Warner Bros and Fandango Sell Cinema Tickets On Roblox; TikTok Terminates Lite Rewards Feature in EU; OpenAI Co-Founder Moves to Rival Anthropic

On today’s news digest: Warner Bros and Fandango Sell Cinema Tickets On Roblox; TikTok Terminates Lite Rewards Feature in EU; OpenAI Co-Founder Moves to Rival Anthropic 

In a move to strengthen its connection with Gen Z gamers, Roblox has introduced a feature which lets users buy movie tickets directly through the platform. The new feature is part of a real-life commerce test by Warner Bros, with the objective of promoting the release of its upcoming film Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, in collaboration with Fandango, the virtual box office operator for the experience. The new feature has been available since Monday. Warner Bros hopes that introducing the film in this innovative way will captivate a new audience and drive excitement for the cinema experience. This is the third real-life commerce test to take place on Roblox, succeeding previous partnerships with Walmart and E.l.f Beauty. The experience will close on 16th September, following the film’s release on 6th September. 

Meanwhile, TikTok’s latest attempt to increase activity on its platform via the TikTok Lite rewards feature has gone amiss. The European Commission (EC) opened an investigation into the feature back in March, a month after its launch in France and Spain. The app gave users the opportunity to earn points by doing activities on the platform such as watching and liking videos – these points could be turned into real money through exchanges for Amazon vouchers. Following the EC’s scrutiny, TikTok has agreed to permanently withdraw the feature from the EU, bringing the EC’s investigation to a close. 

Turning our attention to the latest in the AI sector, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman has decided to depart the company to join its biggest rival, Anthropic. Following the move, Schulman will work on alignment – research to ensure AI conforms to human values – which he has desire to deepen his focus on, he explains. However, Schulman clarifies that he is not leaving OpenAI due to a lack of support for alignment research there. Additionally, Greg Brockman – OpenAI’s president – on Monday announced that he would be taking sabbatical leave for the remainder of the year. 

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