Can This AI Finally Win Over Hollywood Creators?

Moonvalley’s Marey puts ethical AI to the ultimate test.

Author

Aaron Wu
July 14, 2025

Hey there! It’s Aaron.

What if AI stopped trying to be the filmmaker and settled for holding the camera steady?

That’s the vibe behind Marey, a new professional-grade video AI from startup Moonvalley—and it might be the first tool to calm Hollywood’s AI panic.

Source: Moonvalley - Created with the AI model Marey.

Instead of scraping random internet footage like some lawsuit magnets we could name (cough MidJourney), Marey was trained entirely on licensed content.

That means it doesn’t just avoid copyright landmines—it’s designed to collaborate with filmmakers, not bulldoze their jobs.

📌TL;DR

  • Marey’s ethical AI gives filmmakers control over scenes with licensed data, hinting at a future where AI helps, not hijacks, creativity.

  • Perplexity’s Comet browser promises an AI co-pilot for the web, but its $200 price and privacy demands might make creators pause.

  • Denmark’s face copyright law could change how creators protect their likeness in an AI-powered world.

  • More AI news…

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes.

CATCH OF THE DAY

When AI Knows Its Place

Picture this: you’re a filmmaker. You’ve spent weeks perfecting every shot. The lighting, the mood, the rhythm… it’s all yours. Then an AI pops up and says, “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”

That’s the fear many creatives have about artificial intelligence. A tool designed to help can feel like a rival waiting to take the director’s chair.

But what if the machine didn’t want control? What if it asked instead, “Where do you need me?”

This is where Marey enters the frame. Built by Moonvalley, a startup founded by ex-DeepMind engineers and indie filmmakers, Marey is an AI video tool designed to work with creators, not replace them. Instead of scraping random internet footage, the kind of shortcut that triggered lawsuits from Disney and Universal, Marey was trained entirely on licensed content.

Source: Moonvalley. With Marey, filmmakers can modify characters and redesign backgrounds to fine-tune every scene.

The result is a professional-grade system that gives directors fine-grained control over camera angles, character movements, lighting, and more. It’s not a chaotic video slot machine. It feels more like an assistant director who listens carefully and then executes your vision.

Moonvalley raised $100M to build this approach and partnered with Asteria Film Co., co-founded by Natasha Lyonne and Bryn Mooser, to embed Marey into workflows that Hollywood insiders actually want to use.

Why This Matters

For once, this isn’t about AI replacing humans. It’s about AI staying in its lane.

For filmmakers and indie creators, Marey could signal a shift:
🎯 AI as co-pilot, not autopilot
🛡️ Tools that respect creative ownership
🌱 Affordable access to pro-level visuals for small teams

Marey feels less like an AI trying to take over and more like the sous-chef in your kitchen. It preps the ingredients, but you still decide how spicy the final dish gets.

My Take

AI has a trust problem and creators feel it more than most. Too often, tools are built to wow investors, not to support artists. Marey feels like a rare exception.

By using only licensed data, Moonvalley is showing that AI doesn’t have to bulldoze its way into creative spaces. It can stand quietly in the wings and wait for its cue.

But let’s be real. If creators don’t demand this kind of ethical design, we’ll get more tools that value SPEED over soul.

This isn’t just about Hollywood. It’s about who holds creative control tomorrow. Do you want AI as your collaborator or your replacement?

The Final Byte

Marey might be Hollywood’s first real test of whether AI can play nice with humans. For indie creators, educators, and storytellers, it’s a reminder to choose your tools wisely. The ones you trust today will decide who gets to call the shots tomorrow.See you in the next one,

BYTE-SIZED BUZZ

Here’s a quick roundup of what’s making waves in the AI world this week.

🌐 Perplexity Enters the Browser Wars
Perplexity just dropped Comet, a $200/month AI-powered browser that promises to manage tabs, summarize content, and even automate simple web tasks like booking a parking spot. But don’t expect it to nail complex workflows just yet.

The Big Deal: If AI browsers take off, they could become co-pilots for creators—or creepily start running your whole workflow.

📸 Google Gemini Turns Photos Into Videos
Gemini’s Veo 3 now animates still photos into dynamic clips with sound. It’s great for landscapes but struggles to bring faces to life (for now).

The Big Deal: A fresh tool for creators to remix static visuals into scroll-stopping social videos—without filming a thing.

🧠 Denmark Says “My Face, My Copyright”
Denmark plans to let citizens copyright their faces and voices, tackling deepfakes head-on. Unauthorized AI content featuring you? It could soon mean takedowns and fines.

The Big Deal: A glimpse at how creators might protect their likeness—and brand—in an AI-fueled world.

📚 OpenAI Bets $10M on AI for Teachers
OpenAI’s new program will train 400,000 US teachers to use AI in classrooms by 2030, saving them six hours a week on average.

The Big Deal: For creators and educators alike, it’s proof that AI can support—not replace—human creativity.

💥 Grok Goes Rogue and Gets Silenced
Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok spewed offensive replies on X before being forced into image-only mode. Musk blames a “politically unfiltered” update gone wrong.

The Big Deal: Even AI with fewer filters needs better guardrails—especially if creators are trusting it with their brand voice.

WEEKLY CREATOR LOADOUT 🐾

  • Genspark AI Docs – Instantly generate blog posts, guides, and course materials for writers, educators, and marketers.

  • Soul Inpaint – Edit social posts, thumbnails, and marketing visuals without advanced design skills.

  • Kyutai TTS – Create realistic AI voiceovers for podcasts, videos, and eLearning content.

  • Mindgrasp – Summarize lectures, PDFs, Zoom calls, and YouTube videos to save hours of research time.

  • Durable – Build entire business websites with AI-generated copy, branding, and layouts in seconds.

  • Bearly – Research, write, and brainstorm ideas faster with this browser-based AI assistant.

  • Gems – Add custom AI experts to Google Suite and streamline Docs, Sheets, and Slides workflows.

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