The past 12 months in technology have been defined by AI. In 2025, it sat in an odd middle ground. No longer just a novelty, but not something people fully trusted either.
Throughout the year, AI has progressed beyond joke filters and party tricks, while quietly transforming how we work, communicate, watch, and create. Almost without noticing, it began reshaping how we spend our free time and entertainment.
Bikini filters and viral Grok face-swap tools appeared across Elon Musk’s X rebrand. AI became a pocket interpreter, turning foreign conversations into subtitles. People generated birthday videos, fake trailers, and reanimated Star Wars scenes, including a whole Darth Vader miniseries on social media.
These won fans over, but only in short bursts. In a year defined by information overload, AI found its natural home in the smallest possible moments.
The rise of social media has certainly been influential. TikTok’s model of 30-second videos gives that quick flash of dopamine and quick hit of entertainment that has proved the most successful way of keeping viewers engaged over the last year.
Here, we break down the best examples of why it’s working and why we think this will be the overarching theme of 2026 in entertainment.
The Psychology of Short Form
Short sessions are perfect for AI because they generate dense behavioural data in a tiny window. Every swipe, spin, skip, or tap becomes a signal.
Short loops give users control. No long commitment, pure low-friction repeatability that gets used across multiple industries.
Online casino crash games like Aviator nail this. Players bet on how long a plane will stay airborne, cashing out before it crashes or losing everything if they wait too long.
The format works so well that Spribe, the online casino game developer, signed multi-million pound partnerships with sports giant TKO Group. As competition intensifies, new casino sites lean on proven providers and familiar fast-loop formats to win players quickly.
Musicians now test 15-30 second TikTok hooks, predicting virality from swipe-away speed. Platforms optimise discovery feeds so every tap trains the algorithm.
This mirrors the casino crash-game loop. Short session, instant feedback, AI adapts, repeat. It’s why songs now break on TikTok before radio, and why artists design intros for the algorithm rather than the album.
AI That Shapes Streaming
In 2026, streaming isn’t a luxury. It’s a subscription maze. Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock, Discovery. Each with vast libraries, overlapping catalogues, fragmented exclusives, and rising monthly fees. The battle now is for wallet share, loyalty, and habit. AI has to be bang on.
The smartest platforms know the algorithm should never feel like an algorithm. The human element is simple. People arrive at streaming platforms tired. They’ve worked all day, scrolled all evening, and now they want one thing: ease.
Nobody opens a streaming app hoping to make a decision. They open it, hoping the decision has already been made for them.
That’s why the recommendation moment has to be fast, light, and low-stakes. A hover over a thumbnail, a trailer preview, a quick scroll. That’s all most people have the energy for. If the platform can’t hook them in that window, they bounce.
Momentary sessions match end-of-day reality as people crave results without effort. Netflix knows this. Hit play within three seconds? AI wins. Scroll for 20 minutes, then quit? It fails. The difference is friction.
This is why the algorithm must be invisible. When you feel understood by a platform without having to explain yourself, that’s the algorithm doing its job properly. The comfort comes from emotional relief, not just convenience.
The Cultural Angle
People reject AI when it feels intrusive, preachy, overly automated, or like it’s replacing human creativity. But they embrace AI when it feels helpful, invisible, and personalised. Micro-interactions hide the machinery. You don’t think about the algorithm. You just enjoy the next spin, swipe, or clip.
This is exactly where e-commerce comes in. To many, shopping is entertainment, especially as social media and television influence buying habits.
It could be a recipe, a piece of clothing, or some merch. Apple Pay and PayPal are perfect examples of low-effort design. No wallet, no card details, no second-guessing, no cognitive load. Just tap, confirm, done.
Behind Apple Pay’s one-tap magic, AI silently handles fraud detection, risk scoring, personalised recommendations, and delivery predictions. All invisible, all keeping you in flow. Just like a 15-second YouTube Short or a single casino spin.
This mirrors the same psychology as a five-second TikTok swipe or a Netflix “Play Something” shuffle. Light-touch interactions where AI can learn fast and act instantly.
The cultural shift is that people no longer want to think about technology. They want technology to think for them. And AI does that best when it stays quiet, works fast, and gets out of the way.
The reason this matters for entertainment is simple. Attention is now the most valuable currency, and AI is the most efficient way to spend it. When shopping feels like entertainment and entertainment feels effortless, the lines blur completely.
AI-driven entertainment works because it respects the limits of human attention. It doesn’t demand commitment or patience. It offers instant results, learns from behaviour, and adapts in real time. Whether you’re swiping through TikTok, spinning a casino game, or tapping through Netflix suggestions, the experience is the same: quick, personalised, and low-effort.
As we move further into 2026, expect this model to dominate. Short sessions work because they match how AI learns best and how humans actually behave. What this means for creativity is still unfolding, but it’s clear that the future of entertainment will be about earning attention faster, not holding it longer.
