David Ellison is positioning the merged Paramount Skydance not as another studio with a streaming service, but as a media company engineered around artificial intelligence. Internal meetings reveal concrete shifts: tasks that consumed hours now complete in under ten minutes using Anthropic’s Claude. The productivity gains span engineering teams, content recommendation systems, and streaming operations.
Ellison, who took the CEO role after Skydance closed its deal with Paramount Global, set a clear mandate from day one: win on content and become the most technologically capable media company. That means unifying three separate streaming tech stacks—Paramount+, Pluto TV, and legacy systems—into one architecture. Consolidating cloud services. Deploying AI at every layer.
According to earnings transcripts and recordings obtained by Business Insider, roughly 80 percent of the engineering organization now uses code assistance tools. Application development cycles that once took weeks now reach testing in days. The company also elevated Jason Kim, formerly EVP of data and insights for the direct-to-consumer business, to oversee data across the entire organization. Domenic DiMeglio, who leads marketing and data for streaming, described the move as part of transforming into a tech-first operation with no more data silos.
Key hires reinforce the direction. Barak Turovsky, who spent seven years leading Google’s AI language products, joined as head of consumer AI. Product chief Dane Glasgow told staff the hire would supercharge growth. The company also brought in Lakshman Nathan as EVP and CIO, who ran an internal AI roadshow emphasizing governance, privacy, and practical workflows. Nathan noted that AI-assisted applications now turn around for testing in two days.
The architecture itself is evolving. Merging tech stacks from Paramount+, Pluto TV, and other services reduces operational expenses. Ellison has spoken of cutting billions while doubling film output. Debt reduction becomes feasible if AI drives efficiency at scale—critical given that a combined Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery entity could approach $80 billion in net debt, analysts estimate.
Risks remain. Media conglomerates carry heavy balance sheets. Success depends on whether AI delivers sustained gains rather than temporary boosts, and whether audiences respond to content shaped by these tools. Ellison remains undeterred, repeating the goal in Bloomberg interviews: build platforms, win with technology as much as with hits.
Streaming remains the proving ground. AI powers personalization, ad targeting, and content metadata generation. Engineers use Claude to debug faster and ship features quicker. The feedback loop tightens. Ellison’s vision echoes his father Larry’s enterprise software mindset: data first, measurable outcomes, scalable systems—applied to Hollywood.
Source: Webpronews