A new chapter of the Kaspersky Security Bulletin looks at how AI is expected to affect the global entertainment industry in 2026, from ticketing and VFX pipelines to content delivery networks, games and regulation.
Artificial intelligence is changing how people buy tickets, watch movies and play games – and it is also changing how malicious actors target those experiences. Entertainment industry is particularly sensitive to AI because the technology does not only automate back-office workflows; it increasingly creates and imitates the core product itself – human-centered stories, performances and visual experiences.
“As we examined different parts of the industry, it became clear that AI is the thread running through most of the emerging risks. By diving into this, we wanted to highlight that AI will not only help defenders detect anomalies faster, it will also help attackers model markets, probe infrastructure and generate convincing malicious content. Studios, platforms and rights holders need to treat AI systems, and the data behind them, as part of their core attack surface, not just as creative tools, and build security and governance around that reality,” said Anna Larkina, web content analysis expert at Kaspersky.
Kaspersky researchers identified five critical threats emerging as AI integrates deeper into entertainment workflows and consumer experiences.
What happens when ticket markets become an arms race between algorithms and scalpers? Kaspersky predicts that AI will make dynamic pricing faster and more granular, while also giving scalpers better tools to identify profitable events, deploy bots at scale and manage resale pricing across multiple platforms. Even when artists choose fixed face values, AI-driven resellers can recreate “dynamic” pricing on secondary markets by adjusting prices in real time based on demand signals.
How will AI-commodified VFX affect the risk of leaks? As high-end CGI becomes more accessible through cloud-based AI platforms, studios will connect to larger networks of small vendors and freelancers. Kaspersky expects attackers to target this extended supply chain by compromising render farms, plug-ins or small post-production houses in order to quietly steal sequences, assets or episodes before release, bypassing more heavily protected studio environments.
Could content delivery networks become a direct target? CDNs now carry unreleased episodes, game builds and live streams for many major entertainment brands, concentrating valuable content in a small number of providers. AI-enhanced attackers will be able to map CDN infrastructure more efficiently, locate where premium content resides and search for weak credentials or configuration errors. A single successful compromise could expose multiple titles at once or allow malicious code to be injected into legitimate streams.
How will generative tools change abuse patterns in games and fan communities? Players and power users will continue to jailbreak in-game AI companions and content editors, and to use external generative models to produce material that would normally be blocked – such as hyper-violent or sexualized scenarios – and then reimport it into games, mods, or fan videos. There is also a risk of personal data appearing in “creative” outputs if training or fine-tuning data is not properly cleaned, for example, when lyrics, dialogue, or imagery inadvertently include real names or other identifying details.
What role will regulation and compliance play for AI in creative work? Lawmakers and industry groups are moving toward rules that require transparency about AI-generated media and clearer consent and licensing practices for training on copyrighted material. Kaspersky expects this to drive the creation of new roles inside entertainment companies, similar to COVID-compliance managers on film sets, focused on AI governance: checking how AI tools are trained, how they are used in production and marketing, and whether they comply with contractual and legal requirements. T
he full set of AI and entertainment scenarios is available in the latest Kaspersky Security Bulletin.
Kaspersky recommends that organizations in the entertainment sector:
- Map where AI is used across ticketing, production, distribution and fan platforms, and include those systems in threat modeling and risk assessment.
- Strengthen security requirements and monitoring for VFX and post-production vendors, especially those using cloud-based or AI-assisted tools.
- Review CDN architectures and implement deeper anomaly detection for traffic and access patterns, including activity routed through trusted providers.
- Conduct security and privacy reviews of generative AI deployments in games, marketing and fan-facing services, with clear rules on training data, retention and allowed outputs.
