iWorld
Studio Blo gets its Hollywood script with Chad Greulach in the frame
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… algorithm! India’s Studio Blo, the country’s pioneering AI film studio, is ready to roll on its biggest project yet, a Hollywood partnership with veteran producer Chad Greulach, whose credits stretch across Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and Discovery.
Greulach’s cinematic résumé is no small scroll, he’s worked with names that light up marquees and arenas alike: Leonardo DiCaprio, Snoop Dogg, John Legend, Lenny Kravitz, Gene Simmons and Criss Angel, to name a few. Now, he’s stepping into the world of AI storytelling with Studio Blo to craft original entertainment IPs for the American market where human creativity meets machine precision.
The partnership will see the duo co-develop AI-powered stories and content for studios, music labels, channels and brands, while also expanding Faimous, Studio Blo’s AI-led celebrity IP engine into Hollywood. The move aims to merge AI’s creative horsepower with star-driven storytelling, opening new frontiers in how celebrity and content intersect.
For Studio Blo, the announcement marks another bold step in a journey that’s already caught global attention. Its current slate includes “Warlord”, an AI-generated TV series co-produced with acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, which explores the emotional and philosophical edges of AI and human imagination.
“Our collaboration with Chad marks a defining moment in our journey where India will make stories for the world,” said Studio Blo co-founder and CEO Dipankar Mukherjee. “We’re using our proprietary AI tech stack as a creative collaborator with the finest global talent. Chad’s expertise will help us craft AI-first stories that are emotionally rich, visually stunning and globally resonant.”
Greulach, for his part, sees the partnership as the future in motion. “The future of entertainment lies at the crossroads of technology and creativity, and Studio Blo is right at that intersection,” he said. “Dipankar and his team aren’t just experimenting, they’re reimagining storytelling itself. Together, we’ll build entertainment IPs that fuse human artistry with machine intelligence to captivate audiences everywhere.”
As AI reshapes every frame of the creative process from script to screen Studio Blo is positioning itself as India’s breakout player in the global AI entertainment ecosystem, proving that the next big Hollywood story might just be coded in India.
With this alliance, Studio Blo isn’t just crossing continents, it’s blurring the line between imagination and innovation, showing that in the world of film, even intelligence can be artificial but emotion never is.
iWorld
Snapchat parent Snap cuts 16 per cent of workforce in AI-driven restructuring
The Snapchat parent is axing around 1,000 jobs and closing 300 open roles to save $500m, as artificial intelligence makes smaller teams the new normal
CALIFORNIA: Snap is snapping. The Snapchat parent has confirmed plans to cut around 1,000 employees, roughly 16 per cent of its full-time workforce, as it bets that artificial intelligence can do what headcount once required. Shares jumped more than 10 per cent in premarket trading on the news, a brisk vote of confidence from a market that has watched the stock shed about 31 per cent this year.
The restructuring, which also closes more than 300 open roles, follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds an economic interest of about 2.5 per cent in the company and has been loudly pushing Snap to tighten its portfolio and lift performance. The firm got what it asked for, and then some.
Chief executive Evan Spiegel told employees the cuts would reduce annualised expenses by more than $500m by the second half of the year. The company expects to incur charges of between $95m and $130m related to the layoffs, mostly severance, with the bulk landing in the second quarter. Staff in Snap’s North America team were asked to work from home on the day of the announcement.
The financial backdrop is not without bright spots. Snap expects first-quarter revenue to rise around 12 per cent to approximately $1.53 billion, broadly in line with analyst estimates. Adjusted core profit for the January to March quarter is forecast at about $233m, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s expectation of $186.8m.
The harder question surrounds Specs, Snap’s augmented reality smart glasses subsidiary, which Irenic has urged the company to spin off or shut down entirely. The unit has absorbed more than $3.5 billion in investment and burns through approximately $500m in cash annually. Snap is pressing ahead regardless, with a consumer product expected later this year, even as Meta leads the market in the segment.
Spiegel is betting that leaner teams, smarter machines and a consumer AR play can restore Snap’s credibility with investors who have run out of patience. The redundancy notices have gone out. The harder restructuring, the one that requires a hit product rather than a headcount reduction, is still very much pending.
