June 19, 2026
MAN AND ROBOTS: A weekly column from MARS Magazine on AI, Hollywood, and the future of work.
📺 Snap’s Smartglasses As Streaming Content Platform?
1. Although Snap CEO Evan Spiegel didn’t emphasize the AI aspects of the company’s new Specs smartglasses, the self-contained device does in fact offer AI assistance. Specifically, the device will offer what Snap calls contextual AI assistance, which indicates that the AI assistance will be integrated into the spatial computing and location-specific aspects of the device. The company is also allowing for agentic development on the platform via its Lens Studio, with a developer preview being brought to Anthropic’s Claude Code, OpenAI’s Codex, and Cursor.
Mini Movie Theater: Spiegel mentioned Apple’s Vision Pro during his Specs presentation, and now we know why. Specs also allow for users to stream movies and TV shows via a virtual display that mimics a 115-inch home cinema screen that might sit roughly 10 feet away from the viewer. Although the Vision Pro was made with movie lovers in mind, even its most dedicated users seem hesitant to sit in public spaces with the large goggle-like device on while watching content. On the contrary, Specs promises to offer personal cinema viewing in a package that looks similar to normal shades. Still, in my experience, the Vision Pro movie-watching experience is second only to real-life IMAX screens, so I wouldn’t rush to put Specs on the same playing field. During my testing of the previous version of Specs, called Spectacles, images were clean and vivid, and nothing I’d compare to Vision Pro when it comes ot wathcing videos. But I still haven’t tested Specs, so we’ll see if it lives up to Apple’s challenge when it’s released this fall.
About That Design: Showing that he has a good sense of humor in the face of criticism, Spiegel took to Twitter/X to respond to the many comments about his ear seemingly folding under the weight of the Specs frames. “Wdym That’s just what my ear looks like,” he posted in response to one of the viral photos. Spiegel also retweeted Specs team member Jaiya Gill, who said, “The internet’s first reaction to something new is almost always wrong…People hate on new designs, then become the biggest fans (i.e., AirPods Max, Cybertrucks)…Meta Ray-Bans functionality is primarily for photos and videos…Wearables are going to look different on everyone, so focusing on flattering one person (even the CEO) doesn’t make sense…Sometimes you need to sit with something and let it cook (i.e., Taylor Swift albums after the first listen). Also, it’s usually the same people who come back when something’s hot and say they were always day ones.”
I was pretty harsh about the design of Specs, but upon further thought, I think the mistake Snap made was making the device with transition lenses. When I look at Specs in shades mode, with darkened lenses, I can see why Snap thought this was ready for market. But it’s when the clear lens mode appears that the smartglasses veer into awkward territory. I think the better move would have been to offer a version that is permanent shade mode and a separate version with transition lenses. That simple (and possibly impractical on Snap’s side) move might have encouraged more adoption. Because, as I said upon its release, with tech wearables, design is the primary user interface. And with Specs, the design UI isn’t winning a lot of fans. I actually hope Gill is correct about Specs doubters. I’ll keep an open mind and reassess after I get my hands on the device in person.
🎥 Guillermo Still In His “Fuck AI” Bag
2. “We are on the verge of image illiteracy. We are on the verge of cinema illiteracy… The pact between man and image is sacred, but we are in a time when that is in danger… We are told images can be generated by artificial means. The existence of an image is not just to be there. It is to connect us, to make us feel beauty.”
–Guillermo del Toro, director, The Shape of Water, at BFI America event in LA
*Source: Variety
🎬 Amazon Has OpenAI’s Back vs. Hollywood
3. The tenuous relationship between the AI industry and Hollywood just suffered a major conflict-of-interest casualty. Amazon has canceled its involvement in the film Artificial by director Luca Guadagnino (Challengers) and starring Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man, The Social Network) as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Ike Barinholtz (Suicide Squad) as Elon Musk, Monica Barbaro (Top Gun: Maverick) as Mira Mirati, and Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) as Geoffrey Hinton.
The unusual studio exit comes after OpenAI signed a $38 billion cloud services deal with Amazon in November 2025, and Amazon invested $50 billion in OpenAI in February of this year. “Artificial will be better served if it were released by a different studio and [we] are working closely with the film-making team to find the film a new home,” Amazon said in a statement obtained by Puck.
Tech Censors: The film is said to be a satirical take on Altman’s dramatic firing as CEO of OpenAI back in 2023, which revealed major fault lines in the company’s internal structure. The incident also highlighted how many of OpenAI’s then-executives distrusted Altman, a point that was raised again during the recent trial of Elon Musk v. OpenAI. Now that Amazon appears to be running interference for its OpenAI business partner, the future of tech companies in Hollywood will likely be reexamined by some insiders. Would Columbia/Sony Pictures’ upcoming The Social Reckoning, which skewers Mark Zuckerberg, have made it to theaters if Meta had secured a major tech business relationship with Sony? Suddenly, such a prospect seems much less likely.
🎭 Gollum Not Precious About AI
4. “One of the most exciting things I’m looking forward to is seeing young creative minds tell stories in compelling, exciting new ways, regardless of their means, their social class or their access to equipment and money,” Serkis said. “Obviously, the downside is when [AI is] used inappropriately or to entice viewers into worlds that perhaps they shouldn’t be going into. As with any technology, it’s about how responsible we are.”
–Andy Serkis, actor, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
*Source: Deadline
🔈 Lionel Richie vs AI
5. Following in the footsteps of Matthew McConaughey and Taylor Swift, music legend Lionel Richie has joined the ranks of stars moving to trademark their creative fingerprint as a firewall against AI in the future. Spotted by D.C.-based intellectual property attorney Josh Gerben, the trademark filings show that the singer-songwriter has filed to protect the audio versions of his four most famous phrases, including “Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For?,” “Say You, Say Me,” “Easy Like Sunday Morning,” and “All Night Long.” According to Gerben, these filings are more about Richie attempting to protect his voice from AI usage rather than the specific phrases as valuable properties in and of themselves.
“Current laws protecting voices and likenesses can often stop someone from using an artist’s exact voice without permission. But trademark law offers a different and potentially broader framework. A trademark registration could allow an artist to stop any reproduction of his/her voice that just sounds similar,” says Gerben. “If Richie were able to obtain registrations for these sound marks, it could provide another layer of protection against AI-generated content that sounds enough like him to make consumers believe he was involved.”✍︎
MAN AND ROBOTS is a weekly column from MARS Magazine on AI, Hollywood, and the future of work. All editorial text is written by humans.
Cover image: Photo illustration of Specs user featuring Specs endorser ‘Squid Games’ actress Hoyeon via Specs
