Holidays from the Future, AI Heaven and Who Actually Owns Shrek?

This week’s AI Haven’t a Clue was a buffet of brain snacks - equal parts travel brochure from 2035, music industry séance, and legal mind-bender about who actually owns your creations when AI is involved.

James was off sunning himself (ironically, without AI to optimise his itinerary), so Phil Rowley stepped in as guest co-host. Phil’s day job? Head of Futures at Omnicom Media Group, meaning he spends his time predicting how technology will rewrite the way we consume TV, radio, gaming, and now, our summer holidays. He also drops terms like “dimensionalisation” without blinking..

The News: OpenAI’s Open-Weight Models & Google’s Game-Making AI

OpenAI have released “open weight” AI models, which - if you’re not fluent in Tech Bro - basically means they’re giving the world a Lego set for building your own AI programs. Think Minecraft, but instead of digging for diamond ore, you’re making a chatbot that only talks about mid-century modern furniture.

Google’s also joined the party with Genie 3, which can generate video game worlds in real time and actually remember what it built. Imagine Minecraft with a memory - or, more terrifyingly, The Sims remembering all the times you trapped your character in a pool without a ladder.

Rod Stewart’s AI Heaven

Rod Stewart has been using generative AI to bring back Ozzy Osbourne, Freddie Mercury, Tupac and friends for a celestial onstage singalong. Phil calls it “crossing a taste boundary.” George calls it “utterly bizarre” - partly because AI Ozzy takes selfies with AI Tupac. (Frankly, even the real-life version would be a bit much.)

Age seems to be the dividing line here: Boomers think it’s a heartfelt tribute, Gen Z thinks it’s creepier than a hologram ABBA concert.

Disney, Dwayne Johnson, and the Legalities of Digital Twins

Disney is remaking Moana and will reportedly use AI to make Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson appear without him actually having to be on set. Which is either a scheduling miracle or the start of a Hollywood where Tom Cruise can be in Mission: Impossible 19 while actually playing pickleball in Malibu.

The legal problem? Who owns a “digital twin” of an actor - and can you use it without them in the room?

If You Could Change Any Movie Ending…

Listeners wrote in to suggest film endings they’d re-do with AI. Popular picks: Game of Thrones Season 8, Star Wars and one very savage “let the Thanos snap stick” to end the MCU. Phil wants to rewrite 2001: A Space Odyssey so it makes sense to people without a PhD in “Kubrick-ese.”

Travel in 2035: Frictionless Holidays

Phil’s been researching the future of travel and his AI-powered predictions are almost enough to make you book 2035 now:

Refined Recommendations – Holidays tailored to your oddly specific interests. Want to go stargazing in Namibia with Brian Cox? Done.

Personalised Planning – A virtual travel agent books everything from taxis to dinner reservations, like your own very organised robot PA.

Supercharged Services – Instant translation kiosks, hotel aircon that actually works, and the ability to just say “Colder!” instead of stabbing buttons at 2am.

Optimised Operations – No more endless airport queues; AI monitors the line and opens more gates before you turn into a feral traveller.

Maximised Marketing – Finally, travel ads that actually make sense for you, not the “ski holiday” spam you keep getting despite hating snow.

Our Guest: Karl Rosen – AI Meets Intellectual Property

Karl Rosen, AI and IP strategy expert at PA Consulting, joined to talk about how AI is rewriting the rules of ownership, creativity, and who gets to profit from it.

Big takeaways:

IP is a “negative right” — it doesn’t give you something, it lets you stop others from taking it.

Training AI on your work without permission is the Getty Images problem: you may not know until an AI starts producing suspiciously similar output.

We might move from scarcity of creative works to an overabundance, meaning protecting originality will be harder than ever.

The short-term effects of AI are overhyped, but the long-term effects are wildly underestimated.

Also, if NBC Universal called him asking how to protect Shrek from AI rip-offs, he’d start by defining exactly what “Shrek” is as an asset (trademarks, production methods, actual content) before figuring out the right blend of law, tech, and market control.

Final Thought:

This week proved AI isn’t just about replacing jobs or writing bad poetry - it’s going to mess with how we holiday, how we game, how we remember our icons and who gets paid when AI uses your work.

Until next time: stay curious and if an AI Ozzy Osbourne tries to take a selfie with you… maybe just say no.