Variety's Entertainment & Technology Summit convened at the Four Seasons Hotel at Beverly Hills on September 17, 2026, for a single day of on-stage conversations about the tools, platforms and strategies changing how audiences meet entertainment.
By the Global AI Cinema Editorial Team September 17, 2026
AI on the Main Stage
Artificial intelligence appeared twice on the published agenda as a named subject rather than a side conversation.
The morning session, Beyond the Screen: How AI is the Catalyst for Next-Gen Experiences, examined how AI is changing the way experiences are conceived and designed. Vamsi Duvvuri of EY, Simon Robinson of Warner Bros. Discovery and Shari Reich of Nvidia were listed to speak, moderated by Jay Tucker of UCLA Anderson.
The afternoon returned to the subject with Entertainment and Media in the Age of AI, moderated by Variety's Todd Spangler. Kathleen Grace of Lionsgate, Girish Balakrishnan of Netflix, Mira Lane of Google, Meagan Keane of Adobe, Roberta Thomson of Hasbro and Annaka Vasquez of Teads were listed to discuss where AI has already been integrated across their organizations, and where it might act as a collaborative partner in opening new business opportunities.
The Rest of the Programme
The day's other sessions covered content strategy across platforms, live and experiential entertainment, creator marketing, television advertising and the building of fan communities. Keynote conversations featured director and producer James Wan and Emmy-winning producers Bill Hader and Nick Kroll, with Nintendo of America president Devon Pritchard and Sony Pictures Television chairman Keith Le Goy also on the programme.
What the Programme Suggests
Placed beside gaming, creator marketing and live experience, AI at this summit was treated as one of several forces the commercial center of the industry is actively planning around rather than a subject held at a distance. The panels were staffed accordingly: alongside studios and streamers sat the companies that supply the compute, the creative software and the advertising infrastructure.
That framing is not the one that dominates public debate about AI and film, which remains centered on authorship, consent and labor. Both conversations are necessary. An evaluation framework that addresses only how a work was made will say little about how it is targeted, personalized and delivered, and it is on that side of the business that this year's programme placed most of its AI hours.
Sources
- Variety Entertainment & Technology Summit, official programme and agenda: events.variety.com/enttech26
- Photograph taken at the summit by Global AI Cinema