Meet the guy whose AI infomercials turn tech’s grand visions into late-night schlock

Infomercials have long promised miracle products for everyday life, using a mix of manufactured urgency (“call now!”), flash sales, and rave reviews. Now, one veteran filmmaker is using hyperbole and cringe not to sell kitchen gadgets and supplements, but to turn tech and political leaders’ grand visions into low-brow sales pitches with AI. In “Open Living,” created by Ari Kuschnir, a cheery deepfake of Sam Altman invites people to move into a global network of communities housed within data centers, with perks that include a rooftop pool heated by vibe coding, lab-grown food, and unlimited nicotine pouches: “Are you angry that a data center moved into your community? Move into ours. Best of all you don’t own anything.” Kuschnir’s AI-generated infomercials tap into the ’90s to create “cozy dystopias” based loosely on modern-day headlines. In recent weeks, he’s made more than a dozen hyperrealistic shorts that take the grand visions of tech and political leaders and “follow the thing that’s in them to the nth degree.” One portrays Mark Zuckerberg as a pitchman marketing a clunky beige AI wearable to replace human relationships. In another, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pitches a wellness p…