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Lion King directors Roger Allers (L) and Rob Minkoff.

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Artificial intelligence is a “Wild West” with “very few rules” — but it has the potential to democratize the film industry in the long term, according to the director of “The Lion King.”

Rob Minkoff, who co-directed the classic 1994 animated Disney film with Roger Allers, told CNBC in an interview that AI has the potential to “democratize” filmmaking in such a way that it’ll become less costly to produce and direct motion pictures by slashing the amount of expensive equipment involved. 

“I think what AI will do is potentially democratize the process of making content, because if literally anyone is given these incredibly powerful tools, then what we should see is truly an explosion of content, an explosion of new voices,” Minkoff, 62, told CNBC. 

Minkoff was speaking with CNBC ahead of the Reply AI Film Festival. The event, held by Italian tech firm Reply during the Venice International Film Festival, is a competition that awards filmmakers using AI to develop short films. Minkoff is a judge on the panel that decides the winners. 

‘Hyperbole’ versus ‘legitimate concerns’

The arrival of new technology has for decades been a fear among people working in the film industry, Minkoff noted. For example, when computer animation arrived in the 1990s, there were similar fears about the impact it would have on jobs.

“When computer animation came along, there were a lot of people that were very afraid about it — what it would mean, how it would impact people’s jobs,” Minkoff, who also directed 1999’s “Stuart Little” and 2003’s “The Haunted Mansion,” told CNBC. 

“What became very apparent early on was that, if people wanted to maintain their own personal relevancy in the industry, it became very important for them to really learn and adapt to changes in technology,” he added. “We’re experiencing something quite similar now with AI.” 

Minkoff recalls the use of computers to create the famous stampede scene in “The Lion King.” In the scene, dozens of wildebeests are seen rushing after Simba, the movie’s protagonist. 

In that scene, Minkoff recalls, “we could have 1000s of wildebeests rendered, but the technique that we used made it look very seamless with the rest of the drawn animation.” 

“People are naturally and understandably worried when they look at what AI can do,” Minkoff said. However, he added, he doesn’t think the technology can replace all filmmakers, and that there’s a lot of “hyperbole” at the moment surrounding AI’s capabilities.

Still, Minkoff said, there are concerns about the application of AI in film that are warranted, such as those relating to copyright and the use of intellectual property in entertainment for training AI models.

“I hope that technology ultimately will save us, in some regards, or make life better, easier or more more prosperous,” Minkoff told CNBC. “But it’s the Wild West, where it seems like anything is possible and anything can be done.” 

 Minkoff added that there are “legitimate concerns” with AI when it comes to issues like the protection of media IP and tackling copyright theft. “I understand why people might want to slow it down or put guardrails on it to be careful, to be safe,” he said. 

But ultimately, he doesn’t think the AI positive momentum will slow. “My impression is that it probably won’t be slowed down, because these decisions are left to judges and courtrooms to decide what’s right and wrong,” Minkoff said.

On the copyright question, he suggested the creation of a dedicated body designed to protect filmmakers’ intellectual property and remunerate them, like what the American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers and Broadcast Music, Inc. do for the music industry. 

‘Always the human behind the technology’

The Reply AI Film Festival, which awarded three winners this week, started out as an internal competition among employees, with staff using AI tools to produce movie-quality videos, Filippo Rizzante, chief technology officer of Reply, told CNBC.

“There has been a lot of progress with technology for producing creative work,” Rizzante said in an interview last week. “This is impacting a lot the quantity and quality of what we are producing as humanity.” 

Rizzante pushed back on fears that AI will displace people working in entertainment. The technology, he said, “will completely change how the industry is delivering content today, but not necessarily change the number of people employed in the movie industry.” 

In this year’s edition of the festival, one of the runners-up, “Gia Pham,” depicts a woman looking at a takeout menu before being transported to a colorful picturesque 2D world. The narrator of the video, who begins by speaking in English, starts talking in Japanese after the shift from 3D to 2D. 

Alexander de Lukowicz, co-director of “Gia Pham,” told CNBC that humans are essential to how he and his team work to generate short films. AI tools such as DALL-E and Midjourney, he said, helped the directors of his short film “enhance worlds we weren’t able to generate before.” 

“It’s always the human behind the technology that has to guide the technology to gain the proper result out of it. We wanted to produce something like a film to really check the boundaries of what’s possible,” de Lukowicz told CNBC. 

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Crypto bounces on renewed optimism House could pass key stablecoin legislation this week

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Crypto bounces on renewed optimism House could pass key stablecoin legislation this week

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Cryptocurrencies and several stocks tied to the ecosystem rose Wednesday as investors dismissed a snag in what was expected to be a winning week for crypto regulation.

Bitcoin was last higher by 2% at $119,114.79, according to Coin Metrics, while ether rose 3% to $3,156.  

Shares of stablecoin issuer Circle added more than 1% premarket and crypto services firm Coinbase gained about 0.5%, after both closed lower in the previous session. Ether treasury stocks continued their rally: BitMine surged 24%, while SharpLink jumped 14% and Bit Digital gained 5%.

On Tuesday, prices dipped briefly after the House failed to advance two key pieces of legislation for the crypto industry: the stablecoin bill known as the GENUIS Act, which has already passed the Senate, and the broader and far more complex market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act. Industry players including Coinbase hoped to see these bills move forward together, despite the latter one still awaiting a vote in the House.

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Coinbase (COIN) and bitcoin (BTC) this month

Oppenheimer analyst Owen Lau told CNBC the stock reaction was overblown and framed the passage of the bills as a matter of “when” rather than an “if.”

“It’s not such bad news which is why the stocks [Coinbase and Circle] recovered in late trading,” he said. “Both stocks may be under pressure until we get the vote but these bills will eventually get passed after these negotiations.”

It doesn’t ultimately matter how they get passed – separately or bundled – “in terms of the terminal value … but the stock could react more positively if all three bills get combined,” and the market “would lose three or four months of uncertainty,” Lau added.

President Donald Trump said in a social media post Tuesday night that several of the House Republicans who kept the bills from advancing had changed their minds following a White House meeting and will now vote to move the legislation forward.

In its current form, the GENIUS Act would restrict stablecoin issuers from paying users interest, which would reinforcing the importance of Ethereum – a network favored by institutions that supports a significant amount of activity and applications, including stablecoins – in the ecosystem.

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Ether (ETH) has doubled in price in the last three months

However, ether’s recent rally, driven by momentum and speculative positioning among the boom in stablecoin interest and ether treasuries, has not been supported by fundamentals.

“Active addresses remain flat, network revenue is unchanged, and gas [transaction] fees have only ticked up slightly,” according to 10x Research’s Markus Thielen. Ether has doubled in price in the last three months.

Bitcoin, whose price slipped this week due to more than $360 million in long liquidations Monday, also dropped after the crypto bills were halted, but recovered soon after. On Monday, the flagship cryptocurrency reached an all-time high above $120,000.

Bitcoin ETFs saw $402.99 million in inflows from institutions on Tuesday, while ether funds raked in $192.3 million, according to SoSoValue.

—With reporting from CNBC’s Emily Wilkins, Erin Doherty and Greta Reich

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC Pro:

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Chip giant ASML says it can’t confirm that it will grow in 2026

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Chip giant ASML says it can't confirm that it will grow in 2026

An icon of ASML is displayed on a smartphone, with an ASML chip visible in the background.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

ASML reported second-quarter earnings that beat estimates with the its key net bookings figure ahead of consensus.

However, the chip equipment giant missed analyst expectations for revenue guidance in the current quarter and warned of the possibility of no growth ahead.

Here’s how ASML did versus LSEG consensus estimates for the second quarter:

  • Net sales: 7.7 billion euros ($8.95 billion) versus 7.52 billion euros expected
  • Net profit: 2.29 billion euros vs 2.04 billion euros expected

In its own previous forecast issued in April, ASML had said it expected second-quarter net sales of between 7.2 billion euros and 7.7 billion euros. In a pre-recorded interview posted on ASML’s website, the company’s Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen said the beat was due to revenue from upgrading currently deployed machines as well as tariffs having a “less negative” impact than anticipated.

Analysts anticipated net bookings — a key indicator of order demand — would come in at 4.19 billion euros over the April-June stretch. ASML reported net bookings of 5.5 billion euros.

ASML is one of the most important semiconductor supply chain companies in the world. It makes extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, which are required to manufacture the most advanced chips in the world, such as those designed by Apple and Nvidia.

Companies like Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. are customers of ASML.

2026 warning

Like many companies in the semiconductor industry, ASML has been grappling with uncertainty created by U.S. tariff policy.

The company forecast third-quarter revenue of between 7.4 billion euros and 7.9 billion euros, which was shy of market expectations of 8.3 billion euros.

ASML said it expects full-year 2025 net sales to grow 15%, narrowing its guidance from a previously announced forecasts of between 30 billion euros to 35 billion euros.

However, the Dutch tech giant was less certain about the outlook for 2026.

“Looking at 2026, we see that our AI customers’ fundamentals remain strong,” ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said in a statement.

“At the same time, we continue to see increasing uncertainty driven by macro-economic and geopolitical developments. Therefore, while we still prepare for growth in 2026, we cannot confirm it at this stage.”

The Veldhoven, Netherlands-headquartered company has released its next generation EUV tools known as High NA, which stands for high numerical aperture. These machines, which are larger than a double-decker bus and can cost more than $400 million each, are key to ASML’s future growth plans.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for more.

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Whoop says FDA is ‘overstepping its authority’ with warning about blood pressure feature

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Whoop says FDA is 'overstepping its authority' with warning about blood pressure feature

The logo for the Food and Drug Administration is seen ahead of a news conference on removing synthetic dyes from America’s food supply, at the Health and Human Services Headquarters in Washington, DC on April 22, 2025.

Nathan Posner | Anadolu | Getty Images

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday published a warning letter addressed to the wrist wearable company Whoop, alleging it is marketing a new blood pressure feature without proper approvals.

The letter centers around Whoop’s Blood Pressure Insights (BPI) feature, which the company introduced alongside its latest hardware launch in May.

Whoop said its BPI feature uses blood pressure information to offer performance and wellness insights that inform consumers and improve athletic performance.

But the FDA said Tuesday that Whoop’s BPI feature is intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent disease — a key distinction that would reclassify the wellness tracker as a “medical device” that has to undergo a rigorous testing and approval processes.

“Providing blood pressure estimation is not a low-risk function,” the FDA said in the letter. “An erroneously low or high blood pressure reading can have significant consequences for the user.”

A Whoop spokesperson said the company’s system offers only a single daily estimated range and midpoint, which distinguishes it from medical blood pressure devices used for diagnosis or management of high blood pressure.

Whoop users who purchase the $359 “Whoop Life” subscription tier can use the BPI feature to get daily insights about their blood pressure, including estimated systolic and diastolic ranges, according to the company.

Whoop also requires users to log three traditional cuff-readings to act as a baseline in order to unlock the BPI feature.

Additionally, the spokesperson said the BPI data is not unlike other wellness metrics that the company deals with. Just as heart rate variability and respiratory rate can have medical uses, the spokesperson said, they are permitted in a wellness context too.

“We believe the agency is overstepping its authority in this case by attempting to regulate a non-medical wellness feature as a medical device,” the Whoop spokesperson said.

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High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is the number one risk factor for heart attacks, strokes and other types of cardiovascular disease, according to Dr. Ian Kronish, an internist and co-director of Columbia University’s Hypertension Center.

Kronish told CNBC that wearables like Whoop are a big emerging topic of conversation among hypertension experts, in part because there’s “concern that these devices are not yet proven to be accurate.”

If patients don’t get accurate blood pressure readings, they can’t make informed decisions about the care they need.

At the same time, Kronish said wearables like Whoop present a “big opportunity” for patients to take more control over their health, and that many professionals are excited to work with these tools.

Understandably, it can be confusing for consumers to navigate. Kronish encouraged patients to talk with their doctor about how they should use wearables like Whoop.

“It’s really great to hear that the FDA is getting more involved around informing consumers,” Kronish said.

FILE PHOTO: The headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seen in Silver Spring, Maryland November 4, 2009. 

Jason Reed | Reuters

Whoop is not the only wearable manufacturer that’s exploring blood pressure monitoring.

Omron and Garmin both offer medical blood pressure monitoring with on-demand readings that fall under FDA regulation. Samsung also offers blood-pressure-reading technology, but it is not available in the U.S. market.

Apple has also been teasing a blood pressure sensor for its watches, but has not been able to deliver. In 2024, the tech giant received FDA approval for its sleep apnea detection feature.

Whoop has previously received FDA clearance for its ECG feature, which is used to record and analyze a heart’s electrical activity to detect potential irregularities in rhythm. But when it comes to blood pressure, Whoop believes the FDA’s perspective is antiquated.

“We do not believe blood pressure should be considered any more or less sensitive than other physiological metrics like heart rate and respiratory rate,” a spokesperson said. “It appears that the FDA’s concerns may stem from outdated assumptions about blood pressure being strictly a clinical domain and inherently associated with a medical diagnosis.”

The FDA said Whoop could be subject to regulatory actions like seizure, injunction, and civil money penalties if it fails to address the violations that the agency identified in its letter.

Whoop has 15 business days to respond with steps the company has taken to address the violations, as well as how it will prevent similar issues from happening again.

“Even accounting for BPI’s disclaimers, they do not change this conclusion, because they are insufficient to outweigh the fact that the product is, by design, intended to provide a blood pressure estimation that is inherently associated with the diagnosis of a disease or condition,” the FDA said.

WATCH: Watch CNBC’s full interview with FDA commissioner Dr. Marty Makary

Watch CNBC's full interview with FDA commissioner Dr. Marty Makary

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