The Brief – Tuesday 24 February – Trump calls on Netflix to fire board member, Walmart sees success with AI and more

🚫 President Trump has called on Netflix to fire a member of its board, Democrat Susan Rice. This comes as Warner Bros. Discovery reopened talks with Paramount last week over finalising a potential deal for the acquisition. Trump has played an increasingly interventionist role in US business, especially around media deals. (The New York Times)

🎞️ The Motion Picture Association has urged ByteDance on Friday to stop copyright infringement on its Seedance 2.0 AI platform, arguing assurances from the company are not enough. The MPA sent a cease and desist letter saying it needs to implement safeguards to prevent users from generating copyrighted material. Six of the seven member studios have since sent cease and desist letters to ByteDance. (Variety)

⚖️ Lord Puttnam told The Telegraph that social media companies are using tobacco giant’s tactics in refusing to admit they are harming children. The film producers says in the same way tobacco manufacturers sought to “wilfully deny” the damage their products caused, tech firms are doing the same and urged Ofcom to take a more “robust” approach. (The Telegraph)

🤖Walmart customers who use the company’s Sparky AI-powered shopping assistant have an order value that is around 35% higher than those who don’t use it, according to new CEO John Furner. (ModernRetail)

📱Samsung’s Galaxy S26 users have added Perplexity into the phone, so user can now summon the AI alongside Bixby or Gemini. The integration reflects the company’s embrace of a “multi-agent ecosystem.” (The Verge)

🤖 OpenAI’s first hardware release will be a smart speaker with a camera that will potentially cost between $200-$300. The device will be able to recognise things like “items on a nearby table or conversations people are having in the vicinity,” it will also have a facial recognition system to enable purchases. It won’t be available to customers earlier than March 2027. (The Verge)