Meta’s experimental vibe-coding gaming app, Pocket, is now rolling out to everyone in the U.S. The app, which arrived quietly last month in the test market of Brazil, allows people to generate small, interactive games using AI prompts, which are published to a scrollable feed.
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Based on Meta’s acqui-hire of the team at the vibe-coded gaming platform Gizmo earlier this year, these interactive experiences and games — or “gizmos” as Meta calls them — respond to touch and the tilt of your phone, play sound effects, and can include clips of your favorite songs.
They can also use photos from your camera roll or access your camera. The resulting games can then be shared on your profile, where others can save them, remix them into other creations, or simply repost them.
Pocket.Image Credits:Meta
The app is the latest example of Meta’s push to make AI-creation tools mainstream, following its earlier efforts that included making AI-generated images with its Meta AI app and creating AI videos with an experimental app called Vibes.
Pocket now joins these and several other stand-alone mobile applications from Meta in recent months. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has credited the increased output to AI-enabled software development, which makes it faster for the company to test and ship new ideas.
“Earlier this year, we shipped Instagram Instants. We also just launched Forum, a stand-alone Groups app, and Seller, a stand-alone Marketplace app. I expect it to become a lot easier to ship new apps,” he told analysts on July’s earnings call. “So we are planning to build out more ideas and use our recommendation systems to scale them.”
In addition to Instants, Forum, and the Seller app, Meta has shipped an experiment involving AI bedtime stories, and this week, a Meta AI app for Mac.
With the launch of Pocket, Meta is shutting down the original app acquired from Atma Sciences.
It's bittersweet to shut down Gizmo, a labor of love by so many people for the last couple years, but I'm excited for Pocket and what's next.
Starting a company is something I wanted to do for a long time, and it was way more fun than I imagined. I owe everything to my… https://t.co/5KwjsgyAtb
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The two French journalists detained in Togo since last month have been charged with "false declarations" despite having the correct documents to work there, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said.
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Gaël Mocaër and Sebastian Perez Pezzani had been filming a documentary in Kara, northern Togo, for France Télévisions when they were arrested on 27 July, the media rights group said, despite having work visas and authorisation to film there.
France's foreign ministry confirmedthe pair's detention, adding that they had been visited by French officials three times. Togolese authorities have yet to comment.
Togo has faced criticism for clamping down on free speech, with several foreign journalists detained in recent years.
However, there are suggestions Mocaër and Pezzani are being held as bargaining chips for an exchange with France - a practice of which other countries have been accused.
The pair are being held in pre-trial detention at a "law-enforcement facility" near the capital, Lomé, RSF said.
It said Pezzani was "suffering from serious health problems that require immediate medical attention".
The men had all the required documents to work in the West African nation and were in "full compliance with the administrative regulations in force", Tony Comiti Productions, the company producing the show, said.
A third man - the journalists' Togolese fixer Fred Vedomey - has also been detained.
RSF director general Thibaut Bruttin said the organisation was "alarmed by a situation that has now lasted for more than 20 days".
"The organisation condemns these unjustified and disproportionate proceedings and calls for the immediate release of the French media professionals."
The families of the Frenchmen said they were hoping for a "swift resolution" in a joint statement shared by RSF, adding that the "uncertainty and anguish weigh daily" on them.
"We are devastated by the deprivation of liberty being endured in Togo by our partners, our fathers, our sons and our brothers," they said.
"Gaël and Sebastian are passionate documentary filmmakers, deeply committed to telling the stories of the people they meet and bearing witness to the realities of their lives."
The French foreign ministry said they were monitoring how the pair were being treated, as well as their access to legal representation. Officials were also in contact with their lawyer, employer and families, it added.
Tony Comiti Productions said Mocaër and Pezzani were "seasoned, experienced professionals" who had worked across the world to "document people's daily lives... with no political purpose".
While it is unclear why the journalists were arrested, some local reports have linked their detention to a Togolese investigative journalist who is living in exile in France.
Ferdinand Ayité was arrested in Togo in 2021 after complaints from government ministers over comments made online. He later left the country.
Some reports claim Togolese leader Faure Gnassingbé wants him returned and that the French nationals could be used as leverage. Neither French nor Togolese authorities have suggested this was the case.
The case comes amid concerns over press freedom and political dissent in Togo, which ranks 97th out of 180 countries on RSF's press freedom index.
In June 2025, French broadcasters France 24 and RFI were suspended for three months for allegedly spreading "inaccurate and biased" information following anti-government protests. The broadcasters rejected the accusations.
The year prior, French journalist Thomas Dietrich was arrested while covering electoral campaigning in Togo and was later expelled from the country, according to the International Press Institute.
Togo - which gained independence from France in 1960 - has long been criticised for widespread corruption and fraud.
Gnassingbé, the all-powerful president of the council of ministers, has held office since he succeeded his father in 2005 and was re-elected in 2010, 2015 and 2020 in elections opposition parties have alleged were subject to widespread fraud.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Faure Gnassingbé as president of Togo. He is president of the council of ministers.%!s()
Children’s entertainment phenomenon Bluey is coming to the big screen on August 6, 2027, as announced at last weekend’s Disney D23 event.
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Since debuting in 2018, Bluey grew from an Australian animated series into a multibillion-dollar global franchise. For two consecutive years, Bluey has been the No. 1 most-streamed title in the U.S., according to Nielsen data. In 2025 alone, viewers streamed the show for 45.2 billion minutes.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 02: View of atmosphere and signage during “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” Global Premiere and Family Day at Paramount Pictures Studios on August 02, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
Getty Images for Paramount Pictures
Meanwhile, last weekend, Paramount’s Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie opened to No. 4 at the box office, grossing $20.5 million domestically, not far behind Warner Bros.’s own dinosaur movie for older audiences, The End of Oak Street.
The Dino Movie is the third Paw Patrol feature film. The first two, The Paw Patrol Movie and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie were major financial successes, grossing $144.3 million and $205 million, respectively, even with The Paw Patrol Movie having a simultaneous streaming release on Paramount+.
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As Bluey prepares to make its theatrical debut, the Paw Patrol franchise offers a blueprint for how to elevate a popular preschool show into box office success.
Movies like Paw Patrol and Bluey are an experience for the whole family, as they make for ideal choices for a child’s first movie theater experience. Because of that, like Paw Patrol, a Bluey movie will need to feel bigger than an extended episode of the show.
Though little is known regarding The Bluey Movie’s plot, the teaser unveiled at D23 notably reveals that the movie will be computer-animated, rather than the 2D style that the show uses, establishing a visual distinction from the show.
The Paw Patrol movies take advantage of the longer runtime allowed in a feature film by expanding on character development and storylines introduced in the show. Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, for example, builds on a special episode of the series, in which the Paw Patrol pups gain superpowers.
Each Paw Patrol movie centers on a different dog in the Patrol, using plotlines of superpowers and dinosaurs while retaining the show’s emotional identity, exploring themes that children can relate to, such as learning how to overcome obstacles and that smallness does not equal weakness.
If Bluey becomes a theatrical franchise, it already has plenty of supporting characters to anchor future movies and spinoffs. It also has the rare ability to offer a story that is both a spectacle for its young audience and emotionally resonant to the adults that brought them to the theater.
A key reason that the Bluey showhas been so successful is because parents can both relate to and learn from Bluey’s parents Chili and Bandit, just as much as children can from Bluey herself.
Bluey is a show that the whole family can watch together and enjoy, instead of one that parents turn on and tolerate to keep their children occupied. This family togetherness that Bluey cultivates is the franchise’s key selling point, and what it will attempt to bring from the living room couch into the movie theater next year. %!s()
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Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya sees worrying signs for data centers after recent actions in Texas and Pennsylvania.
ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images
Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya sees AI sitting on "a powder keg." And no, he's not referring to a bubble, but rather the growing backlash around data centers.
Palihapitiya, co-host of the "All-In Podcast," tore into "the collective leadership of frontier AI," who he said have failed to convince the American people of the benefits of their industry more broadly and the advantages of data centers, in particular.
"Data centers have unfortunately become THE symbolic representation of the asymmetric upside for a very narrow tech elite and a class that are untrustworthy," Palihapitiya wrote in a Thursday post on X.
The AI industry would be significantly hindered if companies are unable to build data centers, the sprawling facilities housing the advanced chips that train and run AI models.
Texas, Pennsylvania and now Ohio.
This is a powder keg and has the potential to unwind 200-300 basis points of annual GDP if it metastasizes.
How did it get this bad?
The collective leadership of frontier AI has failed miserably in doing the basics:
"This is a powder keg and has the potential to unwind 200-300 basis points of annual GDP if it metastasizes," Palihapitiya wrote.
The backlash isn't likely to get better, Palihapitiya said.
"Inasmuch, the safer bet may be that the pushback and resistance grows…," he wrote.
Palihapitiya was responding to an Axios report that Senate Republicans' campaign arm sent a message to top AI labs, warning that data centers have become a potent issue for former Sen. Sherrod Brown as he seeks to return to Congress by ousting incumbent Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican who is running to serve out the remainder of Vice President JD Vance's term.
In the memo, which was confirmed to Business Insider by a person familiar with its existence, National Republican Senatorial Committee said Husted and Brown "are in a dead heat" and that data centers are becoming a big problem for the incumbent. The committee warned AI companies that other politicians will take notice if Husted loses because of the issue.
"More than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted's neck," the memo reads. "If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one."
Palihapitiya's message cited what he sees as other worrying developments in Texas and Pennsylvania. Both states have sought to rein in support for data centers.
Earlier this month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican running for reelection in November, ordered an effective pause on data center development until state agencies can audit proposed data centers seeking to connect to Texas's electrical grid. Earlier this week, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, who is also running for reelection this November, unveiled what he called the "strictest" standards for data center development. Shapiro did not impose a moratorium, but instead empowered local officials to effectively veto data centers, pledging that the state would not overrule their wishes.
As to what the industry can do now, Palihapitiya encouraged leaders to extol more positive messages and to "stop the infighting."
"Paint a positive picture of what is possible with AI," he wrote. "Instead of spilling the ink on the glass half full, stories abound of pearl clutching, catastrophizing or arcane technical jargon that, together, breed mistrust, fear and skepticism."
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Brent D. Griffiths
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Brent Griffiths is a senior reporter at Business Insider who covers AI and tech.Previously, he worked at the Washington Post as a researcher on Power Up and the Finance 202. He started his career at Politico where he worked on the web production team and covered breaking news. His passion for covering politics has only grown since he cut his teeth covering the presidential campaign as a student journalist. He's also contributed to the Almanac of American Politics.
Influencers are being pelted with virtual tomatoes for promoting AI companies — and it's prompting strategy shifts and high-stress decisions in the creator economy.
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At the height of summer, OpenAI brought a group of influencers to a luxury resort in upstate New York to dine on farm-to-table cuisine, learn how honey is made, and post about it online.
The "Summer Camp" experience, which OpenAI said was tied to the launch of its ChatGPT Work product, quickly drew hate in comments sections.
"Looks like a nice spot for a data center," one user commented on an influencer's post showcasing the pastoral setting. Others chimed in, calling it "dystopian" and "morally bankrupt."
The marketing mishap served as a lesson for creators, managers, and brands alike. Promoting artificial intelligence has become risky for creators as public sentiment around the tech has curdled. AI companies are using a mix of high pay rates and careful messaging to keep creators signing deals in a fraught environment.
The most straightforward idea AI companies are trying to convey: AI is helpful, not evil.
"It's really important for AI companies to share the right, tailored message to the audiences," said Alisher Shariyazdanov, an executive at generative video startup Higgsfield AI.
Higgsfield's hedge against anti-AI haters is to compile a list of topics that are "likely to trigger hatred rather than some positive emotions" based on sentiment analysis of creators' comment sections, Shariyazdanov said. The company then advises creators to avoid those topics, and if backlash does ensue, it works with them to understand what triggered it and what next steps they should take.
Across several social media posts promoting AI companies, people flooded creators' comment sections with disapproval.
Screenshots/TikTok/Instagram/BI
Many of the AI promotions that creators are making are tutorials on how to use their products to be creative or manage their complicated lives.
That can still carry risks, however. Last week, Cliff Tan, an interior design creator with millions of followers, became a target after posting sponsored content for Dreamina Seedance 2.5, ByteDance's AI tool. In his promo, he used the tech to turn an architectural drawing into a video. Commenters were split: some called it disappointing and threatened to unfollow him, while others were confused about why it sparked so much hate.
To make the potential public shaming worth it, influencers want to see the money.
"They're coming in hot with these long-term budgets," Becca Bahrke, CEO of Illuminate Social, told Business Insider of AI companies. Longer-term partnerships — typically several posts shared over the course of a few months — mean more recurring cash for creators.
Top AI companies are offering some creators five to seven figures to promote their tools, according to three talent managers.
Knowing that these deals could feed creators to the anti-AI wolves in the comment section, managers may also negotiate higher rates than typical deals. One manager said they might add a 20% to 30% premium to a creator's standard rate when working with larger AI companies, depending on the company's funding and the scope of the deal.
The looming question: Is it worth it?
AI is unpopular among the broader public. Around 42% of Americans expect AI to have a negative impact on the US, compared with 17% who believe its effect will be positive, according to an Annenberg Public Policy Center survey conducted in February and March.
"We're in the middle of the moment of the rejection of AI," said Kyle Hjelmeseth, founder of G&B Digital Management. He said working with AI companies is "shortsighted."
The reason: it could cause long-term damage to a creator's image and, ultimately, their earning potential.
"It takes a really long time for creators to get the trust of their audience, to get these loyal communities," said Josh Kaplan, CEO of talent management firm Smooth Media. You make one misstep and "people write you off immediately," he added.
Creators are learning the hard way that not every deal is worth the payout.
"I'm so sorry," Tan wrote in a comment under the video that threw him onto the AI hotseat. "I wasn't even paid that much."
Julian Andrew, founder of management firm Talentiish, said he advises clients to have a high bar for deciding which AI companies are worth the risk.
"Anything with an unknown name and then AI after is a no-go," Andrew said. Still, some of his clients "want to avoid working with AI" altogether.
Given the stakes, finding influencers willing to post on an AI brand's behalf can be challenging.
AI companies are "all vying to work with the same group of popular AI creators," said Keith Bendes, chief strategy officer at influencer marketing platform Linqia. "Layer on top of that a desire for some level of category exclusivity with those partnerships, and you have a situation where creators have significant negotiation power."
Toeing the AI line
Some creators who take AI deals are proactively distancing their content from "slop."
YouTuber Billy Young has posted promotional videos for generative AI tools like Anthropic's Claude and Adobe's Firefly.
Still, he made clear to viewers in a recent video: He did not use generative AI to cut corners.
On one of Young's sponsored posts for Anthropic's Claude from 2025, comments have been disabled.
Screenshot/TikTok
Young added a "no AI was used" message to the video, which featured lots of hand-drawn animation and a story about Young and a friend sleeping in an igloo for two nights in the frigid Arctic Circle of Finland. All 1,800 frames of animation included in the post were hand-drawn.
"I felt like I'd do a disservice to myself if I didn't put that," he said of the disclaimer. "If anything, I wish I put more about just how much work went into it, because I think it matters."
He said he wasn't an "absolutist" about AI, and added that he personally used it "sparingly."
Meanwhile, achieving AI purity by boycotting the tech entirely has become impossible for most content creators. The tech is pervading nearly all creative tools, from Adobe's product suite to mobile video editors like CapCut.
Creators told Business Insider that they regularly use mainstream products like ChatGPT. Some are using more niche tools, like Riverside's AI feature to cut awkward filler words and pauses from podcast recordings, or Manychat to automate DMs in response to comments.
"The dirty secret is that everybody is using it," Kaplan said.
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Sydney Bradley
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Sydney Bradley has been covering media and tech for Business Insider since 2020. She breaks news and writes extensively about Instagram and Facebook, as well as new social media startups, dating apps, the creator economy, venture capital, and tech culture.She regularly contributes to BI's "After Hours" series, where our reporters dive into the social scenes shaping tech, media, and finance.Sydney's reporting on Instagram was nominated as a finalist for the 2021 Los Angeles Press Club National Entertainment Journalism Awards.She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in American Studies. You can follow Sydney's work on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram at @sydneykbradley.Have a tip? You can also contact her via encrypted messaging app Signal (@sydneykbradley.123), encrypted email ([email protected]), or standard email ([email protected]). Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.
Dan Whateley
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Dan is a correspondent at Business Insider covering TikTok, YouTube, and the business of social media.He writes about how creators earn a living from social apps, the inner workings of companies like TikTok, and the many ways that social media is impacting Hollywood and other industries like e-commerce, sports, music, and news.He previously wrote about marketing and entrepreneurship at Ad Age and Inc. Magazine. He was a McGraw Scholar in business journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and a graduate of Middlebury College. Disclosure: Dan previously worked at the ad tech company, The Trade Desk, where he was granted stock as part of his compensation.
