidance within the awards campaign, and belief that the film coud really be in the conversation, Curley says. Being shortlisted did increase the films visibility, boost its independent distribution path, and give the participants some validation, she adds, for all the time they committed to the project.
[Photo: Martin DiCicco]
It would have been cool and a different journey to have been nominated,” she adds, but not being nominated “allows us to continue to balance the kind of prestige of the film with the real collective effort and struggle to get the film out there.” (The film’s creative team, along with Curley, includes producer Mars Verrone, cinematographer and producer Martin Dicicco, directors Stephen Maing and Brett Story, editors Blair McClendon and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, and composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe.)
Its also an opportunity for the film to keep paving its own way. An Oscars appearance can seem like an ending: a grand culmination of effort. But Unions story isnt over. The team is already thinking about its next phase of distribution, and has plans tied to May Day and Labor Day. Its outside of the awards circuit, and so can tell its story beyond awards season. Now we just get to be a film thats trying to reach audiences, Curley says.
Amazon workers’ fight isn’t over either; more than two years after unionizing, they still don’t have a contract. (Workers authorized a strike at the end of 2024 as part of its efforts to get the retail giant to negotiate.) And the larger conversation about labor isnt ending either; though the Trump administration is taking steps to dismantle the labor movement and erase worker power, those threats are also bolstering conversations about the importance of workers rights, and the power of collective organizing. The film might focus on Amazon, but really it highlights this dichotomy, she notes, of how organizing is essential and also impossible.
The film shows the Staten Island warehouse win, yes, but also how the Amazon Labor Union lost its next two elections, and how infighting and burnout start to appear among the organizers. It ends by showing the very beginnings of yet another campaign at a warehouse in California. Its this idea of, we just spend time with this small group of workers, and [this is] going to be happening with workers at every company and every part of the world, Curley says, and that being inspiring and daunting.
Despite a traumatic beginning of the year from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires, Los Angeles is ready to celebrate one of its largest exports: movies.
Hollywoods biggest bash, the 97th Academy Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will air tonight, March 2, at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET. The action is taking place at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. Lets get up to speed so you can watch like an A-lister:
How the L.A. fires impacted the 2025 Oscars
The fires delayed the Oscar nominations announcement twice and extended the nominations voting period. And though the actual awards ceremony date was not affected, the annual Oscars Nominees Luncheon was canceled out of sensitivity to the Southern California community, and the Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony had to be rescheduled from February 18 to April 29.
Notable 2025 Oscar nominees
Emilia Pérez dominates the Oscars with 13 nominations, making it the most nominated non-English movie in Oscar history. Jacques Audiards crime musical was once considered a tight contender for best picture, but controversy surrounding its star Karla Sofía Gascón’s raft of offensive tweets is expected to impact its chances (although it just won best film and best director at the Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, on Friday in Paris). Gascón is the first openly trans actor to be nominated for an Oscar.
Tied for second place with 10 nominations is Brady Corbets immigrant story The Brutalist and Jon M. Chus musical Wicked, both nominated for best picture. This is the first time two musicals have been in the best picture category since 1969 with Oliver! and Funny Girl. (Oliver! won.)
With eight nominations each, A Complete Unknown and Conclave are also up for best picture.
You can find a complete list of the 2025 Oscar nominees on the Academy’s website.
Who is hosting the 2025 Oscars?
Comedian, former late-night host, and podcaster Conan OBrien is taking on hosting duties this year for the first time. The two-time Emmy Awards host revealed that he’s never even attended the Academy Awards before. “I only agreed to host so that I could get invited,” O’Brien said (jokingly?) during a news conference Wednesday.
He will get backup from presenters including Oprah Winfrey, Ben Stiller, Sterling K. Brown, Willem Dafoe, John Lithgow, and Amy Poehler. Keeping with tradition, last years top acting winners, Robert Downey Jr., Cillian Murphy, DaVine Joy Randolph, and Emma Stone will also present.
Who are the musical performers?
Historically, the best original song nominees were performed during the ceremony. This year, the Academy is shaking things up and having songwriters share their personal reflections instead.
That doesnt mean the music stops. Wickeds Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will open up the night with a musical performance. Lisa of Blackpink, Queen Latifah, Doja Cat, and Raye are also cooking up something special.
Who are some favorites to win this year?
There have been lots of twists and turns leading up to the big night. Some categories, such as best supporting actor and actress, feel almost inevitable. Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaa will almost certainly walk away with Oscars in these categories.
Best picture, actor, and actress are more unpredictable. In the actor race, Oscar-winner Adrien Brody seemed the front-runner until last weekends SAG Awards upset when Timothée Chalamet took home the honor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan. Traditionally, the Oscars don’t like to honor younger artists, but the times could be a-changin’.
In the actress category, Demi Moore of The Substance and Mikey Madison of Anora have split the precursor awards. Moores heartfelt speeches at SAG, Critics Choice, and the Golden Globes ceremonies charmed audiences. But don’t count Madison out; she took home the BAFTA and Independent Spirit Awards trophies for best actress.
Further complicating the issue, some critics are predicting a surprise third choice, Im Still Heres Fernanda Torres. This is truly anyones race.
Best picture is also uncertain. Sean Baker’s Anora seemed to be a safe bet because of its PGA, DGA, and WGA wins, but Conclaves SAG and BAFTA wins might make a case for Edward Berger’s papal thriller.
How can I watch or stream the 2025 Oscars?
There are many ways to see what film comes out on top. The most straightforward for those with traditional cable TV subscriptions is to tune into ABC at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m ET. You can also watch it for free on ABC with an over-the-air antenna.
For the first time ever, cord-cutters can also stream the Oscars live directly on Hulu, which is offering a free trial for new subscribers. Or catch the show on one of the live-TV streaming services that offer ABC as part of a bundle:
Sling TV (in some markets)
Fubo TV
YouTube TV
Hulu + Live TV
Sometimes, authenticity can be a films most special effect.
It took months for Best Actress front-runner Mikey Madison to learn how to pole dance like the titular exotic dancer in Anora and for her fellow nominee Timothée Chalamet to passably play guitar as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. The naturalism of both performances helped keep audiences under the spell cast by their surrounding films. So, it should probably come as no surprise that a backlash has emerged in response to several of this years Oscar-nominated films using AI, paradoxically, to achieve authenticity.
The reaction began on January 11, when editor Dávid Jancsó revealed in an interview that he and director Brady Corbet had used AI voice technology to make Oscar favorite The Brutalist. The film stars Adrien Brody as Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth, who, after surviving the Holocaust, emigrated to the U.S. where he is joined years later by his wife, Erzsébet, played by Felicity Jones. Although both actors, each of whom are nominated for Oscars, underwent vocal coaching to make the Hungarian dialogue roll off their tongues, according to Jancsó it just didnt work. The creators ended up using Respeecher, a Ukraine-based AI voice-cloning tool, to enhance Brody and Joness accents.
This revelation provoked an online uproar so intense that Corbet issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter days later, downplaying AIs significance in the making of the film.
The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicitys performances in another language, not to replace or alter them, and done with the utmost respect for the craft, the director said in his statement.
In the weeks since The Brutalist came under the microscope, similar revelations have tumbled out regarding other Oscar-nominated films. In a recently surfaced French-language interview from last years Cannes festival, for instance, rerecording mixer Cyril Holtz disclosed that trans musical Emilia Pérez, the most-nominated film in this years Oscar crop, also used Respeecher to enhance star Karla Sofía Gascóns singing voice. (Emilia Pérez has far bigger fish to fry in terms of backlash, however, given Gascóns shocking history of inflammatory tweets.)
Leaning on AI to zhuzh up an actors performance has proven controversial this year, due to the technologys rapid encroachment into traditionally human-created art. Some worry that AI will deprive film workers at various levels of jobs in the name of cost-cutting, while others fear it will usher in an era of cinematic soullessness. (Those folks have apparently never seen any of the ostensibly AI-free blockbusters shot entirely on green screen.) Indeed, part of the reason the writers and actors strikes of 2023 went on for so long was because of the difficulty in securing protections against AI. Ultimately, the strikes succeeded in placing guardrails around the techs use in generating scripts and requiring consent and compensation for using an actor’s likeness.
Visual artists and animators have won no such protections yet, though. Considering all the looming fears about an unemployment crisis in film and TV art departments, its no wonder the use of AI in visual effects has proven especially unpopular recently. The acclaimed 2024 horror film Late Night with the Devil came under fire last spring for using AI to quickly create three briefly shown images; around the same time, the A24 thriller Civil War generated controversy for using AI just in its poster art.
Now, the debate about the ethics of movie imagery that uses AI has reached the Oscars too.
Since the brouhaha began over The Brutalists AI vocal enhancement, revelations have spilled out about other films using AI for visual effects. (Brutalist editor Jancsó also claimed in his infamous interview that some blueprints and finished buildings depicted in the film were partially AI-generated, though director Corbet disputes this.) When Australia-based Rising Sun Pictures submitted its work on Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga for an award at the 2025 Visual Effects Society Awards, the company boasted about using its Revize machine learning toolset to create effects for A Complete Unknown, adding a new dimension to the Oscars AI conversation. (As an individual familiar with the film told Indiewire, “The technology was used to assist in three brief wide shots on a motorcycle, not involving performance or creative enhancements. This technology is commonplace for making stunt people resemble their actor in films.) On a similar note, another film nominated for multiple Oscars and starring Chalamet, Dune: Part Two, also used machine learning to create the striking ice-blue eye color of its Fremen characters.
How much should any of this matter? Perhaps not that much.
Its not as if whole chunks of any of these films were created using OpenAIs text-to-video tool Sora or Googles Veo 2. Instead, the AI-infused visual effects are minimal and seem in line with the kind of VFX ork thats been rocking multiplexes for decades. Furthermore, the vocal tune-up in The Brutalist is limited to the few scenes where Brody and Jones actually speak in Hungarian. (For the bulk of the film, they talk in heavily accented English.) And as for Gascóns juiced singing in Emilia Pérez, Rami Malek won an Oscar in 2019 for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, and only a stunt vocalist contributed any real singing to that film.
But at least the stunt vocalist was human.
As the use of AI seems increasingly inevitable in film and TVs future, despite the pronounced ongoing backlash, purists might decide to draw a line in the sandboycotting any and all projects that utilize it. As if to accommodate them, the Motion Picture Academy is reportedly weighing a rule that would require filmmakers to disclose when their films use AI.
In the meantime, some arent waiting around for such rules to be implemented and are instead taking the opposite tact. When the A24 horror movie Heretic came out last fall, it bore the following caption in its end credits: No generative AI was used in the making of this film.
Gen Z workers have been branded as demanding, unmotivated, and even entitleda word that was used not too long ago to describe millennials. In an Intelligent.com survey last fall, 60% of employers said they had fired Gen Z workers not long after hiring them, and one in six managers said they were hesitant to hire recent college graduates.
Its no surprise that Gen Z continues to be misunderstood, or that older employees might rely on lazy tropes as they try to make sense of a new generation. While its true that Gen Z employees may have higher expectations for the workplace, that isnt necessarily a bad thingin fact, it may just be a necessary corrective in the face of questionable leadership.
What many have labeled [quiet] quitting is actually a rational response to workplaces that lack fairness, structure, and alignment with employee values, leadership strategist Jeff LeBlanc wrote recently. Instead of writing off an entire generation, leaders should be asking: What are we doing wrong?
As baby boomers age out of the workforce, its imperative that employers find a way to better understandand courtGen Z employees, who will be a key part of the next generation of workers. So what can employers do to not just attract Gen Z workers, but make sure they stick around?
Understand how Gen Z employees are different
Rather than typically dismissing the concerns of Gen Z or painting them as difficult to work with, companies and managers should consider why younger employees might differ from their older counterparts when it comes to their expectations of the workplace. Gen Z grew up amid economic uncertainty, social justice movements, and an increasing focus on mental health, LeBlanc wrote. They dont just want jobs; they want workplaces that prioritize psychological safety, transparency, and fairness.
Research indicates that Gen Z is far more socially conscious than previous generations, and that these employees prize diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and employee wellness. What older employees may perceive as being demanding is actually about advocating for themselves.
This is also a generation of workers who grew up on the internet. Gen Z is used to putting every thought out for others to like, dislike, and amplify, wrote Amelia Dunlop, chief experience officer for Deloitte Digital. When they show up at work, they expect their voice and opinions to be heard and taken into consideration.
Consider the impact of the pandemic
Gen Z has also come of age during a period of intense upheaval, changing their experiencesand perhaps expectationsof the workplace. Many of these young workers finished college or started working at the height of the pandemic, which meant they had to acclimate to professional life while working from home.
While there are benefits to young workers being in an office setting, many of them are also seeking more flexibility and want the option of working remotely. Flexibility in the workplace is not just a perk for Gen Z, it is a necessity, wrote leadership expert Cheryl Fields Tyler. Despite this, many organizations operate with the assumption that Gen Z employees need to work in traditional office settings to ‘earn the right’ to have flexibility.
Think about what they want out of a job
Gen Z employees do tend to have higher expectations of their colleagues and managers. That can be a shift for older employees who might expect them to pay their dues or show more deference. Unlike previous generations, Gen Z may not be as satisfied with an inspirational leader. Instead, they prize qualities like psychological safety and fairnesswhich includes equitable pay and access to professional opportunitiesas well as a high degree of transparency, according to LeBlanc.
Gen Z also wants to find meaning in the work they do. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to managers who have already worked alongside millennials. Thats also why younger workers may expect their employers to not just engage with social issues, but also align with their own personal values. In fact, research shows that Gen Z employees are three times more likely to stay at a job if they believe in the mission.
And while work-life balance is important to other generations as well, its a major priority for Gen Z. As Andrew Roth, who runs the Gen Z consulting firm dcdx, explained: Quiet quitting or stronger pushes for work-life balance are not threats or insults to tradition, but merely calls for respect, protection of our health, and the desire for a more fulfilling life for a generation growing up in this always-online world.
In many ways, Gen Z is simply looking for qualities that all employees should hope to find in their workplace, including transparency, clear expectations, and equitable treatment. Companies that take their concerns seriously are likely to cultivate more loyal, committed employeesof any age.
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Speaking before the U.S. Senate this month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that a decade or more down the road, homeowners in some parts of the country wont be able to find home insurance.
Both banks and insurance companies are pulling out of coastal areas or areas where there are a lot of fires. So what that is going to mean is that if you fast-forward 10 or 15 years, there are going to be regions of the country where you cant get a mortgage,” Powell told Congress. “There wont be [mortgage] ATMs, there wont be banks [lending mortgages], so it’ll fall on homeowners and residents. But it’ll also fall on state and local governments. Which is what you see happening now, where they’re stepping in, in states where insurance is going away. You’re seeing states step in because they want those areas to remain prosperous.
Hearing that comment made by a professor or analyst is one thing. But hearing it come from the Fed Chair is a bit unnerving for the housing sector. It raises the question: Is there any data out there to suggest which housing markets could be at the highest risk of bank and home insurer pullbacks?
ResiClub did some digging and found a new proprietary analysis made by First Street, which forecastsbased on models estimating property-specific risk and expected climate riskhow much county-level home insurance premiums could shift between 2025 and 2055.
To see where homeowners and investors could be impacted the most, ResiClub visualized First Streets county-level home insurance forecasts. (Please note that forecasting in general isnt ever guaranteedlet alone when a firm is trying to project three whole decades into the future. If you went back and found 30-year forecasts for anything finance-related made in 1995, theyd likely be pretty far off from how things transpired by 2025.)
We asked First Street if their analysis accounted for future inflation as well. These [insurance] values are based on todays dollars with the only adjustment being related to the increase in climate exposure over time, but not to any expectations around inflation or market adjustments. . . . These values are not inflation adjusted in any way, First Street tells ResiClub.
Among the 500 most populous counties, these are the 20 where First Street expects the highest 30-year growth in home insurance premiums:
Orleans Parish, Louisiana: +634%
Miami-Dade County, Florida: +590%
Pinellas County, Florida: +451%
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana: +351%
Duval County, Florida: +333%
El Dorado County, California: +291%
St. Johns County, Florida: +290%
Placer County, California: +256%
Galveston County, Texas: +251%
Manatee County, Florida: +242%
Volusia County, Florida: +242%
Clay County, Florida: +240%
Palm Beach County, Florida: +195%
Brevard County, Florida: +189%
Broward County, Florida: +182%
Coconino County, Arizona: +173%
Hillsborough County, Florida: +162%
Nueces County, Texas: +158%
Hernando County, Florida: +152%
Lafayette Parish, Louisiana: +149%
The heightened risk of flooding, hurricanes, and tropical storms is ultimately why the First Street model projects the greatest insurance hikes around the Gulf. In fact, 12 of the 20 major U.S. counties expected to see the biggest increase are in Florida.
As ResiClub has previously reported, homeowners in these areas are already experiencing elevated insurance hikes. While the median annual U.S. home insurance premium increased by 33% between the end of 2020 and the end of 2023, it surged more than 80% in many Florida counties.
Like most Americans, I took Social Security for granted for most of my life. Until about 10 years ago, I carried a vague idea that the program had been promised to Moses on Mount Sinai (whaddya mean Grandpa didnt have a Social Security number until he was 27?). Combined with that assumption was my hazy belief that its benefits would dry up by the time I reached my sixties.
My eyes were opened when I was asked to literally write the book on Social Security in 2015. (Forgive the shameless plug.)
In researching and writing that book, I learned that Social Security represents the best of American federal policyand that the widespread misunderstanding of this program puts itand usin peril.
Since then, I have become a dedicated Social Security fangirl who believes its important for all Americans to better understand and appreciate this program. Heres why.
The gritty origin story
The Social Security Act was signed into law on August 14, 1935, a date that dedicated students of history will recognize as smack-dab in the middle of the Great Depression. Thats not a coincidence. America faced a staggering 25% unemployment rate during the 1930s, and more than half the elderly population lived in poverty. This was not the economic reality Americans wanted for their grandparentsor themselves.
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Labor Secretary Frances Perkins (the first woman appointed to a presidential cabinet and a stone-cold badass) to be chair of a newly formed committee on economic security. Perkins created a report that included a legislative proposal for what would become the Social Security Act.
An elegant design
A common misconception about Social Security is that you are contributing money to your future benefits. You might assume there is an account with your name on it where your contributions go to wait until you retire. Its an understandable mistake since thats how your 401(k) and other retirement accounts work.
But Social Security was designed as a direct handover from current workers to current beneficiaries. By setting up the program so that people currently working made contributions to people currently retired, the government does not have to hold or invest money for the future.
This design means that Social Security can never run out of money. The money is consistently transferred from current workers to current beneficiaries, which means there will be money for benefits when you retire.
Yes, you.
A history of tinkering
Since Social Security is federal legislation, its subject to change as the economy and society change. For example, the original Social Security Act excluded coverage for many jobs, including agriculture, domestic work, teachers, librarians, and nurses. The program was expanded to include these in 1950.
Some other major changes included the 1962 legislation that allowed dependent husbandsnot just wivesto receive benefits after becoming widowed, and the 1972 introduction of cost of living adjustments (COLA) to benefits. One of the biggest changes occurred in 1983, in anticipation of the future mass retirement of baby boomers.
Between 2011 and 2029, approximately 10,000 boomers turn 65 every single day, which is a rate of retirement that Social Security was not originally designed to handle. The 1983 legislative changes to Social Security gradually raised the age of full retirement for boomers and subsequent generations, lowering the cost of their benefits.
Future planning
The 1983 legislation, like every change to Social Security, increased the programs complexity, which is a common source of frustration about the program.
While changes to the program have sometimes led to unintended consequences, every single legislative decision reflects good faith, good intentions, and long-term planning.
Consider the fact that in 1983, the oldest boomers were in their thirties, but Congress was already looking ahead to their retirement. Thats because the United States is the only country in the world that uses 75-year projections for its social insurance program. Most other countries use a shorter timeline. Only Japan, with a 95-year projection, uses a longer one.
This kind of forethought and projection means were (theoretically) able to avert oncoming problems decades before they arrive.
The greatly exaggerated reports of Social Securitys demise
When I tell a contemporary that they can count on Social Security in the future, they often struggle to believe meand for good reason. You dont have to go far to find headlines describing the programs imminent insolvency.
Heres the reality: The Social Security Trust Fund will run out of money in 2035. At that point, the Social Security program will only be able to pay out approximately 83% of promised benefits. Most people focus on the run out of money half of that sentence, glossing right over the youll get 83% of your promised benefits part.
While a 17% reduction in your promised benefits is crappy, its a hell of a lot better than no benefits at all. Thats why I encourage Americans to remember that Social Security is facing an imminent shortfall, not an imminent bankruptcy.
To avert the shortfall, Congress just needs to make some adjustments to the legislation. (Yeah, Im not holding my breath, either). But this is a fixable problem, if we as a country are willing to do the work.
The real threat to Social Security
I like to tell people that if Social Security benefits are not there for us when we retire, it means we have bigger problems than retirement income.
Because I have a waggish sense of humor, Ill often name the kinds of fantastical and unlikely threats that would truly dismantle Social Securitya meteor heading straight for Earth, a robot apocalypse, or a fascist takeover of the American government.
In other words, Social Security is about as close to a financial guarantee as we can have, but that doesnt mean its immune to threatsespecially the outlandish threts that are a lot less funny than they used to be.
As a federal program, Social Security can be fundamentally changed or even rescinded with the stroke of a pen. And its more likely this will happen if the American citizens who are the beneficiaries of this amazing, flawed, and life-saving program believe the lies about it.
This is why Ill spend Social Securitys 90th year touting its merits to everyone who will listen. The better we understand and claim Social Security as our own, the more secure it will beeven in the unlikely event of a zombie apocalypse.
The Oscars dont have a Best Poster category. (Or even a Best Title Sequence category, which they did sort of have for the very first Academy Awards in 1929 beforefor shamedropping it in 1930.) So this year, as in the past, we asked some of our favorite poster designers which Best Picture nominee should win Best Poster.
Like book cover designers, key art creators are tasked with the unwieldy ask of distilling an entire universe of story into a single visual. Its another standard of excellence in cinemaand wed argue that theres indeed correlation between great posters and great films. Consider: In our (admittedly wildly unscientific!) 2023 best poster poll, all participants nearly unanimously selected the off-the-wall treatments for the off-the-wall Everything Everywhere All At Oncewhich took home Best Picture. Last year, Vasilis Marmatakiss unsurprisingly inventive posters for the unsurprisingly inventive Poor Things dominatedand the film subsequently nabbed Best Actress, Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Costume Design.
Beneath our water-cooler correlation lies another truth: When a designer utterly nails the brief and creates a poster that rises to a films artistic heights, its transcendentand it often yields the singular image were left with in our minds long after leaving the theater.
Below, a panel of prosJay Bennett, who has worked with Netflix and others; Marie Bergeron, who has worked with Sony, Marvel, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros.; Tori Huynh, who has worked with the Criterion Collection, A24, HBO and more; and Eric Garza and Mitch Putnam, creative directors of pop culture and poster powerhouse Mutantsound off on their picks for this years best Best Picture poster.
[Photo: A24]
The most effective movie posters make you want to see the movie. A24s one-sheet for The Brutalist delivers fully in this regard. Director Brady Corbets film epic is a bold and uncompromising work that celebrates minimalism and maximalism in equal measure. The poster supports that minimalist/maximalist approach with a design-forward layout that follows principles of Bauhaus and Brutalist design. The art challenges our expectations of traditional movie posters with its bold typography and asymmetrical layout, and is punctuated by an equally impactful visual of Lady Liberty turned on her headsignaling some of the films main themes. Its not just an advert for the film, it feels like an extension of its worldview. Eric Garza
[Photo: MUBI]
This one got my attention because of its simplicity, boldness, and because it says what it needs to say with very few elements. It’s [difficult to encapsulate a] story with only one image, and I always think that the best posters nail this part. Also, I’ve seen the film and it’s one of my favorites this year, so maybe [thats why I chose it, too]. Marie Bergeron
[Photo: MUBI]
One of my favorite films of 2024 was The Substance. I love when horror films center the unimaginable dread of being a woman. Strange, sterile, and a pastel gore nightmare, I feel like the posters capture the bizarre icons within the film really well. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Or was the chicken modified, processed and fried beyond our comprehension [so] it is no longer recognizable from its original form? Summarizing all of these elements, and without showing Demi Moore’s face, no less, is such a bold choice. I also love the condensed typeface they used for the title and kept within the entirety of the film. From the look of the key art into the picture, I appreciate the commitment to consistency within the branding. Tori Huynh
[Photo: Focus Features]
I have landed on the U.K. one-sheet for Conclave. I think it’s a bold approach for what is essentially a reliious drama to lead with such a vibrant, thriller-esque palette, with the character arrangement creating a hint towards the split of the vote. The highlighted eye as Cardinal Lawrence’s main weapon in this conflict is a nice touch. Jay Bennett
[Photo: NEON]
Many times, independent studios will try to push posters that feature big, loud graphic design or illustrative work to help their films stand out. That can be effective, but sometimes a simple piece of set photography is so perfect, it has to be used. Anora had my favorite poster of the year for exactly this reason. The photo screams youth, energy, love and euphoria, which is a hell of a lot to convey in one shot. The type perfectly complements the image and communicates everything necessary while also stepping back just enough so as to not compete for focal dominance. Uncomplicated in its design, this is one of those I couldve done that posters. But you probably couldnt have. Mitch Putnam
Forget SpongeBob SquarePants, Sesame Street, and the sourdough starter craze: a depressed German loaf of bread named Bernd das Brot is celebrating his 25th anniversary as the reluctant star of a children’s television program that accidentally became equally popular with adults.
A cult classic in Germany, Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread) is a puppet renowned for his deep, gloomy voice, his perpetual pessimism and his signature expression, “Mist!” (Think crap! in English.)
Played and voiced by puppeteer Jörg Teichgraeber, Bernd is a television presenter who wants nothing to do with TV and cant wait to go home to stare at the wallpaper.
This year, his friendsa sheep and a flower bushare urging him to become a bread influencer.
Bernd’s beginnings
Born as a sketch on the back of a napkin in a pizzeria, Bernds infamous grimace was drawn by Tommy Krappweis who modeled it after co-creator Norman Cösters face. The duo had been asked to come up with mascots for KiKA, a German childrens public television channel.
Comic artist Georg Graf von Westphalen designed Bernd as a pullman loafwhite bread typically sliced for sandwicheswith short arms and a permanent scowl. Bernd channels German stereotypes with his grumpy disposition, penchant for complaining and dry sense of humor and irony.
Bernd’s first episode aired on KiKA in 2000 alongside his more-optimistic pals, Chili the Sheep and Briegel the Bush.
A reluctant popularity
Because KiKA is a children’s channel, there was typically dead air from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. On January 1, 2003, the network put Bernd’s short episodes into the night loop for the first time.
The move brought an adult audience into Bernd’s world, often those sitting at home and smoking pot, or returning after a long night of partying. The night loop cemented his popularity as a German cult classic.
In 2004, Bernd won the Adolf Grimme Prize, the German television equivalent of an Emmy. The jury said he represents the right to be in a bad mood.
Bernd shows you that you are less vulnerable with humor and self-irony. And perhaps the most important point is: Its totally okay if you dont feel well sometimes. Thats completely fine, Krappweis, Bernd’s creator, said in a KiKA Q&A about Bernd’s anniversary.
Bernd’s broken heart
Bernd is depressed for a multitude of reasons, including his failed attempt to be the mascot for a bakery’s advertising campaign (that’s how he ended up as a TV presenter, as a last resort).
But it’s in Episode 85 that we finally learn about Bernd’s broken heart.
A long, long time ago I fell in love with a beautiful, slim baguette. She was so incredibly charming and funny, Bernd tells Chili and Briegel. But unfortunately it was in vain.
She only had eyes for this run-of-the-mill multigrain bread with its 10 types of grain. It was so depressing.
The kidnapping
Despite Bernds best effortsone of his catchphrases is I would like to leave this showthe episodes have never become stale. He sings, he dances, hes been to space. He’s the star of merchandise, a video game, and headlines like Give Us Our Daily Bernd.
He was even kidnapped! In 2009, his 2-meter-tall (6.56 feet) statue was stolen from his traditional place outside the town hall in Erfurt, where KiKA is based.
A claim of responsibility surfaced on YouTube, by sympathizers of a group of demonstrators who were protesting a company that had produced cremation ovens for the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz. The demonstrators, however, denied involvement in Bernds kidnapping and the video was removed from the internet.
Bernd was held hostage for nearly two weeks before being discovered unharmed in an abandoned barracks.
The anniversary year
KiKA is honoring Bernd’s 25th anniversary, despite his complaints. New episodes, an update to his hit song, and online activities for kids and adults alike will be featured. The celebrations begin now, as Bernds birthday is February 29.
The latest series will premiere in September as Bernd, Chili, and Briegel launch the social media channel Better With Bernd in their efforts to make him into a bread influencer.
The trio will present inventions to make school, and life, easier for viewers, but naturally their concoctions backfire. Bernd instead becomes a defluencerand an involuntary trendsetter.
By Stefanie Dazio, Associated Press
AP journalist Kirsten Grieshaber contributed to this report.
