JOJX, an L.A.-based production company, has added director and designer GMUNK to its roster for exclusive live-action representation spanning commercials, branded content and music videos in the U.S. GMUNK had previously been handled for live-action fare by Tool of North America, which continues to rep him for interactive content.
GMUNK’s creativity and innovation spans multiple mediums, including installations, print exhibitions, films, music videos, commercials and various forms of award-winning graphic design. Fusing science-fiction themes, psychedelic palettes, and practical in-camera effects, GMUNK’s work often centers on themes of metaphysics and the identity of human connection to technology.
Jackson Morton, EP and co-founder of JOJX, described GMUNK as “a true modern day artist. His ability to move between mediums and modes of expression is very special and rare. He works fluidly between film, design, installation, light, and movement, integrating these mediums in new ways. Having the opportunity to support a filmmaker who breaks boundaries and challenges norms is exactly why we built this company.”
GMUNK’s latest project, produced with JOJX, is the music video for CamelPhat’s “Breathe.” The film explores themes of depression, solitude, emergence, self, and ultimate growth. Other significant recent GMUNK work includes Infiniti’s installation at the 2018 Concours d’Elegance, which used cutting-edge projection mapping to celebrate Infiniti’s Japanese heritage; Dolby Asteria, a site-specific 3-act, mobile AR experience for iOS devices synchronized with a 12-minute film that plays on a loop on a 64-foot LED wrap-around gallery wall; the immersive robotic and light projection theatre installation Telestron; and an immersive project-mapped design experience for Infiniti. Other GMUNK brand collaborations include projects for Audi, Samsung and Target.
Enthused over joining JOJX, GMUNK said, “My ethos has always been to push the creative boundaries of branded content and storytelling, and utilizing my diverse background in image-making to produce results people talk about and remember — it’s always been my goal to produce fresh and iconic work that resonates and leaves an impression.”
Changing OpenAI’s Nonprofit Structure Would Raise Questions and Heightened Scrutiny
The artificial intelligence maker OpenAI may face a costly and inconvenient reckoning with its nonprofit origins even as its valuation recently exploded to $157 billion.
Nonprofit tax experts have been closely watching OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, since last November when its board ousted and rehired CEO Sam Altman. Now, some believe the company may have reached — or exceeded — the limits of its corporate structure, under which it is organized as a nonprofit whose mission is to develop artificial intelligence to benefit "all of humanity" but with for-profit subsidiaries under its control.
Jill Horwitz, a professor in law and medicine at UCLA School of Law who has studied OpenAI, said that when two sides of a joint venture between a nonprofit and a for-profit come into conflict, the charitable purpose must always win out.
"It's the job of the board first, and then the regulators and the court, to ensure that the promise that was made to the public to pursue the charitable interest is kept," she said.
Altman recently confirmed that OpenAI is considering a corporate restructure but did not offer any specifics. A source told The Associated Press, however, that the company is looking at the possibility of turning OpenAI into a public benefit corporation. No final decision has been made by the board and the timing of the shift hasn't been determined, the source said.
In the event the nonprofit loses control of its subsidiaries, some experts think OpenAI may have to pay for the interests and assets that had belonged to the nonprofit. So far, most observers agree OpenAI has carefully orchestrated its relationships between its nonprofit and its various other corporate entities to try to avoid that.
However, they also see... Read More