Stay entertained thanks to our Weekly Tracker giving you next week's Anticipated Movies & Shows, Most Watched & Returning Favorites, and Shows Changes & Popular Trailers.

Anticipated Movies

• Father Mother Sister Brother
• The Plague
• ☆ Anaconda
• Song Sung Blue
• La Grazia
• The Testament of Ann Lee
• Murder at the Embassy

Anticipated Shows

• Out of the Shadows
• Made in Korea
• A Homeless Billionaire Husband for Christmas
• Sunny Nights
• Cashero
• ☆ The Copenhagen Test
• No King Stands Alone

Returing Favorites

• ☆ Shoresy — Season 5

Trending Shows Status Changes

• The Last Frontier — Returning Series → Canceled
• Ranma1/2 — Returning Series → Ended

Most Watched Movies this Week

• +1 Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
• -1 The Running Man
• new Now You See Me: Now You Don't
• new Sisu: Road to Revenge
• +5 Home Alone
• -2 Predator: Badlands
• new Avatar: Fire and Ash
• -1 One Battle After Another
• -6 TRON: Ares
• -4 Hunting Season

Most Watched Shows this Week

• = Pluribus
• +2 IT: Welcome to Derry
• -1 Landman
• new Fallout
• -2 Stranger Things
• = Tracker
• = Mayor of Kingstown
• +2 Percy Jackson and the Olympians
• -4 South Park
• -2 FBI

Popular Trailers

• he's got a point. — Ella McCay
• Season Two – This Season On — Fallout
• Grandma's Christmas Dinner — The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
• Every Moment — Avatar: Fire and Ash
• The Housemaid is…NOW PLAYING only in theaters! — The Housemaid
• Official Trailer — Dreams
• Final UK Trailer — Anaconda
• Selected UK Cinemas Boxing Day, Cinemas Everywhere January 1st — Marty Supreme
• Survivor — Send Help
• Just three more days till DAVID is on the big screen — David

---

Hi, I'm Kevin 👋. I make apps and I love watching movies and TV shows. If you like what I'm doing, you can buy one of my apps, download and subscribe to Rippple for Trakt or just buy me a ko-fi ☕️.

---

I just keep hearing the music in my head. I know that I’m going to smoke the fuck out of her on this christmas present. I just want to make her happy.

pensó que la carne era dulce / dulce y fresca como gotas de miel y rocío pero cuando la telaraña del sufrimiento lo atrapó aunque quiso seguir volando no pudo

We don't open for visitors until two, they said.

So I wait.

Counting the minutes in the long corridor framed by windows like a cloistered passage, dappled light falling onto the old Linoleum floor through tinted glass in uniform increments.

Others wait too; checking their watches, their phones, swallowing hard against the immensity of what's to come. For the man stood beside me, his eyes so heavy and tired, it triggered an anxious dance. Rhythmically shifting his weight from one foot to the other; a silent shuffle soundtracked by the clatter of porters and the mundanity of passing visitors.

For us, waiting to enter the solemnity of the ward, there is no chat, no small talk, no smiles. Just the impatient beat of our hearts

The future does not exist beyond these walls.

There is only now, only the corridor, only the waiting.

At two, we file in silently.

Our anxious chorus removed our coats, hanging them on worn metal pegs, shedding our outside skins. We take our turn to wash our hands in the tiny sink, scrubbing away the germs in a miniature font of cleanliness; the ritual to allow us to cross the threshold. We dry our hands on blue paper towels. Each of us, in turn, realising our hands are shaking. A faint tremor of uncertainty and expectation, our bodies betraying us.

Your surgery took ten hours.

They removed so much.

They hollowed you out. Taking the core of you, the private geography of your body, repositioning what remained. But they also took the tumour and lymph nodes. The silent malignancy that survived the sustained attack from prescribed chemical and radioactive warfare. Weakened by it, but stubbornly refusing surrender, despite the onslaught.

The surgery went on far longer than they expected.

They needed four, separate surgical teams.

You lost so much blood.

Your body giving way under the knives and sutures, as if you were being unmade and remade all at once.

I kept ringing the hospital for an update, listening to that endless dial tone.

“Call again in an hour,” they said.

And when I did, “call again in an hour,” came their response. Time slowed to a crawl, it became thick and viscous, something to wade through. Each minute stretched thin as gauze.

When we were finally able to speak on the phone, as you came around in recovery, it sounded like we were talking between universes. The delay on the line insurmountable, our words traveling through deep space. Your mind, warped and distorted from the drugs, attempted to make sense of what I was asking, what I needed to tell you. That I love you with every fibre of my being. But few words came back, bent by morphine and trauma into something unrecognisable.

I pull the elastic straps over my head and lift the blue and white mask to cover my nose and mouth. My hot breath steaming my glasses, fogging the world.

A nurse buzzes me in.

The critical care ward is a square room, beds against the walls like watchmen standing vigil. In the centre, a nursing station that looks like a manager's desk in that call centre we used to work in years ago; the mundane machinery for the management of miracles. The nurses hum around the room, busy as worker bees tending to their helpless hive, moving with such practiced grace between the monitors, the computers and the resting bodies.

The lighting is dim here. The world outside has been softened to a barely a hush and brightness would be an unwelcome intrusion.

And there you are.

In the corner of the room, covered in wires and tubes, surrounded by monitoring equipment that beeps, chimes and buzzes. A drip feeds you with water, a drain carries it away; the ins and outs of staying alive, laid bare.

You look small, like a sleeping child, your body diminished by the violence it has endured.

The relief of seeing you, so fragile yet so resilient, expands in my chest like the first vital breath after resurfacing from deep water.

I rub your hand, your fingers dry as old paper. You stir and look at me, smiling through the fentanyl-laced fog. We barely speak, our eyes deciphering the code, reading each other in the language we've spoken for years.

It really is you.

The man in the next bed is a talker. He fills the silence with words, because silence is where his fear lives. A nurse fills a chipped and scratched beaker with water. “I hope it's gin and tonic,” he says. Again. The nurse musters a smile, kind but tired. She tells him to drink, that he's been through a lot.

He talks to avoid the caller on his internal other line. It is the caller that brought him here, the caller that waits in the pauses between his sentences.

Your physio arrives.

She wants to get you moving, less than a day after they took away so much. They help you to your feet, another nurse carrying a heavy shoulder bag of fabric covered equipment, its wires coming from your chest like the strings on a marionette. I carry bags of urine, bags of blood and liquids draining from your wounds; the very viscera of your survival.

You shuffle slowly around the quad of beds, like a slow motion Great Court Run at Trinity College, each step a Pyrrhic victory against the pain. It's an ultramarathon done in five minutes.

Exhausted by your efforts, they help you back into bed, sending chills through me as your face contorts with every turn and twitch.

I want to take this pain from you.

I want to carry it myself.

A woman comes in with a dog, leading him to a bedside already surrounded by weeping relatives, a gathering of witnesses.

“They allow pets?” you ask, your voice filled with wonder. “You could bring Sid to see me!”

I think they're saying goodbye, I reply, my voice breaking as I absorb the magnitude of the conclave. Love made truly visible only in the presence of the whole family. A curtain is closed.

This is not a moment for us. But for them.

The next day, everyone in and around the bay is gone, replaced by a elderly woman lost in a dreamless sleep; the players reset, the drama continuing.

I offer you water but you struggle to swallow, your lips chapped from hours without so much as a sip. Even drinking now requires negotiation with your body.

You're so tired, you tell me, in a voice barely above a whisper.

I hold your hand, and softly stroke your hair as you drift back to sleep.

I bring our arms together, skin to skin, the contact we both crave. The words that were pushed into our skin just the week before, small black letters, speaking the wor

ds we are both unable to say: this too shall pass.

And I believe it.

I have to believe it.

JOURNAL 21 décembre 2025

Ça y est, on va monter dans la camionnette du kombini ! Elle est prête avec les chaînes. Il y a beaucoup de neige, peut-être qu’on devra finir à pied en raquettes. Ha ha c’est l'aventure ! On va essayer d'arriver avant la nuit, il y a pas de lune, de toute façon trop de nuages, peut-être pas de réseau partout à cause de la neige. On est super heureuses, ici on respire pureté et liberté. On y va ! . . .

Il neige. On s'arrête là, le chauffeur craint de pas pouvoir redescendre. Il va faire nuit. On connaît le chemin. On a une heure de marche environ. On est bien équipées, on arrivera pour dîner. Tadaaaa c’est l'aventure…

WE are alone in the hotel lobby, drinking coffee with the dogs, although they are not drinking coffee, only my wife and I.

Outside, the black sky is full of stars, because this is the darkest day.

We’d just been out with the dogs in this quaint little town with its wooden houses and cobbled streets, even in the darkness this is an ideal place to shoot some children’s show, like you would expect to see Pippi Longstocking out there, except the streets were empty. Not even a car could be heard.

The hotel is mostly vacant, like in a dream or something, but there are other people here, because the tiered stand, which yesterday was full of homemade candy now stands empty; in fact I ate the last one yesterday on my way back from my yearly meeting with my father in an Indian themed restaurant which played classical music.

He said he had the best day in decades and that was a fine thing to hear.

To my left is a big Christmas tree.

I am really feeling it.

The darkest day of the darkest year in a long time of my life, my family’s too.

It felt like this is the turning point.

I am pretty sure it is.

Player safety needs to be discussed.

I promised this awhile ago and the post is finally happening. Before I go into player safety I just wanted to update you all on a few things:

1) The Podcast will become more active in the New Year. 2) The blog will be the main medium, the podcast will be an add-on so to speak. Don't worry, everything will still be free to access. 3) There are additional ideas in the works that I will share at a later time.

Now since that is all out of the way, PLAYER SAFETY! There are multiple ways to address player safety concerns at an organizational level as far as any football organization (league, team, etc...) is concerned. Rules, equipment, and facilities are really the three main parts of this equation, so that is what I am going to focus on here.

From a rules standpoint, there are a few things that would greatly increase player safety that are currently not in most football rulebooks. One of these rules would be a “Strike Zone” for tackling. The exact specifications of such a “Strike Zone” are up for debate, but legally eliminating hits to both the head/neck area and the lower extremities would greatly reduce injury risks. Another rule that could be implemented depending on the exact format this takes is the old Arena Football League “Jack In The Box” rule. For those who don't know, in the Arena Football League, one of the linebackers was not allowed to blitz and was confined to an area that they could not leave without drawing a penalty. One less person flying around at full speed is going to reduce injury risks. There are other ideas as far as the rules go, but I feel this is a good place to end this part of the discussion in this post.

Equipment is something else that needs to be looked at. The beauty of playing in the arena/indoor game is that the footwear component is not as restrictive as opposed to the outdoor game where cleats are a must have. Helmets are another area to be looked at and there is a case to be made for rugby style headgear over the traditional hard helmet in terms of mitigating injury risks. This is something that the A7FL has taken up and from what I've seen, it has worked overall. I truly think that there is a similar argument that can be made for smaller shoulder/chest pads, but that has to be experimented with so we can have hard data on the matter. There are other places where equipment can be tweaked, but I hit on what I feel are the major points here.

Lastly, facilities greatly impact player safety. One of the reasons I would choose creating an indoor/arena league over an outdoor league is the consistency in both the facilities and the conditions. You're not going to have a torrential downpour or a blizzard in an arena unless there's a whole in the roof and if that's the case, the game should be cancelled anyway. You also don't have the negatives of the elements wearing on the playing surface in the indoor/arena game, which in turn mitigates injury risks.

In conclusion, there are multiple ways to mitigate injury risks. Looking at rules, equipment, and facilities are three ways to do that. One more way to do that is to look at the schedule. If all the games were played the same day of the week, then there wouldn't be changes to the schedule such as playing Sunday then playing 4 days later on a Thursday. I think that the schedule the NFL currently does increases injury risks. The goal of any football league should be to mitigate injury risks and look at all ways in which that could be accomplished. This is one of the reasons why we need a Brand New Shield.

In this essay, Austrian psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl reports his experience in concentration camps under the Third Reich. He also elaborates on logotherapy, a new psychotherapy method he based on the importance of the meaning of one's life.

I read Primo Levi's If This Is A Man ages ago but it's always shocking to read about the atrocities that occurred during Nazi Germany. Of course, there is the never-ending list of crimes perpetrated by the regime, notably the arbitrary executions, the starving, the enslavement, the beatings, the extremely dire life conditions and all-around dehumanisation of the prisoners, but I had forgotten some things, for example, that a number of companies used forced labour from the camps, despite these individuals looking clearly unwell.

Frankl gives the most earnest account possible and articulates his existentialist perspective on the horror. He believes that someone who could find meaning in their suffering was more likely to survive. He recalls seeing several inmates going through a mental breakdown and giving up only to die mere days later, like a psychic death preceding the physical one. Of course, a lot of the prisoners, whether they could find meaning or not, could not escape their fate, because those in charge had decided to kill them for whatever reason. Frankl relates escaping death several times, not out of wit but out of pure luck. The importance of meaning appears as well when Frankl got arbitrarily beaten. Suffering is one thing but suffering for no valid reason is even worse.

In that respect, Frankl's book is an important account of what happened and we need to remember what atrocities a fascist regime can commit because, of course, we need to prevent it from happening again. That said, despite some good insights, I was expecting more from the logotherapy part. This is not a scientific treatise, it's just an outline of an approach, but it's an interesting collection of views.

We got holiday money from my partner’s mom and my dad, so I spent more at the Local Art Supply than I probably should have. One of the things was a set of pencils – six different hardnesses. Not a huge set, but it gives me a chance to figure out shading and texturing. Also picked up some blending stumps. And some colored pencils. And some print stuff.

Also went to the Art Thrift Store. Somehow got lucky enough to find a huge square of lino for like $2, and a smaller chunk for $1. Both had drawing on it, but not cut into, so very easy to ignore what’s there. I’m so stoked! And an upgraded brayer and baren! Such a great haul today.

Here’s my first doodle with my new pencils. A little lumpy, a little off-center – not entirely unlike my first pottery.

The morning routine at King's Stockholm studio starts like countless other game development houses: coffee, stand-ups, creative briefs. But buried in the daily workflow is something extraordinary. Whilst designers and artists sketch out new puzzle mechanics for Candy Crush Saga, AI systems are simultaneously reworking thousands of older levels, tweaking difficulty curves and refreshing visual elements across more than 18,700 existing puzzles. The human team focuses on invention. The machines handle evolution.

This isn't the dystopian AI takeover narrative we've been sold. It's something stranger and more nuanced: a hybrid creative organism where human imagination and machine capability intertwine in ways that challenge our fundamental assumptions about authorship, craft, and what it means to make things.

Welcome to the new creative pipeline, where 90% of game developers already use AI in their workflows, according to 2025 research from Google Cloud surveying 615 developers across the United States, South Korea, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. The real question isn't whether AI will reshape creative industries. It's already happened. The real question is how studios navigate this transformation without losing the human spark that makes compelling work, well, compelling.

The Hybrid Paradox

Here's the paradox keeping creative directors up at night: AI can accelerate production by 40%, slash asset creation timelines from weeks to hours, and automate the mind-numbing repetitive tasks that drain creative energy. Visionary Games reported exactly this when they integrated AI-assisted tools into their development process. Time to produce game assets and complete animations dropped 40%, enabling quicker market entry.

But speed without soul is just noise. The challenge isn't making things faster. It's making things faster whilst preserving the intentionality, the creative fingerprints, the ineffable human choices that transform pixels into experiences worth caring about.

“The most substantial moat is not technical but narrative: who can do the work of crafting a good story,” according to research from FBRC.ai. This insight crystallises the tension at the heart of hybrid workflows. Technology can generate, iterate, and optimise. Only humans can imbue work with meaning.

According to Google Cloud's 2025 research, 97% of developers believe generative AI is reshaping the industry. More specifically, 95% report AI reduces repetitive tasks, with acceleration particularly strong in playtesting and balancing (47%), localisation and translation (45%), and code generation and scripting support (44%).

Yet efficiency divorced from purpose is just busy work at machine speeds. When concept art generation time drops from two weeks to 48 hours, the question becomes: what do artists do with the 12 days they just gained? If the answer is “make more concept art,” you've missed the point. If the answer is “explore more creative directions, iterate on narrative coherence, refine emotional beats,” you're starting to grasp the hybrid potential.

Inside the Machine-Augmented Studio

Walk into a contemporary game studio and you'll witness something that resembles collaboration more than replacement. At Ubisoft, scriptwriters aren't being automated out of existence. Instead, they're wielding Ghostwriter, an in-house AI tool designed by R&D scientist Ben Swanson to tackle one of gaming's most tedious challenges: writing barks.

Barks are the throwaway NPC dialogue that populates game worlds. Enemy chatter during combat. Crowd conversations in bustling marketplaces. The ambient verbal texture that makes virtual spaces feel inhabited. Writing thousands of variations manually is creative drudgery at its finest.

Ghostwriter flips the script. Writers create a character profile and specify the interaction type. The AI generates paired variations. Writers select, edit, refine. The system learns from thousands of these choices, becoming more aligned with each studio's creative voice. It's not autonomous creation. It's machine-assisted iteration with humans firmly in the director's chair.

The tool emerged from Ubisoft's La Forge division, the company's R&D arm tasked with prototyping and testing technological innovations in collaboration with games industry experts and academic researchers. Swanson's team went further, creating a tool called Ernestine that enables narrative designers to create their own machine learning models used in Ghostwriter. This democratisation of AI tooling within studios represents a crucial shift: from centralised AI development to distributed creative control.

The tool sparked controversy when Ubisoft announced it publicly. Some developers took to social media demanding investment in human writers instead. Even God of War director Cory Barlog tweeted a sceptical reaction. But the criticism often missed the implementation details. Ghostwriter emerged from collaboration with writers, designed to eliminate the grunt work that prevents them from focusing on meaningful narrative beats.

This pattern repeats across the industry. At King, AI doesn't replace level designers. It enables them to maintain over 18,700 Candy Crush levels simultaneously, something Todd Green, general manager of the franchise, describes as “extremely difficult” without AI taking a first pass. Since acquiring AI startup Peltarion in 2022, King's team potentially improves thousands of levels weekly rather than several hundred, because automated drafting frees humans to focus on creative decisions.

“Doing that for 1,000 levels all at once is very difficult by hand,” Green explained. The AI handles the mechanical updates. Humans determine whether levels are actually fun, an intangible metric no algorithm can fully capture.

The Training Gap Nobody Saw Coming

Here's where the transformation gets messy. According to Google Cloud's 2025 research, 39% of developers emphasise the need to align AI use with creative vision and goals, whilst another 39% stress the importance of providing training or upskilling for staff on AI tools. Yet a 2024 Randstad survey revealed companies adopting AI have been lagging in actually training employees how to use these tools.

The skills gap is real and growing. In 2024, AI spending grew to over $550 billion, with an expected AI talent gap of 50%. The creative sector faces a peculiar version of this challenge: professionals suddenly expected to become prompt engineers, data wranglers, and AI ethicists on top of doing their actual creative work.

The disconnect between AI adoption speed and training infrastructure creates friction. Studios implement powerful tools but teams lack the literacy to use them effectively. This isn't a knowledge problem. It's a structural one. Traditional creative education doesn't include AI pipeline management, prompt engineering, or algorithmic bias detection. These competencies emerged too recently for institutional curricula to catch up.

The most forward-thinking studios are addressing this head-on. CompleteAI Training offers over 100 video courses and certifications specifically for game developers, with regular updates on new tools and industry developments. MIT xPRO's Professional Certificate in Game Design teaches students to communicate effectively with game design teams whilst creating culturally responsive and accessible games. Upon completion, participants earn 36 CEUs and a certificate demonstrating their hybrid skillset.

UCLA Extension launched “Intro to AI: Reshaping the Future of Creative Design & Development,” specifically designed to familiarise creative professionals with AI's transformative potential. These aren't coding bootcamps. They're creative augmentation programmes, teaching artists and designers how to wield AI as a precision tool rather than fumbling with it as a mysterious black box.

The Job Metamorphosis

The employment panic around AI follows a familiar pattern: technology threatens jobs, anxiety spreads, reality proves more nuanced. Research indicates a net job growth of 2 million globally, as AI has created approximately 11 million positions despite eliminating around 9 million.

But those numbers obscure the real transformation. Jobs aren't simply disappearing or appearing. They're mutating.

Freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork show rising demand for “AI video editors,” “AI content strategists,” and the now-infamous “prompt engineers.” Traditional roles are accreting new responsibilities. Concept artists need to understand generative models. Technical artists become AI pipeline architects. QA testers evolve into AI trainers, feeding models new data and improving accuracy.

New job categories are crystallising. AI-enhanced creative directors who bridge artistic vision and machine capability. Human-AI interaction designers who craft intuitive interfaces for hybrid workflows. AI ethics officers who navigate the thorny questions of bias, authorship, and algorithmic accountability. AI Product Managers who oversee strategy, design, and deployment of AI-driven products.

The challenge is acute for entry-level positions. Junior roles that once served as apprenticeships are disappearing faster than replacements emerge, creating an “apprenticeship gap” that threatens to lock aspiring creatives out of career pathways that previously provided crucial mentorship.

Roblox offers a glimpse of how platforms are responding. Creators on Roblox earned $923 million in 2024, up 25% from $741 million in 2023. At RDC 2025, Roblox announced they're increasing the Developer Exchange rate, meaning creators now earn 8.5% more when converting earned Robux into cash. The platform is simultaneously democratising creation through AI tools like Cube 3D, a foundational model that generates 3D objects and environments directly from text inputs.

This dual movement, lowering barriers whilst raising compensation, suggests one possible future: expanded creative participation with machines handling technical complexity, freeing humans to focus on imagination and curation.

The Unsexy Necessity

If you want to glimpse where hybrid workflows stumble, look at governance. Or rather, the lack thereof.

Studios are overwhelmed with AI integration requests. Many developers have resorted to “shadow AI”, using unofficial applications without formal approval because official channels are too slow or restrictive. This creates chaos: inconsistent implementations, legal exposure, training data sourced from questionable origins, and AI outputs that nobody can verify or validate.

The EU AI Act arrived in 2025 like a regulatory thunderclap, establishing a risk-based framework that applies extraterritorially. Any studio whose AI systems are used by players within the EU must comply, regardless of the company's physical location. The Act explicitly bans AI systems deploying manipulative or exploitative techniques to cause harm, a definition that could challenge common industry practices in free-to-play and live-service games.

Studios should conduct urgent and thorough audits of all engagement and monetisation mechanics through the lens of the EU AI Act. Proactive audits for AI Act compliance matter. Studios shouldn't wait for regulatory enforcement to act.

Effective governance requires coordination across disciplines. Technical teams understand AI capabilities and limitations. Legal counsel identifies regulatory requirements and risk exposure. Creative leaders ensure artistic integrity. Business stakeholders manage commercial and reputational concerns.

For midsized and larger studios, dedicated AI governance committees are becoming standard. These groups implement vendor assessment frameworks evaluating third-party AI providers based on data security practices, compliance capabilities, insurance coverage, and service level guarantees.

Jim Keller, CEO of Tenstorrent, identifies another governance challenge: economic sustainability. “Current AI infrastructure is economically unsustainable for games at scale. We're seeing studios adopt impressive AI features in development, only to strip them back before launch once they calculate the true cloud costs at scale.”

The Copyright Minefield

Here's where hybrid workflows get legally treacherous. US copyright law requires a “human author” for protection. Works created entirely by AI, with no meaningful human contribution, receive no copyright protection. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed in Thaler v. Perlmutter on 18 March 2025 that human authorship is a bedrock requirement, and artificial intelligence systems cannot be deemed authors.

Hybrid works exist in murkier territory. The Copyright Office released guidance on 29 January 2025 clarifying that even extremely detailed or complex prompts don't confer copyright ownership over AI-generated outputs. Prompts are instructions rather than expressions of creativity.

In the Copyright Office's view, generative AI output is copyrightable “where AI is used as a tool, and where a human has been able to determine the expressive elements they contain.” What does qualify? Human additions to, or arrangement of, AI outputs. A comic book “illustrated” with AI but featuring added original text by a human author received protection for the arrangement and expression of images plus any copyrightable text, because the work resulted from creative human choices.

The practical implication: hybrid workflows with AI plus human refinement offer the safest approach for legal protection.

Globally, approaches diverge. A Chinese court found over 150 prompts plus retouches and modifications resulted in sufficient human expression for copyright protection. Japan's framework assesses “creative intention” and “creative contribution” as dual factors determining whether someone used AI as a tool.

The legal landscape remains in flux. Over 50 copyright lawsuits currently proceed against AI companies in the United States. In May 2025, the U.S. Copyright Office released guidance suggesting AI training practices likely don't qualify as fair use when they compete with or diminish markets for original human creators.

Australia rejected a proposed text and data mining exception in October 2025, meaning AI companies cannot use copyrighted Australian content without permission. The UK launched a consultation proposing an “opt-out” system where copyrighted works can be used for AI training unless creators explicitly reserve rights. The consultation received over 11,500 responses and closed in February 2025, with creative industries largely opposing and tech companies supporting the proposal.

Studios Getting It Right

Theory and policy matter less than implementation. Some studios are navigating hybrid workflows with remarkable sophistication.

Microsoft's Muse AI model, revealed in early 2025, can watch footage from games like Bleeding Edge and generate gameplay variations in the engine editor. What previously required weeks of development now happens in hours. Developers prototype new mechanics based on real-world playstyles, collapsing iteration cycles.

Roblox's approach extends beyond tools to cultural transformation. At RDC 2025, they announced 4D object creation, where the fourth dimension is “interaction.” Creators provide a prompt like “a sleek, futuristic red sports car,” and the API delivers a functional, interactive vehicle that can be driven, with doors that open. This transcends static asset generation, moving into fully interactive scripted assets.

In March 2025, Roblox launched a new Mesh Generator API, powered by its 1.8-billion-parameter model “CUBE 3D”, enabling creators to auto-generate 3D objects on the platform. The platform's MCP Assistant integration revolutionises asset creation and team collaboration. Developers can ask Assistant to improve code, explain sections, debug issues, or suggest fixes. New creators can generate entire scenes by typing prompts like “Add some streetlights along this road.”

Ubisoft uses proprietary AI to generate environmental assets, decreasing production times by up to 80% whilst allowing designers to focus on creative direction. Pixar integrates AI within rendering pipelines to optimise workflows without compromising artistic vision.

These implementations share common characteristics. AI handles scale, repetition, and optimisation. Humans drive creative vision, narrative coherence, and emotional resonance.

The Indie Advantage

Conventional wisdom suggests large studios with deep pockets would dominate AI adoption. Reality tells a different story.

According to a 2024 survey by a16z Games, 73% of U.S. game studios already use AI, with 88% planning future adoption. Critically, smaller studios are embracing AI faster, with 84% of respondents working in teams of fewer than 20 people. The survey reveals 40% report productivity gains over 20%, whilst 25% experience cost savings above 20%.

Indie developers face tighter budgets and smaller teams. AI offers disproportionate leverage. Tripledot Studios, with 12 global studios and 2,500+ team members serving 25 million+ daily users, uses Scenario to power their art team worldwide, expanding creative range with AI-driven asset generation.

Little Umbrella, the studio behind Death by AI, reached 20 million players in just two months. Wishroll's game Status launched in limited access beta in October 2024, driven by TikTok buzz to over 100,000 downloads. Two weeks after public beta launch in February 2025, Status surpassed one million users.

Bitmagic recently won the award for 'Best Generative AI & Agents' in Game Changers 2025, hosted by Lightspeed and partnered with VentureBeat, Nasdaq, and industry experts. As a multiplayer platform, Bitmagic enables players to share generated worlds and experiences, turning AI from a development tool into a play mechanic.

This democratisation effect shouldn't surprise anyone. Historically, technology disruptions empower nimble players willing to experiment. Indie studios often have flatter hierarchies, faster decision-making, and higher tolerance for creative risk.

The Cultural Reckoning

Beyond technology and policy lies something harder to quantify: culture. The 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes set a clear precedent. AI should serve as a tool supporting human talent, not replacing it. This isn't just union positioning. It reflects broader anxiety about what happens when algorithmic systems encroach on domains previously reserved for human expression.

Disney pioneered AI and machine learning across animation and VFX pipelines. Yet the company faces ongoing scrutiny about how these tools affect below-the-line workers. The global AI market in entertainment is projected to grow from $17.1 billion in 2023 to $195.7 billion by 2033. That explosive growth fuels concern about whether the benefits accrue to corporations or distribute across creative workforces.

The deeper cultural question centres on craft. Does AI-assisted creation diminish the value of human skill? Or does it liberate creatives from drudgery, allowing them to focus on higher-order decisions?

The answer likely depends on implementation. AI that replaces junior artists wholesale erodes the apprenticeship pathways that build expertise. AI that handles tedious production tasks whilst preserving mentorship and skill development can enhance rather than undermine craft.

Some disciplines inherently resist AI displacement. Choreographers and stand-up comedians work in art forms that cannot be physically separated from the human form. These fields contain an implicit “humanity requirement,” leading practitioners to view AI as a tool rather than replacement threat.

Other creative domains lack this inherent protection. Voice actors, illustrators, and writers face AI systems capable of mimicking their output with increasing fidelity. The May 2025 Copyright Office guidance acknowledging AI training practices likely don't qualify as fair use when they compete with human creators offers some protection, but legal frameworks lag technological capability.

Industry surveys reveal AI's impact is uneven. According to Google Cloud's 2025 research, 95% of developers say AI reduces repetitive tasks. Acceleration is particularly strong in playtesting and balancing (47%), localisation and translation (45%), and code generation and scripting support (44%). These gains improve quality of life for developers drowning in mechanical tasks.

However, challenges remain. Developers cite cost of AI integration (24%), need for upskilling staff (23%), and difficulty measuring AI implementation success (22%) as ongoing obstacles. Additionally, 54% of developers say they want to train or fine-tune their own models, suggesting an industry shift toward in-house AI expertise.

The Skills We Actually Need

If hybrid workflows are the future, what competencies matter? The answer splits between technical literacy and distinctly human capacities.

On the technical side, creatives need foundational AI literacy: understanding how models work, their limitations, biases, and appropriate use cases. Prompt engineering, despite scepticism, remains crucial as companies rely on large language models for user-facing features and core functionality. The Generative AI market is projected to reach over $355 billion by 2030, growing at 41.53% annually.

Data curation and pipeline management grow in importance. AI outputs depend entirely on input quality. Someone must identify, clean, curate, and prepare data. Someone must edit and refine AI outputs for market readiness.

But technical competencies alone aren't sufficient. The skills that resist automation, human-AI collaboration, creative problem-solving, emotional intelligence, and ethical reasoning, will become increasingly valuable. The future workplace will be characterised by adaptability, continuous learning, and a symbiotic relationship between humans and AI.

This suggests the hybrid future requires T-shaped professionals: deep expertise in a creative discipline plus broad literacy across AI capabilities, ethics, and collaborative workflows. Generalists who understand both creative vision and technological constraint become invaluable translators between human intent and machine execution.

Educational institutions are slowly adapting. Coursera offers courses teaching Prompt Engineering, ChatGPT, Prompt Patterns, LLM Application, Productivity, Creative Problem-Solving, Generative AI, AI Personalisation, and Innovation. These hybrid curricula acknowledge creativity and technical fluency must coexist.

The sector's future depends on adapting education to emphasise AI literacy, ethical reasoning, and collaborative human-AI innovation. Without this adaptation, the skills gap widens, leaving creatives ill-equipped to navigate hybrid workflows effectively. Fast-changing industry demands outpace traditional educational organisations, and economic development, creativity, and international competitiveness all depend on closing the skills gap.

What Speed Actually Costs

The seductive promise of AI is velocity. Concept art that once took two weeks to produce can now be created in under 48 hours. 3D models that required days of manual work can be generated and textured in hours.

But speed without intentionality produces generic output. The danger isn't that AI makes bad work. It's that AI makes acceptable work effortlessly, flooding markets with content that meets minimum viability thresholds without achieving excellence.

Over 20% of games released in 2025 on Steam report using generative-AI assets, up nearly 700% year-on-year. This explosion of AI-assisted production raises questions about homogenisation. When everyone uses similar tools trained on similar datasets, does output converge toward similarity?

The studios succeeding with hybrid workflows resist this convergence by treating AI as a starting point, not an endpoint. At King, AI generates level drafts. Humans determine whether those levels are fun, an assessment requiring taste, player psychology understanding, and creative intuition that no algorithm possesses.

At Ubisoft, Ghostwriter produces dialogue variations. Writers select, edit, and refine, imparting voice and personality. The AI handles volume. Humans handle soul.

The key question facing any studio adopting AI tools: does this accelerate our creative process, or does it outsource our creative judgment?

The Chasm Ahead

Standing at the edge of 2025, the gaming industry faces a critical transition point. Following the 2025 Game Developers Conference, industry leaders acknowledge that generative AI has reached a crucial adoption milestone, standing at the edge of the infamous “chasm” between early adopters and the early majority.

This metaphorical chasm represents the gap between innovative early adopters willing to experiment with emerging technology and the pragmatic early majority who need proven implementations and clear ROI before committing resources. Crossing this chasm requires more than impressive demos. It demands reliable infrastructure, sustainable economics, and proven governance frameworks.

According to a 2025 survey by Aream & Co., 84% of gaming executives are either using or testing AI tools, with 68% actively implementing AI in studios, particularly for content generation, game testing, and player engagement. Yet implementation doesn't equal success. Studios face organisational challenges alongside technical ones.

For developers looking to enhance workflows with AI tools, the key is starting with clear objectives and understanding which aspects of development would benefit most from AI assistance. By thoughtfully incorporating these technologies into existing processes and allowing time for teams to adapt and learn, studios can realise significant gains. Organisations can address challenges by creating structured rollout plans and prioritising staff training. Mitigating challenges often involves clear communication, adequate training, and thorough due diligence before investing in tools.

Staying competitive requires commitment to scalable infrastructure and responsible AI governance. Studios that adopt modular AI architectures, build robust data pipelines, and enforce transparent use policies will be better positioned to adapt as technology evolves.

The Path Nobody Planned

Standing in 2025, looking at hybrid workflows reshaping creative pipelines, the transformation feels simultaneously inevitable and surprising. Inevitable because computational tools always infiltrate creative disciplines eventually. Surprising because the implementation is messier, more collaborative, and more human-dependent than either utopian or dystopian predictions suggested.

We're not living in a future where AI autonomously generates games and films whilst humans become obsolete. We're also not in a world where AI remains a marginal curiosity with no real impact.

We're somewhere in between: hybrid creative organisms where human imagination sets direction, machine capability handles scale, and the boundary between them remains negotiable, contested, and evolving.

The studios thriving in this environment share common practices. They invest heavily in training, ensuring teams understand AI capabilities and limitations. They establish robust governance frameworks that balance innovation with risk management. They maintain clear ethical guidelines about authorship, compensation, and creative attribution.

Most critically, they preserve space for human judgment. AI can optimise. Only humans can determine what's worth optimising for.

The question isn't whether AI belongs in creative pipelines. That debate ended. The question is how we structure hybrid workflows to amplify human creativity rather than diminish it. How we build governance that protects both innovation and artists. How we train the next generation to wield these tools with skill and judgment.

There are no perfect answers yet. But the studios experimenting thoughtfully, failing productively, and iterating rapidly are writing the playbook in real-time.

The new creative engine runs on human imagination and machine capability in concert. The craft isn't disappearing. It's evolving. And that evolution, messy and uncertain as it is, might be the most interesting creative challenge we've faced in decades.

References & Sources

1. Google Cloud Press Center. (2025, August 18). “90% of Games Developers Already Using AI in Workflows, According to New Google Cloud Research.” https://www.googlecloudpresscorner.com/2025-08-18-90-of-Games-Developers-Already-Using-AI-in-Workflows,-According-to-New-Google-Cloud-Research

2. DigitalDefynd. (2025). “AI in Game Development: 5 Case Studies [2025].” https://digitaldefynd.com/IQ/ai-in-game-development-case-studies/

3. Futuramo. (2025). “AI Revolution in Creative Industries: Tools & Trends 2025.” https://futuramo.com/blog/how-ai-is-transforming-creative-work/

4. AlixPartners. “AI in Creative Industries: Enhancing, rather than replacing, human creativity in TV and film.” https://www.alixpartners.com/insights/102jsme/ai-in-creative-industries-enhancing-rather-than-replacing-human-creativity-in/

5. Odin Law and Media. “The Game Developer's Guide to AI Governance.” https://odinlaw.com/blog-ai-governance-in-game-development/

6. Bird & Bird. (2025). “Reshaping the Game: An EU-Focused Legal Guide to Generative and Agentic AI in Gaming.” https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2025/global/reshaping-the-game-an-eu-focused-legal-guide-to-generative-and-agentic-ai-in-gaming

7. Perkins Coie. “Human Authorship Requirement Continues To Pose Difficulties for AI-Generated Works.” https://perkinscoie.com/insights/article/human-authorship-requirement-continues-pose-difficulties-ai-generated-works

8. Harvard Law Review. (Vol. 138). “Artificial Intelligence and the Creative Double Bind.” https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-138/artificial-intelligence-and-the-creative-double-bind/

9. DLA Piper. (2025, February). “AI and authorship: Navigating copyright in the age of generative AI.” https://www.dlapiper.com/en-us/insights/publications/2025/02/ai-and-authorship-navigating-copyright-in-the-age-of-generative-ai

10. Ubisoft News. “The Convergence of AI and Creativity: Introducing Ghostwriter.” https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/7Cm07zbBGy4Xml6WgYi25d/the-convergence-of-ai-and-creativity-introducing-ghostwriter

11. TechCrunch. (2023, March 22). “Ubisoft's new AI tool automatically generates dialogue for non-playable game characters.” https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/22/ubisofts-new-ai-tool-automatically-generates-dialogue-for-non-playable-game-characters/

12. Tech Xplore. (2025, May). “How AI helps push Candy Crush players through its most difficult puzzles.” https://techxplore.com/news/2025-05-ai-candy-players-difficult-puzzles.html

13. Neurohive. “AI Innovations in Candy Crush: King's Approach to Level Design.” https://neurohive.io/en/ai-apps/how-ai-helped-king-studio-develop-13-755-levels-for-candy-crush-saga/

14. Roblox Corporation. (2025, March). “Unveiling the Future of Creation With Native 3D Generation, Collaborative Studio Tools, and Economy Expansion.” https://corp.roblox.com/newsroom/2025/03/unveiling-future-creation-native-3d-generation-collaborative-studio-tools-economy-expansion

15. CompleteAI Training. (2025). “6 Recommended AI Courses for Game Developers in 2025.” https://completeaitraining.com/blog/6-recommended-ai-courses-for-game-developers-in-2025/

16. MIT xPRO. “Professional Certificate in Game Design.” https://executive-ed.xpro.mit.edu/professional-certificate-in-game-design

17. UCLA Extension. “Intro to AI: Reshaping the Future of Creative Design & Development Course.” https://www.uclaextension.edu/design-arts/uxgraphic-design/course/intro-ai-reshaping-future-creative-design-development-desma-x

18. Tandfonline. (2024). “AI and work in the creative industries: digital continuity or discontinuity?” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17510694.2024.2421135

19. Brookings Institution. “Copyright alone cannot protect the future of creative work.” https://www.brookings.edu/articles/copyright-alone-cannot-protect-the-future-of-creative-work/

20. The Conversation. “Protecting artists' rights: what responsible AI means for the creative industries.” https://theconversation.com/protecting-artists-rights-what-responsible-ai-means-for-the-creative-industries-250842

21. VKTR. (2025). “AI Copyright Law 2025: Latest US & Global Policy Moves.” https://www.vktr.com/ai-ethics-law-risk/ai-copyright-law/

22. Inworld AI. (2025). “GDC 2025: Beyond prototypes to production AI-overcoming critical barriers to scale.” https://inworld.ai/blog/gdc-2025

23. Thrumos. (2025). “AI Prompt Engineer Career Guide 2025: Skills, Salary & Path.” https://www.thrumos.com/insights/ai-prompt-engineer-career-guide-2025

24. Coursera. “Best Game Development Courses & Certificates [2026].” https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=game+development

25. a16z Games. (2024). Survey on AI adoption in game studios.

26. Game Developers Conference. (2024). Roblox presentation on AI tools for avatar setup and object texturing.

27. Lenny's Newsletter. “AI prompt engineering in 2025: What works and what doesn't.” https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ai-prompt-engineering-in-2025-sander-schulhoff

28. Foley & Lardner LLP. (2025, February). “Clarifying the Copyrightability of AI-Assisted Works.” https://www.foley.com/insights/publications/2025/02/clarifying-copyrightability-ai-assisted-works/

29. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. (2025, March). “Appellate Court Affirms Human Authorship Requirement for Copyrighting AI-Generated Works.” https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2025/03/appellate-court-affirms-human-authorship

30. Game World Observer. (2023, March 22). “Ubisoft introduces Ghostwriter, AI narrative tool to help game writers create lines for NPCs.” https://gameworldobserver.com/2023/03/22/ubisoft-ghostwriter-ai-tool-npc-dialogues

---

Tim Green UK-based Systems Theorist & Independent Technology Writer

Tim explores the intersections of artificial intelligence, decentralised cognition, and posthuman ethics. His work, published at smarterarticles.co.uk, challenges dominant narratives of technological progress while proposing interdisciplinary frameworks for collective intelligence and digital stewardship.

His writing has been featured on Ground News and shared by independent researchers across both academic and technological communities.

ORCID: 0009-0002-0156-9795 Email: tim@smarterarticles.co.uk

In Summary: * With her washing machine fixed, the wife has been generally happier today than she's been for awhile. And with good college basketball for me to follow all day, I've been well entertained and generally happy all day, too.

Prayers, etc.: My daily prayers

Health Metrics: * bw= 222.67 lbs * bp= 146/87 (64)

Exercise: * kegel pelvic floor exercise, half squats, calf raises, wall push-ups

Diet: * 06:15 – 2+ cookies, 1 banana * 09:15 – egg rolls * 13:15 – short ribs, boiled eggs, white rice * 15:30 – 1 cheese & seafood salad sandwich

Activities, Chores, etc.: * 05:30 – read, pray, follow news reports from various sources, surf the socials * 08:30 – bank accounts activity monitored * 11:25 – tuned in to The Flagship Station for IU Sports ahead of this afternoon's NCAA men's basketball game between the Chicago State Cougers and the Indiana Hoosiers. * 13:52 – ... and the Hoosiers win 78 to 58. * 14:30 – listening to the Ohio State Sports Network ahead of the afternoon Buckeyes men's basketball game in the CBS Sports Classic vs. the North Carolina State Tar Heels. * 16:35 – ... and the Tar Heels win 71 to 70. * 17:00 – listening to Purdue Men's Basketball Radio ahead of tonight's game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the Indy Classic, Auburn Tigers vs Purdue Boilermakers. * 19:25 – ... and Purdue wins 88 to 60. * 19:30 – time now to turn off the radio, wrap up the night prayers, listen to relaxing music, and quietly read until bedtime.

Chess: * 15:15 – moved in all pending CC games

It's 5 days before Christmas, and something changed today. My mum was in the kitchen creating butter from cream. She was so excited, so happy as she saw the butter start to separate from the cream I could hear the Joy in her voice, but then a sudden shift as she witnessed it looked like something had gone wrong. It looked like it had started to mix back in again but she paused and waited just a little longer, and it all started to separate again. She realised that it had worked. I heard something when she spoke, deeper than cream and butter “I thought it had all gone wrong, but it all came together in the end”. When I heard this, it was God teaching me again through my mother and her words. It felt like God had just whispered, just when you think it's all gone wrong, it always comes together. You see, yesterday I didn't know if I was going to be able to make Christmas this year with presents. Just yesterday, I let the grief flow through me as I typed about the pain of possibly letting her down. Something shifted today, though, in that sentence, in that moment, something softened. I decided to let go and just be honest, be honest with the people I love and see if they could help me. I don't like asking for help. I've always felt like I'm always the one needing help somehow, that I can't just get things together myself, but I needed help, and maybe just maybe that was the very thing God was getting me to do. Open your arms and just speak. So I opened my arms, and I spoke. I spoke my truth and asked for help, and guess what, I got help from those I love, and in that moment, I've never felt so loved. Just yesterday, I was in so much pain, and today I felt the opposite. I felt the closeness of the people around me who always want to support me. Sure, they're not perfect, and I've struggled with them not being perfect because I often am somehow trying to be perfect. Today I saw and felt something new, though, a little crack of my heart opened back up wide, all because I asked for help. I think we get embarrassed and want to hide when we have to be honest and say I don't have it all together, but I'm really trying. I really am trying to do better and work on getting things together so I don't have to put any of my pressure on anybody else. Maybe it's not pressure for them, though maybe just maybe the joy it brought you, it also brought them too. I remember before this holding my pride so tight and close to me because I thought if I had asked for help, then maybe that meant I had failed, but I'm realising it was more of a success because I got to open my heart again to receiving help and support, which I don't often do. So if you're still here and are reading this... remember it's okay to ask for help, we are all here just trying to figure this thing out we call life. In order to receive, we must open our arms wide and speak.

Thoughts. I feel like I can breathe again. Just a woman trying to do better.

I thought the task for this day would be easier. But using a username for sign-in is quite challenging to implement with Supabase. :/

Now I have a new table for profiles, besides the auth table Supabase provides. Because Supabase Auth can't handle sign-in with a username, I now also have an edge function running. Which I never used before. It works, so I don't complain. :)

Maybe this is something you normally don't need for an MVP, but I was tired of typing an email for the sign-in. So, for me, it needs to be in the MVP.

When I was done, I staged my changes, and I noticed that I accidentally committed my .env file. So I used git-filter-repo to remove the env file from git history. What I did not know was it removed all my staged changes without a warning. 😱 That was a shock. A big one. After some minutes walking through the house, I calmed down and sat back on the chair. I was able to rescue around 85% of the files. The rest I could reproduce somehow.

WHAT an evening! I'm back on track and happy the accident was not that bad.

👋

---

78 of #100DaysToOffload
#log #AdventOfProgress
Thoughts?

There are chapters in Scripture that feel like a door gently closing, not with finality, but with seriousness. Second Corinthians 13 is one of those chapters. It does not raise its voice. It does not perform miracles. It does not tell a story that children memorize in Sunday school. Instead, it leans forward, looks the believer directly in the eyes, and asks a question that cannot be avoided forever: Is Christ actually living in you, or are you still living off proximity, reputation, and borrowed faith?

This chapter is Paul’s final words to the Corinthian church, and he does not waste them. By the time we reach this point in the letter, the tone has shifted away from defense and explanation and into something more surgical. Paul is no longer clarifying his apostleship. He is no longer explaining suffering. He is no longer persuading through story or emotion. He is confronting maturity itself. He is doing what every good spiritual father eventually must do: stepping back and forcing the believer to stand on their own feet.

Second Corinthians 13 is not about correction alone. It is about examination. Not inspection by leaders. Not judgment by the church. Not comparison with others. It is self-examination before God. And that makes it one of the most uncomfortable chapters in the New Testament, because it removes all the usual hiding places. There is no crowd to disappear into. No argument to win. No theology to debate. Paul asks each believer to look inward and answer honestly whether the life of Christ is actually operative within them.

What makes this chapter so piercing is that it is written to people who already consider themselves believers. This is not an evangelistic letter. This is not written to skeptics or outsiders. This is written to church people. People who know the language. People who know the routines. People who have spiritual experiences on record. And Paul still says, in essence, prove yourselves.

That single phrase alone unsettles modern Christianity more than we realize. We are accustomed to being told who we are based on affiliation, confession, or memory. Paul does not deny grace. He does not deny salvation. But he does insist that grace leaves evidence, that salvation produces fruit, and that faith, if genuine, withstands examination. Not perfection, but presence. Not flawlessness, but life.

Paul begins the chapter by reminding the Corinthians that this will be his third visit to them, invoking the Old Testament principle that truth is established by two or three witnesses. This is not a legal threat. It is a spiritual warning. Paul is saying, I am not coming again to negotiate reality. He has written. He has warned. He has pleaded. Now he is coming to see what is real.

There is something deeply relevant about that for believers today. We live in a culture that endlessly negotiates truth. We explain away conviction. We rename sin. We spiritualize avoidance. Paul refuses to do that. He makes it clear that love does not always sound soft, and correction does not always come wrapped in reassurance. Sometimes love arrives with clarity, and clarity can feel sharp when we have grown accustomed to blur.

Paul also addresses an accusation that had been circulating among the Corinthians, that he was weak, unimpressive, or lacking authority. Instead of defending himself again, Paul reframes the entire issue. He points them not to his strength, but to Christ’s pattern. Christ was crucified in weakness, yet lives by the power of God. Paul aligns himself with that same pattern. Weakness is not disqualification. Power is not always loud. Authority is not measured by dominance but by faithfulness.

This matters because many believers equate spiritual health with visible success. Loud faith. Confident speech. Platform presence. Paul dismantles that assumption. He reminds the church that Christ’s greatest victory looked like defeat from the outside. That truth alone reshapes how we understand spiritual maturity. If Christ could be crucified in apparent weakness and still be victorious, then perhaps our own seasons of obscurity, suffering, or limitation are not evidence of failure but alignment.

Then Paul turns the lens fully onto the Corinthians themselves, and this is where the chapter reaches its emotional center. He tells them to examine themselves to see whether they are in the faith. He tells them to test themselves. Not to test Paul. Not to test doctrine. Not to test leadership. To test themselves.

This is not a call to anxiety or self-condemnation. It is a call to honesty. Paul is not asking whether they remember a moment of belief. He is asking whether Christ is presently active in them. Whether His character is forming. Whether His life is shaping their responses. Whether His Spirit is producing transformation. Faith, in Paul’s understanding, is not a static possession. It is a living reality.

That distinction is everything. Many people confuse the memory of conversion with the experience of communion. They look back instead of inward. They point to a past decision instead of a present relationship. Paul does not deny the importance of beginnings, but he insists that true faith continues. It grows. It resists sin. It softens the heart. It disciplines the will. It produces love, not perfection, but direction.

Paul even says something that feels shocking to modern ears: unless, of course, you fail the test. He allows for the possibility that some who consider themselves believers may discover that Christ is not truly living in them. This is not cruelty. This is mercy. A false assurance is far more dangerous than an honest reckoning. Paul would rather disturb comfort now than allow deception to persist.

There is something profoundly loving about that, even though it does not feel gentle. Paul wants a church built on reality, not illusion. He wants believers who know Christ, not just speak about Him. He wants faith that holds up under pressure, not faith that collapses the moment it is challenged.

He also clarifies that his concern is not about proving himself right, but about seeing the Corinthians do what is right, even if it makes him appear weak. That sentence alone reveals the heart of true spiritual leadership. Paul is willing to lose reputation if it means the church gains integrity. He is willing to appear unsuccessful if it means Christ is truly formed in them.

This is the opposite of performative religion. It is the opposite of brand-building spirituality. Paul does not need their admiration. He wants their transformation. He does not need to win an argument. He wants to see obedience. That posture is increasingly rare, and desperately needed.

Paul even prays that they will do no wrong, not so that he can be proven right, but so that they may do what is right, even if he seems to fail. His concern is not optics. It is holiness. Not moralism, but alignment with truth. This is the kind of leadership that refuses to manipulate outcomes for personal validation.

He reminds them that they can do nothing against the truth, only for the truth. That sentence cuts through modern relativism like a blade. Truth is not flexible. It does not adjust itself to comfort. It stands, regardless of whether it benefits us. Paul aligns himself fully with truth, even when truth costs him.

He also speaks openly about rejoicing when he is weak and they are strong. This is not self-loathing. It is spiritual clarity. Paul understands that the goal of leadership is not dependence, but growth. A healthy church does not need constant correction. A mature believer does not need constant supervision. Paul is aiming for strength in them, not centrality for himself.

As the chapter begins to close, Paul explains that everything he has written is for their strengthening, not their destruction. Even his harsh words are aimed at building them up. Correction is not cruelty. Discipline is not rejection. Examination is not condemnation. When done in love, all of these are tools of formation.

This is where Second Corinthians 13 quietly challenges modern Christianity at its foundation. We often interpret discomfort as harm. We interpret conviction as judgment. We interpret challenge as unloving. Paul shows us a different model. Love tells the truth. Love refuses to lie for the sake of peace. Love prioritizes formation over feelings.

As he prepares to end the letter, Paul urges the church to rejoice, to aim for restoration, to comfort one another, to agree with one another, and to live in peace. This is not a contradiction to his firmness. It is its fruit. Truth leads to peace when it is received. Restoration follows honesty. Unity grows from shared submission to Christ, not from avoiding hard conversations.

The God of love and peace, Paul says, will be with them. That promise is not attached to denial, but to obedience. Not to avoidance, but to alignment. God’s presence accompanies those who walk in truth, even when truth is uncomfortable.

Second Corinthians 13 does not end with fireworks. It ends with a blessing. Grace, love, and fellowship. Not as abstract ideas, but as lived realities. Grace from Christ. Love from the Father. Fellowship from the Spirit. This is the life Paul wants for the church, not surface religion, but shared participation in the life of God.

This chapter does not ask whether you attend church. It asks whether Christ lives in you. It does not ask whether you can explain doctrine. It asks whether your life reflects His presence. It does not ask whether you once believed. It asks whether you are presently walking in faith.

And that question does not fade with time. It grows more important the longer we walk. Because borrowed faith eventually runs out. Proximity fades. Reputation crumbles. What remains is reality.

Second Corinthians 13 leaves us with a mirror, not a measuring stick against others. It invites us to stop performing and start examining. Not to fear, but to be honest. Not to despair, but to mature.

In the end, Paul is not trying to make the church smaller. He is trying to make it real.

Now we will explore how this final chapter speaks directly into modern church culture, spiritual burnout, performative faith, and what it truly means to live examined but unashamed.

When we move from the ancient streets of Corinth into the modern church, Second Corinthians 13 does not lose relevance. It gains it. The questions Paul asks become sharper in a culture where faith is often curated, packaged, and performed. We live in an age where belief is visible everywhere, but depth is harder to find. Crosses are worn. Scriptures are quoted. Christian language fills bios and captions. And yet Paul’s question still presses forward without apology: is Christ actually living in you?

This chapter exposes something subtle but dangerous that can take root in any long-term believer’s life: spiritual substitution. The slow replacement of lived communion with borrowed language. The gradual shift from inward transformation to outward association. Faith becomes something we reference instead of something we inhabit. Paul will not allow that to remain unchallenged.

When he tells the Corinthians to examine themselves, he is not asking them to audit their behavior for flaws. He is asking them to examine their source of life. Who is animating them? What governs their decisions when no one is watching? Where does conviction come from? Where does comfort come from? Where does authority come from?

Modern believers are often very good at spiritual imitation. We learn the tone. The phrases. The posture. We know how to sound humble without being honest. We know how to appear devoted without being surrendered. Paul is not impressed by imitation. He is concerned with incarnation. Christ in you, not Christ referenced by you.

That phrase alone dismantles an entire culture of performative faith. Because performance can be maintained without presence. But incarnation cannot. If Christ lives in you, something changes. Your conscience sharpens. Your pride is challenged. Your loyalties reorder. Your patience stretches. Your love deepens. Not perfectly, but genuinely.

Paul is not offering a new standard. He is returning to the original one. Christianity was never meant to be inherited as a cultural identity. It was meant to be received as a living reality. The danger Paul sees in Corinth is not rebellion, but substitution. Not open rejection of Christ, but quiet displacement of Him.

This is why Paul speaks so plainly about failing the test. That language unsettles us because we prefer assurance without inspection. We want certainty without vulnerability. But Paul understands that untested faith is fragile faith. It may survive routine, but it will not survive pressure.

Pressure reveals what performance hides. Trials strip away borrowed strength. Suffering exposes whether faith is rooted or rehearsed. Paul has suffered deeply, and he knows this. He knows that when life presses in, only what is real remains.

This is especially important in a time when many believers feel spiritually exhausted. Burnout has become common language in the church. People are tired of activity without intimacy. Tired of obligation without encounter. Tired of appearing strong while feeling hollow. Second Corinthians 13 does not shame that fatigue. It explains it.

A faith that is lived outwardly but not inwardly will exhaust the soul. A Christianity built on performance requires constant energy. A Christianity rooted in presence sustains. Paul is calling the Corinthians back to the source. Not more effort, but deeper honesty. Not louder faith, but truer faith.

Paul’s willingness to appear weak so that the church can be strong also speaks directly into modern leadership culture. We live in a time that rewards visibility, control, and image management. Paul offers a different vision. Leadership that prioritizes growth over influence. Integrity over applause. Truth over comfort.

He does not want the Corinthians dependent on him. He wants them grounded in Christ. That distinction is crucial. Any system that relies on perpetual dependence has failed spiritually. Paul measures success by maturity, not loyalty. By fruit, not followership.

This challenges how we evaluate churches, ministries, and even personal faith. Are we growing more dependent on Christ, or more dependent on structure? Are we becoming more discerning, or more passive? Are we being strengthened, or simply managed?

Paul’s words about doing nothing against the truth also confront the modern tendency to bend truth for outcomes. We justify small compromises for perceived greater good. Paul refuses this logic. Truth is not a tool. It is a foundation. When truth is compromised, everything built upon it eventually cracks.

This is why Paul insists that everything he has written is for building up, not tearing down. True building requires solid material. You cannot build with denial. You cannot build with avoidance. You cannot build with illusion. You build with truth, even when it costs.

As the chapter moves toward its closing exhortations, Paul’s call to restoration becomes clearer. Restoration is not regression. It is alignment. It is the re-centering of faith around Christ Himself. Not around leaders. Not around experiences. Not around identity markers. Around Christ living within.

Paul urges the church to comfort one another, agree with one another, and live in peace. This is not forced unity. It is shared submission. Agreement flows from common allegiance. Peace flows from honesty. Comfort flows from truth received in love.

This is the kind of church Paul envisions. Not perfect. Not impressive. But real. A community where examination is normal, not threatening. Where growth is expected. Where weakness is not hidden but redeemed. Where Christ’s life is visible not through spectacle, but through transformed lives.

The final blessing of Second Corinthians is not poetic filler. It is theological summary. Grace from Christ, love from the Father, fellowship from the Spirit. This is not abstract theology. It is lived experience. Grace that sustains. Love that anchors. Fellowship that connects.

Grace addresses our failure. Love addresses our identity. Fellowship addresses our isolation. Together, they form the life of a believer who is no longer borrowing faith, but living it.

Second Corinthians 13 leaves us with no dramatic ending, because maturity rarely looks dramatic. It looks steady. It looks honest. It looks grounded. It looks like a believer who no longer needs constant reassurance, because Christ is present.

This chapter does not accuse. It invites. It invites believers to stop outsourcing their faith and start inhabiting it. To stop hiding behind proximity and start living from presence. To stop performing belief and start walking in it.

The question Paul leaves with the church is not meant to produce fear. It is meant to produce clarity. Is Christ in you? Not as a slogan. Not as a memory. Not as an association. But as a living, shaping reality.

Because when Christ truly lives in you, faith is no longer borrowed. It is embodied. And when faith is embodied, it endures.

That is the quiet power of Second Corinthians 13. It does not shout. It does not entertain. It simply tells the truth and trusts that truth to do its work.

And for those willing to examine themselves honestly, that truth does not destroy. It strengthens.

Watch Douglas Vandergraph’s inspiring faith-based videos on YouTube

Support the ministry by buying Douglas a coffee

Your friend, Douglas Vandergraph

#Faith #BibleStudy #NewTestament #2Corinthians #ChristianGrowth #SpiritualMaturity #ChristianLiving #FaithJourney

I want to begin this the same way most of us actually experience life, not with triumph but with tension. Second Corinthians chapter twelve does not open with fireworks or certainty. It opens with a man who has seen things he cannot explain, experienced heights he cannot fully describe, and yet finds himself living with something that will not go away. That alone should already change how we read this chapter. Too often we treat Scripture as if it exists to eliminate struggle, when in reality it exists to reframe it. Paul is not writing as a man who has escaped weakness. He is writing as a man who has learned how to live inside it without losing his soul.

This chapter is uncomfortable for people who want faith to function like a spiritual ladder. If I pray enough, believe hard enough, live clean enough, then surely God will remove the thing that hurts, the thing that limits me, the thing that embarrasses me. But Paul disrupts that entire framework. He talks about visions and revelations, about being caught up into paradise, about experiences so sacred he refuses to put language around them. And yet, in the same breath, he talks about a thorn in his flesh that remains. The contrast is intentional. Heaven did not cancel out hardship. Revelation did not remove resistance. Spiritual maturity did not grant immunity.

That should matter to you, especially if you are tired of feeling like something is wrong with your faith because something is still wrong with your life.

Paul makes a point of distancing himself from spiritual bragging. He speaks in the third person when referencing his visions, almost as if he is deliberately refusing to center his identity around the most extraordinary moments of his life. That alone is a lesson most people never learn. We tend to define ourselves by our peaks. Paul defines himself by his obedience. He knows that encounters with God are not badges to be displayed but responsibilities to be stewarded. And stewardship often looks far less impressive than revelation.

Then comes the line that shifts everything. He tells us that a thorn was given to him, a messenger of Satan, to torment him. This is one of the most misunderstood lines in all of Paul’s letters, because people rush past the word “given.” They want to assign blame immediately. Was it Satan? Was it God? Was it circumstance? Paul doesn’t play that game. He acknowledges the source of the torment without missing the sovereignty of God. Somehow, in a way that stretches our theology, the thing that torments him is also the thing that protects him from pride.

That should stop us in our tracks.

We usually assume the worst things in our lives exist to destroy us. Paul suggests some of them exist to keep us grounded. The thorn is not described in detail, and I believe that omission is intentional. If Paul had named it, we would have categorized it. Physical illness? Emotional distress? Opposition? Trauma? Instead, the thorn remains undefined so that every reader can recognize their own. Whatever keeps you humble, dependent, and aware of your limits may be closer to this text than you think.

Paul does what any of us would do. He prays for it to be removed. Not once, not twice, but three times. This is not casual prayer. This is persistent, intentional pleading. He is not rebuked for asking. God does not shame him for wanting relief. The prayers themselves are not the problem. The answer is what challenges us.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

That sentence is not comforting until you’ve reached the end of your strength. Before that point, it sounds like a spiritual consolation prize. After that point, it becomes oxygen. God does not say, “I will fix this.” He says, “I will meet you here.” And for many of us, that is harder to accept than silence.

We want power that removes weakness. God offers power that works through it. That distinction changes everything. If power is only available after weakness disappears, then weakness is the enemy. But if power is perfected in weakness, then weakness becomes the doorway. That does not mean weakness is good. It means it is not wasted.

Paul’s response is shocking. Instead of resentment, he chooses reorientation. He says he will boast all the more gladly about his weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on him. This is not self-hatred. This is not performative humility. This is clarity. Paul understands that the presence of weakness does not signal the absence of God. In his case, it proves the nearness of God’s sustaining grace.

This chapter dismantles the idea that strength is about control. True strength, according to Paul, is about surrender. Not passive resignation, but active trust. He does not stop working. He does not withdraw from ministry. He does not lower his calling. He simply stops pretending that he is the source of the power behind it.

That is a word for anyone who feels like they are holding everything together with sheer willpower. You were never meant to be the engine. You were meant to be the vessel.

Paul goes further. He says he delights in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ’s sake. That sentence has been abused by people who glorify suffering or tell others to endure abuse in silence. That is not what Paul is doing. He is not praising pain. He is acknowledging purpose. He is recognizing that every place where he cannot rely on himself becomes a place where Christ shows up with undeniable strength.

“When I am weak, then I am strong.”

That line is not poetic irony. It is lived theology. It is the confession of someone who has reached the limits of self-sufficiency and discovered that God does His best work there. Strength that depends on you will always run out. Strength that flows through you has a different source.

Paul then turns his attention back to the Corinthians themselves. He reminds them that he has been foolish in boasting, but only because they forced him into it. This is not ego. This is pastoral frustration. They have been measuring apostles by charisma, by presence, by performance, while missing the heart of the gospel. Paul refuses to compete on those terms. He reminds them that true authority is revealed through sacrifice, not spectacle.

He points out that he has never been a burden to them. He did not exploit them financially. He did not manipulate them emotionally. He did not build his ministry on what he could extract. That alone is worth sitting with, especially in a time when spiritual leadership is often entangled with platforms, branding, and influence. Paul’s concern is not how impressive he appears but whether Christ is faithfully represented.

He speaks like a spiritual parent, not a celebrity. He is not interested in being admired. He wants them built up. That phrase matters. Built up, not impressed. Strengthened, not entertained. Maturity, not dependency.

Second Corinthians twelve is not a chapter about heroic faith. It is a chapter about honest faith. Faith that admits limits. Faith that prays boldly and listens humbly. Faith that keeps going even when the thorn remains. Faith that learns how to rest in grace instead of striving for control.

If you are in a season where something has not been removed despite your prayers, this chapter is not telling you that God is absent. It is telling you that God may be closer than you realize, working not by eliminating weakness but by filling it with His presence.

In the next part, we will step even deeper into what it means to live with a thorn without letting it define you, how grace reshapes identity, and why this chapter may be one of the most freeing texts for people who feel worn down, underestimated, or quietly exhausted in their faith.

What makes Second Corinthians chapter twelve so quietly radical is that it refuses to give us a clean ending. There is no moment where the thorn disappears. There is no testimony section where Paul announces a breakthrough after enough faith was applied. Instead, the chapter invites us into a sustained way of living, one that most people are never taught how to do. It teaches us how to carry something unresolved without becoming bitter, smaller, or spiritually numb.

That matters because unresolved pain is where many believers slowly lose heart. Not because they stop believing in God, but because they stop believing God is attentive to the parts of their lives that did not turn out the way they hoped. Paul’s honesty confronts that quiet erosion of trust. He does not pretend the thorn is insignificant. He also does not let it become his identity. That balance is rare, and it is learned, not instinctive.

Grace, in this chapter, is not framed as forgiveness alone. It is framed as sufficiency. That word deserves to be sat with longer than we usually allow. Sufficient does not mean minimal. It does not mean barely enough. It means fully adequate for the task at hand. God is not saying, “I will give you just enough grace to survive.” He is saying, “I will give you enough grace to live faithfully, fruitfully, and meaningfully, even here.”

That redefines what many people expect from God. We often measure God’s goodness by how quickly He resolves discomfort. Paul measures God’s goodness by how faithfully He sustains obedience. Those are two very different metrics.

Paul’s thorn keeps him dependent, but it does not keep him passive. That distinction is crucial. Dependence on God is not the same thing as resignation. Paul continues to preach, to travel, to plant churches, to endure persecution, to write letters that would shape Christianity for generations. The thorn does not slow the mission. It deepens it. It strips away any illusion that Paul is operating on his own strength and makes it impossible to confuse the power of the gospel with the personality of the messenger.

There is something profoundly freeing about that if you let it sink in. Your limitations do not disqualify you from meaningful work. They may actually protect the integrity of it. When you cannot rely on charisma, stamina, or certainty, you learn to rely on God’s presence in a way that keeps your ego in check and your heart open.

Paul’s willingness to boast in weakness is not about drawing attention to himself. It is about redirecting attention away from himself. Weakness becomes a lens through which Christ’s strength is more clearly seen. In a culture that rewards confidence and polish, that kind of perspective feels almost subversive. But it is deeply aligned with the heart of the gospel.

Jesus Himself did not save the world through displays of invincibility. He saved it through surrender. Through vulnerability. Through obedience that looked like failure before it looked like victory. Paul is not inventing a new theology here. He is living out the pattern he learned from Christ.

That is why this chapter speaks so powerfully to people who feel overlooked, underestimated, or quietly worn down. If you have been carrying something that makes you feel less impressive, less effective, or less confident, Paul’s words tell you that you are not operating outside of God’s plan. You may be closer to the center of it than you realize.

Paul also addresses something else that is easy to miss. He acknowledges that unchecked spiritual experiences can lead to pride. That admission alone is startling. We often assume that spiritual highs automatically produce humility. Paul knows better. Encounters with God, if not grounded in dependence, can inflate the ego just as easily as success can. The thorn acts as a counterbalance, a reminder that spiritual authority is not self-generated.

This is especially relevant in a time when spiritual platforms can grow faster than character. Paul’s life stands as a warning and an invitation. Revelation without humility is dangerous. Influence without dependence is fragile. The thorn, as painful as it is, becomes a safeguard.

Toward the end of the chapter, Paul’s tone shifts again. He expresses concern that when he comes to Corinth, he may find division, conflict, and immaturity. This is not the complaint of a tired leader looking for affirmation. It is the concern of someone who understands that unresolved issues, when ignored, do not stay neutral. They grow. Paul is not interested in pretending everything is fine. He believes grace should lead to growth, not complacency.

And yet, even here, his posture is pastoral, not punitive. His desire is not to assert dominance but to see restoration. That matters, because it shows us how someone who understands weakness treats others. Paul does not weaponize his authority. He uses it to build up, not tear down. That is what grace does when it has done its work in a person.

Second Corinthians twelve leaves us with a question that is uncomfortable but necessary. What if the thing you keep asking God to remove is the very place where His strength is most visible in your life? What if the absence of resolution is not abandonment, but invitation?

That does not mean you stop praying. Paul did not. It does not mean you stop hoping for change. It means you stop measuring God’s faithfulness by one outcome. You begin to look for His presence in the endurance, the growth, the quiet strength that shows up day after day when quitting would be easier.

This chapter teaches us that weakness is not the opposite of faith. Self-reliance is. Faith looks like showing up again, leaning into grace again, trusting that God is at work even when the story does not follow the script you expected.

If you are tired, if you feel like you should be stronger by now, if you are frustrated that something has not changed despite sincere prayer, this chapter does not shame you. It speaks to you. It reminds you that grace is not a consolation prize for those who could not get it together. It is the sustaining power of God for people who know they cannot do this alone.

Paul did not become less effective because of his thorn. He became more honest. More grounded. More reliant. And through that reliance, the gospel went further than it ever could have through human strength alone.

That is the quiet hope of Second Corinthians twelve. You are not failing because you are weak. You are being invited to discover a strength that does not originate in you, and therefore will not run out when you do.

Your friend, Douglas Vandergraph

Watch Douglas Vandergraph’s inspiring faith-based videos on YouTube

Support the ministry by buying Douglas a coffee