Generated Weekly: Let's meet in Manhattan!
I’ll be holding an in-person mixer at Red Lion in Manhattan on Wednesday, May 6 at 7pm. This will be a getting-to-know-you meetup without a formal agenda, just a few drinks and lots of chats. If you’re interested in AI video, AI video ethics, or AI video production, I think this will be a great way to get up to speed and start some interesting conversations. You can RSVP here on Meetup and please consider joining our group so we can grow and network. A.I. Shakes Up China’s Entertainment LandscapeThis video from the NYT shows us the extent to which AI-powered microdramas are taking over the Chinese internet. A shift is moving through China’s entertainment world, and it is most clear in the rise of the microdrama, those fast, phone-made serials that trade depth for speed and keep viewers coming back in short bursts. The form has grown into a $14 billion behemoth, built on tight schedules and constant output. Now, AI is taking over a lot of the work. But there’s a dark side. Tools like Seedance now let directors like Wang Yushun produce scenes that once needed full crews, cutting time, lowering costs, and pushing visual ambition into places small studios could not reach before. He built a company, hired a hundred people, and then let half of them go when the math no longer worked. Actors feel it too. Xing Enran, who once worked most days of the month, now waits for roles as platforms demand higher polish and algorithms reward synthetic precision. Even though it’s easier than ever to make content, art is difficult to produce. AI Video Goes Viral On X Amid Lawsuit Over Allegations Against JPMorgan ExecAn AI-generated “parody” video tied to a lawsuit involving Lorna Hajdini spread widely on Twitter, turning a legal dispute into a viral spectacle. The clip, which is a faked version of 50 Shades of Gray, does not show real events but it basically reiterates the allegedly false accusations made by a junior male colleague. Hajdini denied all the accusations, but this and other AI videos have already shaped how the public sees her case, raising concerns about how easily unproven claims can take on a sense of reality.
Netanyahu Shares AI Video Casting Rivals Bennet, Lapid as Arab Lawmakers as Election Campaigning Ramps UpAn AI-generated video shared by Benjamin Netanyahu has pulled AI into the center of Israel’s election fight. The clip shows Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid removing their faces to reveal Arab lawmakers Mansour Abbas and Ahmad Tibi, pushing a familiar claim that rival blocs depend on Arab parties. Bennett has criticized the use of AI clips as political attacks, while others across the spectrum have begun using similar tools. The result is a campaign shaped not just by policy, but by manufactured images that blur lines between argument, satire, and misinformation.
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Keep Going: Are you ready to be an entrepreneur? Here are the traits that will make you successful
“When you're going through hell, keep going." This podcast is about failure and how it breeds success. Every week, we talk to remarkable people who have accomplished great things but have also faced failure along the way. By exploring their experiences, we can learn how to build, succeed, and stay humble. The podcast is hosted by author and former TechCrunch and New York Times journalist John Biggs.
He also hosts The Innovators, a podcast focused on brand new startups and C-Level Executives and Creators.
If you’d like to appear on either show, email john@biggs.cc.
Our theme music is by Policy, AKA Mark Buchwald. (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/policy/)
Keep Going: Are you ready to be an entrepreneur? Here are the traits that will make you successful
Stefan Lindstrom has spent years studying entrepreneurs. Not the mythology but the actual behavior. He’s givens of thousands of tests and had thousands of conversations. And what he came back with is not inspiring.
It’s repetitive.
Same people succeed over and over. Same people stall over and over. He sees the same habits. The same reactions. The same blind spots.
But who succeeds and who fails? Lindstrom has an answer.
He keeps coming back to the same thing. Self-awareness. Not journaling, not vibes. Just noticing what you do when things go wrong, and being honest about why you keep doing it.
Most founders can’t do that.
They’re built to act. They see a problem, they move. That’s the whole game. But they also get attached. The idea becomes theirs. And once that happens, they stop listening.
He said it in a way that stuck. “Ideas are like children. Everyone thinks theirs is special.”
That’s where things break.
The market doesn’t care. Customers don’t care. You either adjust or you don’t. And if you don’t, you repeat the same pattern until you run out of time or money.
There’s another piece to it.
A lot of founders don’t know how to sell.
They build something real, something that works, and then they freeze when they have to explain it. Especially outside the U.S. You don’t grow up pitching. You don’t grow up selling yourself.
So you get stuck with a good product and no way to move it.
Meanwhile the market right now is a mess. Frozen in places. Nobody really knows what’s next.
That’s not a bad thing.
That’s the only time entrepreneurship works.
If everything is stable, nothing new gets built. When things shift, when the ground feels off, that’s when someone steps in and figures something out.
Entrepreneurs don’t wait for clarity. They move into the confusion and try to shape it.
That’s it.
Not vision. Not passion. Not some founder story you can package.
You notice what you’re doing. You fix what you can. You keep moving even when it feels wrong.
And sometimes, that’s enough.
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If you’ve been reading or listening to Keep Going for free, you’ve already seen the value of having independent work that isn’t shaped by corporate sponsors or the news cycle’s noise. But independence has a cost. If you find something useful here, if these words make you pause or think, I’m asking you to step up. A few dollars each month means I can keep doing this work without compromise. Without your support, this project stays fragile, balanced on the backs of a few.
© 2026 John Biggs
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104
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