Comcast logo on the wall of a building at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, July 18, 2019.
Roberto Machado Noa | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Analysts think Comcast is priming for deals. Comcast leadership says they’re wrong.
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The company announced Monday it plans to separate its two primary businesses — cable broadband and the media units of NBCUniversal and Sky. It’s the second major structural change for the decades-old company in recent months, and it’s raising questions of potential future deals for either half of the company.
But on a call with investors to discuss the split, Comcast executives came ready with cold water:
“Absolutely not,” Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts said Monday, when asked if investors should view the separation as a potential setup for future deals.
Roberts, son of founder Ralph Roberts and Comcast’s controlling shareholder, won’t be CEO of either company after the separation but will continue to be “actively involved” in the leadership of both companies, Comcast said.
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“This is the right move to put each company in the strongest position to create value, fully monetize its assets, and aggressively pursue its own organic growth strategies,” Roberts said.
Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh echoed that denial: “On the NBCUniversal side and [with] Sky, definitely not.”
A reason Comcast is squashing deal speculation? There may not be many good ones left.
Splitting before M&A
Wall Street and industry onlookers have called for a split of Comcast for years, motivated by the rise of streaming and severe competition in the media industry.
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While company leaders have discussed a separation at various points since at least 2019, executives have never seriously considered it until now, according to a person close to the situation who spoke anonymously due to the private nature of the discussions.
When Comcast decided to siphon off its cable TV networks into a separate publicly traded company less than two years ago — the spinoff that would ultimately become CNBC-parent Versant Media Group — the prospect of carving out NBCUniversal as a whole never came up, the person said.
Instead, the move to sever NBCUniversal and Sky from the Xfinity cable business came together rather quickly in recent months, the person said.
Wall Street just witnessed a large media deal following an announced spin, noted Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester. Before Warner Bros. Discovery launched a sale process that resulted in dueling bids from Netflix and Paramount Skydance, WBD said it planned to separate its assets into two companies.
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“Comcast is following a playbook we have already seen. Warner Bros. Discovery split itself apart as it moved into a deal with Paramount. Now Comcast is doing the same with NBCUniversal. History matters here because Peacock increases NBCUniversal’s acquisition potential,” said Proulx.
Michael Angelakis (L), vice chairman and chief financial officer of Comcast Corp. and Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast Corp., attend the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 9, 2014 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
It comes against the backdrop of widespread consolidation. Paramount Skydance itself is the product of a merger that closed just about a year ago. Soon after closing, it fought off streaming giant Netflix for the WBD assets.
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Smaller deals have come to market too, as the media industry grapples with shifting consumption habits. Earlier this month Fox agreed to buy streaming platform company Roku for $22 billion. And broadcast station owners have been desperate to combine to gain scale.
With the exception of bidding on WBD, Comcast has stayed away from M&A and has focused on its own businesses.
“There’s no surprise that both the media and telecom landscapes have become increasingly competitive and that pace of change continues to accelerate. We simply don’t see these conditions changing anytime soon,” Cavanagh said on Monday’s call.
Cavanagh will be CEO of the media businesses post-spin, Comcast said.
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“Our plan for NBCUniversal and Sky is to build and invest for growth. We have the ambition that’s big to pursue opportunities that keep us ahead of evolving consumer behavior and audience demands, and we have the freedom now to explore adjacent business where we have the right to play,” Cavanagh said.
Deal hurdles
The motivation behind splitting a company apart is often to open up more deal opportunities. Still, it’s not clear what deals the newly created company of NBCUniversal and Sky assets could explore without serious regulatory challenges.
For one, housing broadcast network NBC creates various obstacles. The company wouldn’t be able to merge with a company that has another national network, effectively taking Disney, the owner of ABC, and Paramount Skydance, owner of CBS off the table.
Even eliminating the broadcasters from the equation, a deal with Paramount Skydance — which has been on something of a shopping spree under new CEO David Ellison — would be a stretch following the completion of its deal with WBD.
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Fox, the remaining major player in linear TV, has stayed away from traditional media after hiving off its entertainment assets years ago and likely doesn’t have the appetite for another deal after its Roku agreement.
But Netflix’s interest in WBD was in its film studio and streaming assets, casting aside WBD’s linear networks. Even with major sports properties like the NFL’s Sunday Ticket, the NBA and other top film content, it’s hard to imagine Netflix would make such a shift and get into linear TV via a hypothetical deal with NBCUniversal.
That leaves little else on the table when it comes to media deals, with the largest players all pretty much spoken for. Comcast didn’t specify Monday what it expects either company to be valued at post-spin, but between the Universal theme parks business, a substantial, albeit small, streamer and a respected content library, NBCUniversal would likely be too large for a smaller player to swallow.
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On the cable side, it may be a similar scenario.
Cord keepers
A Comcast Xfinity work truck is seen on April 23, 2026 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
The remaining Comcast assets after the spin off — broadband, mobile and pay TV under the Xfinity brand — have gone from gangbusters growth to stagnation and often quarterly losses of broadband customers as competition has ramped up from wireless and satellite providers.
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The market immediately rewarded the stock of Charter Communications, another cable giant in the midst of completing a different acquisition, on Monday after Comcast’s announcement.
Charter shares soared 10%, signaling investors could be favoring a possible Comcast and Charter merger, tying up the two largest U.S. cable companies.
Charter and Comcast have both invested heavily in their broadband networks and mobile businesses, even as competition has intensified. They are part of a joint venture in which Charter cable TV customers can use Comcast’s Xumo streaming devices.
They’ve also each aggressively changed pricing packages to go after and retain customers. But such moves have done little for either stock price.
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There’s some historical precedent driving Wall Street’s anticipation of a potential deal. Comcast attempted to acquire Time Warner Cable in 2014. When Comcast dropped its bid amid regulatory opposition, Charter scooped up the asset — then the nation’s second-largest U.S. provider. The majority of modern-day Charter used to be Time Warner Cable.
Still, there’s reason for skepticism, according to MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett. The Department of Justice had been prepared to block a Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal. Even if a hypothetical Comcast-Charter deal got federal approval, it would need state-by-state acceptance, which may not be easy in Democrat-controlled states such as Massachusetts, Illinois and Maryland, Moffett said in an interview.
“You’d have to go through a gauntlet of individual state public service commissions,” Moffett said. “There would likely be pretty staunch opposition in blue states that are traditionally opposed to mergers like this.”
There’s also the enormous debt load that would come with such a combination, according to the person close to the matter.
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Charter is in the midst of closing its merger with Cox, which would leave it with a debt load of more than $100 billion after taking on Cox’s debt. Assuming Comcast shoulders much of the debt load post-spin in a move to alleviate NBCUniversal — a hallmark of the Versant spinoff was a low amount of debt on the new company — combining the two cable companies would create a hefty debt burden, the person said.
There are also strategic questions about a Charter-Comcast deal. In 2014, when Comcast tried to buy Time Warner Cable, one of the driving forces of that transaction was the ability to gain leverage over media programmers in TV carriage disputes by adding subscribers. More than a decade later, the cable TV business has become a far smaller component of both Charter and Comcast, diminishing the value of this potential synergy.
There are few broadband synergies by simply owning more customers, Moffett said. Cable businesses are local operations that are largely unaffected by adding scale, he said.
“Your cost structure in Chicago isn’t meaningfully affected if you own systems in North Carolina,” Moffett said.
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To be sure, former Comcast chief financial officer and incoming CEO of the cable assets post-spin, Michael Angelakis, said Monday he believes the company has the network assets it needs to compete.
Future transactions
Rather than an immediate transaction, Comcast may be looking years ahead.
“It may not be imminent. But I think it probably sets the stage on the M&A front,” said Jonathan Miller, a media industry veteran, who currently serves as chief executive of Integrated Media, which specializes in digital media investments.
“This is literally done for the purpose of having more optionality around different opportunities,” Miller added.
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Timing of a future deal may also come down to technicalities. Comcast estimated a one-year timeline to close the split. After that, standard U.S. tax regulation compels potential acquiring companies to wait even longer before acquiring a recently spun-off target. However, depending on details such as the kind of deal and timing, there are varying degrees to just how long a company has to wait, the person familiar said.
Disclosure: Versant Media Group is the parent company of CNBC.
LONDON/MUMBAI: Shares of NRI billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources on Friday plunged 5.59 per cent on the London Stock Exchange amid talk that it may acquire a majority stake in the Indian arm of Cairn Energy.
In the late afternoon session, the scrip was being traded at 20.61 pounds, down by 5.50 per cent on the LSE. Vedanta opened on a positive note, but soon swung into the red.
The broader market was also weak and the benchmark FTSE 100 was trading at 5,248.95, down 0.32 per cent in the late afternoon session.
On the other hand, Cairn Energy Plc climbed 1.41 per cent and was being quoted at 4.59 pounds on the LSE.
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In India too, Vedanta Group firm Sterlite Industries sank by over 4 per cent to close at Rs 160.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Sterlite was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack today.
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In contrast, Cairn Energy Plc’s Indian arm, Cairn India, surged by over 5 per cent to hit its highest-ever level of Rs 358 on the BSE. The scrip ended with a gain of 355.45, up 4.36 per cent. Vedanta Resources Plc is in talks to acquire a majority 51 per cent stake in Cairn India for about USD 8-8.5 billion (nearly Rs 40,000 crore) and a deal may be announced on Sunday evening or Monday.Scottish explorer Cairn Energy Plc, which holds a 62.37 per cent stake in India-listed Cairn India, is seeking up to a 20 per cent premium for passing on the controlling stake, two persons in-the-know of the development said.
Agarwal “is meeting Cairn Energy Plc Chief Executive Bill Gammell in London today and the deal is likely to be announced as early as Sunday evening or on Monday,” one of them said.
The deal will be contingent on government approval, as Cairn’s three producing oil and gas assets, including the giant Rajasthan fields, and seven exploration blocks either have explicit provisions for seeking prior approval before the transfer of interest or gives pre-emption, or the right of first refusal, on any shares being sold to partners like ONGC.
I spent 30 years in the institutional trenches as a trader, analyst, and portfolio manager, eventually running the equity trading desk at Northern Trust in Chicago. Those decades shaped my approach: stay disciplined, trust the data, and keep emotion out of the way. Since 2009, when I began publishing my stock selections, my portfolio has delivered solid long term results—compounding in the mid teens annually through 2025. Today I’m a private investor and investing coach, with a rules based framework that helps people build better portfolios. My work focuses on systematic thinking, behavioral awareness, and evidence over opinion. For my market outlook and model portfolio updates, visit zeninvestor.org. .
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of NVDA, AVGO, SNDK either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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Wall Street’s major market averages drifted lower on Friday despite a rally from Amazon’s strong quarterly results. Shares of Amazon (AMZN) are +13.3% after the e-commerce giant reported second-quarter revenue of $200.6B, topping analysts’ estimates of $197B, driven by strong growth in its North America business.
The coming week will see a slew of economic data releases, beginning with S&P Global manufacturing PMI data for July, ISM manufacturing PMI, and prices for July on Monday. JOLTS job openings data will be released on Tuesday, followed by S&P Global services PMI, ISM non-manufacturing PMI, and ISM non-manufacturing prices for July on Wednesday. Initial jobless claims data is due on Thursday, while nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate for July will be out on Friday.
SpaceX (SPCX) will report its first earnings as a public company next week. Other companies reporting during the week are AMD (AMD), Merck (MRK), Pfizer (PFE), and Eli Lilly (LLY).
Volatility watch: Sandisk (SNDK) and Amylyx Pharmaceuticals (AMLX) have seen options volatility increase over the last week. The most overbought stocks per their 14-day relative strength index
MUMBAI: Shares of Cairn India Ltd on Friday climbed over 5 per cent to hit a record high of Rs 358 on the BSE amid reports that Vedanta Resources is in talks to buy a majority stake in the subsidiary of UK-based Cairn Energy.
The scrip, which was flat for most of the session, shot up in the final hour of trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange to settle with a net gain of 4.36 per cent at Rs 355.45.
Analysts said the stock zoomed on reports that Vedanta is in talks to buy a 51 per cent stake in Cairn India from its parent firm, Cairn Energy, which holds a 62.4 per cent stake. The deal size is estimated to be between USD 8-8.5 billion.
“The deal is positive for the stock, as even the lower- end of the deal ($8 billion) will value Cairn India at USD 15.7 billion compared to the current market cap of $14.4 billion,” Elara Securities analyst Alok Deshpande said.
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“In the short term, we expect the stock to rally towards the deal valuation upon the official announcement, which is expected on August 16, according to media reports,” he added.
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Cairn India’s parent company, Cairn Energy Plc, also zoomed nearly 2 per cent on the London Stock Exchange and was being quoted at 4.61 pounds in late afternoon trade. In contrast, NRI billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources Plc plunged by 5.5 per cent to 20.61 pounds on the LSE.In addition, Sterlite Industries, a Vedanta Group firm, sank by over 4 per cent to close at Rs 160.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Sterlite was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack today.
“If the deal happens, it is obvious that Vedanta is planning to be a long-term investor. In that case, we feel the deal valuation is fair, considering our expectations of a reserve upside from other Rajasthan fields in some time in the future,” Deshpande said.
The Milwaukee Brewers made their latest move ahead of Major League Baseball’s trade deadline Saturday, sending reliever Craig Yoho and outfielder Blake Perkins to the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for catcher Bo Naylor and pitcher Codi Heuer.
Brewers President of Baseball Operations Matt Arnold completed the deal early Saturday morning, adding another transaction to Milwaukee’s busy stretch of trade deadline activity with just a few days remaining before the deadline closes. The trade came as something of a surprise given that catcher had not previously been viewed as a position the Brewers needed to address, with veteran Gary Sánchez having served as the team’s backup catcher for the entirety of the season and posting a strong 118 OPS+ in that role. Sánchez has been particularly effective against left-handed pitching, hitting .274 with an .878 OPS in matchups against lefties this season.
Naylor, by contrast, has struggled offensively at the major league level this season, hitting .143 with a .438 OPS and a 23 OPS+. The 26-year-old was optioned to the minor leagues earlier this season and had accumulated just 84 at-bats at the big-league level before the trade. Despite his struggles this year, Naylor carries more than 1,000 career major league at-bats and has hit 40 career home runs, giving him a more extensive track record than his current-season numbers alone would suggest.
Given Naylor’s offensive struggles relative to Sánchez’s production this season, the trade initially appears to represent a downgrade at the position on paper. According to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the addition of Naylor could open the door for the Brewers to move Sánchez in a separate trade before the deadline passes, suggesting Saturday’s deal may be connected to broader roster maneuvering the front office has planned for the position rather than representing the full scope of Milwaukee’s catching plans for the stretch run.
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The trade also included the departure of Perkins, who had clearly fallen out of favor within the organization over the course of the season. Perkins lost his spot on the major league roster on multiple occasions this year amid ongoing offensive struggles at the plate. He had retained some support from Brewers manager Pat Murphy despite those struggles, but with limited offensive production, Perkins had few remaining paths to consistent big-league playing time heading into the trade.
Perkins’s inclusion in the deal allowed the Brewers to also acquire Heuer, a journeyman relief pitcher who has posted largely mediocre results in his limited major league appearances this season, carrying a 4.66 ERA at the big-league level. Heuer has spent the majority of the current season pitching at the Triple-A level, where his performance has been notably stronger, posting a 3.46 ERA in that role.
Both Naylor and Heuer are being assigned to Triple-A Nashville upon joining the Brewers organization, meaning Milwaukee effectively traded two players who had been contributing directly to its major league roster depth in exchange for two players who will begin their tenure with the organization at the Triple-A level. That structure has left some analysts characterizing the trade as somewhat puzzling when viewed in isolation, since it does not appear likely to meaningfully upgrade Milwaukee’s current major league roster on its own. The deal is widely viewed as more likely a precursor to additional moves the Brewers front office plans to make before the trade deadline closes, rather than a standalone transaction intended to directly address an immediate roster need.
Saturday’s trade extends a busy stretch of activity for Milwaukee’s front office as the deadline approaches. The Brewers had previously acquired pitchers Lance McCullers Jr. and Colton Gordon in a trade with the Houston Astros earlier in July, adding to a series of moves aimed at bolstering the team’s roster ahead of the postseason push. Milwaukee entered the weekend with a strong 67-41 record, positioning the team among the league’s contenders as the deadline approaches.
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Both Yoho and Perkins had spent time as part of Milwaukee’s major league roster depth this season, with Yoho working out of the bullpen and Perkins serving in an outfield role, before their departures as part of Saturday’s trade with Cleveland. Neither player had established themselves as a clear long-term fixture on the Brewers roster heading into the trade, a dynamic that likely factored into the front office’s willingness to include both players in the package sent to Cleveland in exchange for Naylor and Heuer.
With Milwaukee’s front office having already been active throughout the month of July and the trade deadline still several days away, additional moves from the Brewers front office remain a distinct possibility as the team continues working to reshape its roster ahead of the stretch run, particularly given the suggestion that Saturday’s acquisition of Naylor could set the stage for a separate trade involving Sánchez before the deadline period concludes.
Arcadis NV (ARCAY) Q2 2026 Earnings Call July 30, 2026 8:00 AM EDT
Company Participants
Christine Disch – Head of Investor Relations Heather Polinsky – Chair of the Executive Board & CEO Simon Crowe – CFO & Member of Executive Board
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Conference Call Participants
Martijn den Drijver – ABN AMRO Bank N.V., Research Division Luuk Van Beek – Banque Degroof Petercam S.A., Research Division Natasha Brilliant – UBS Investment Bank, Research Division Simon Van Oppen – Kepler Cheuvreux, Research Division Kristof Samoy – KBC Securities NV, Research Division Chase Coughlan – Kempen & Co. N.V., Research Division Maarten Verbeek – The Idea-Driven Equities Analyses Company Dirk Verbiesen – ING Groep N.V., Research Division
Presentation
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Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Gailey, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Arcadis conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the second quarter and first half 2026 results. [Operator Instructions]
At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Christine Disch, Investor Relations Director. Ms. Disch, you may now proceed.
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Christine Disch Head of Investor Relations
Thank you, Gailey. Good day, everyone, and welcome to our half year and second quarter 2026 results con call. My name is Christine Disch, and I’m the Investor Relations Director here at Arcadis. With me on this call are CEO, Heather Polinsky; and our CFO, Simon Crowe. We would like to start with the presentation. And as usual, this will be followed by Q&A. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that in today’s session, management may reiterate forward-looking statements, which were made in the press release. Please note that the risks to these statements are described on the press release itself and on the company’s website.
The Old Fox of Dalal Street has been on a dream run since the past couple of weeks. On Friday, most stocks that he had been steadily building up positions in figured among key gainers of the day. State Bank of India shares hit a new peak of Rs 2,879.95, before closing at Rs 2,849.40, up 2.35% over the previous close.
SpiceJet hit a 52-week high of Rs 68.45 before closing at Rs 66.05, up 8% over the previous close. Bombay Dyeing hit a 52-week high of Rs 684.85 before closing at Rs 661.55, up 12% over its previous close. Godrej Properties rose 3% to close at Rs 776.40. It remains to be seen, if the Fox will make a quiet exit when the going is good, or hang in there for bigger profits.
A new quadruped robot from Chinese robotics company Unitree has gone viral online, drawing widespread attention for its ability to navigate rough terrain, water and steep cliffs without remote control, while also unsettling some viewers who compare its fluid, autonomous movements to dystopian technology depicted in shows like “Black Mirror.”
The robot, officially named the AS2-W and marketed by Unitree under the “Super Athlete” branding, weighs roughly 50 to 55 pounds, according to reporting from Core77 and AOL, and can carry more than double its own weight in cargo, making it a candidate for tasks such as cargo transport, scientific fieldwork and search-and-rescue operations. NBC News correspondent Priscilla Thompson reported on the viral footage in a segment examining both the technology’s capabilities and the public reaction it has generated.
What distinguishes the AS2-W from earlier generations of similar robots is its autonomous navigation system. Rather than requiring a human operator to steer the machine around obstacles in real time, the robot gathers environmental data continuously and adjusts its movements independently as it encounters new terrain, according to AOL’s reporting. That represents a significant technical shift from prior robot generations, which typically required constant human guidance to navigate unpredictable or changing surroundings.
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Video footage released by Unitree shows the robot traversing steep cliffs, streams and rocky, uneven paths with a level of fluidity and balance that outside observers have described as strikingly lifelike. According to QNC News, the robot appears to make dynamic, real-time adjustments to its gait and balance as the terrain shifts beneath it, recovering from stumbles and adjusting its footing on loose gravel in ways that allow it to maintain forward momentum across obstacles that would have stopped earlier robot models entirely. Robotics observers have attributed those capabilities to advances in sensor technology, artificial intelligence processing and mechanical design that let the machine respond dynamically to its surroundings rather than simply executing a set of predetermined instructions.
Unitree has positioned several practical applications for the technology, emphasizing its potential use in cargo transport, scientific expeditions and search-and-rescue missions in difficult, rugged terrain where human access might otherwise prove dangerous or impractical. The company is also promoting the robot as a potential hiking companion capable of carrying a hiker’s gear across challenging trail conditions.
The online reaction to the viral footage has been sharply divided. Some viewers have expressed genuine unease at the robot’s autonomous, fluid movement, drawing comparisons to dystopian robotic technology portrayed in science fiction media. One commenter reacting to the footage on social media, described as a former infantry soldier, said he would not want to encounter the robot on a battlefield, according to AOL’s reporting. Other viewers have responded with humor, joking about robot uprisings and doomsday scenarios rather than expressing genuine concern.
Other reactions have leaned considerably more positive, with some commenters emphasizing the robot’s potential humanitarian applications over any perceived threat. One social media user, responding directly to the concerns raised by other viewers, argued that the robot’s search-and-rescue potential outweighed any unease, noting that there are far more real-world incidents where a capability like this could prove useful than situations requiring military application.
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Unitree has attempted to soften the robot’s public image in some of its promotional material. Rather than showcasing the machine performing more aggressive, martial arts-style movements, as some of the company’s bipedal humanoid robots have done in past demonstrations, the AS2-W is shown breakdancing in certain footage, a stylistic choice that appears intended to emphasize the robot’s friendlier, non-threatening character.
No official retail price has been listed on Unitree’s website for the AS2-W, though the device is rumored to sell for approximately $40,000, according to Boing Boing’s reporting, a price point roughly half that of Boston Dynamics’ comparable Spot robot, though still a substantial cost for a machine primarily marketed as a cargo-carrying companion.
The viral attention surrounding the AS2-W arrives amid broader, rapid advances across the humanoid and quadruped robotics industry, driven substantially by improvements in AI-based training techniques that allow robots to learn complex movement patterns more efficiently than through traditional, manually programmed instructions. Even so, not every recent robotics demonstration has gone smoothly. The industry has also seen a number of high-profile failures in recent months, including instances of humanoid robots tripping during public demonstrations or behaving unpredictably around nearby people, incidents that have tempered some of the broader enthusiasm surrounding the pace of robotics development.
Despite the rapid technical progress on display in Unitree’s latest footage, robotics experts have continued to emphasize that humanoid and quadruped robots remain far from a stage where they could be safely and reliably integrated into everyday home environments for routine daily tasks. The current generation of advanced robots, including the AS2-W, remains largely oriented toward specialized commercial, industrial and outdoor applications rather than general household use, even as companies like Unitree continue pushing the underlying technology’s capabilities forward at a pace that has repeatedly surprised industry observers.
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This is not Unitree’s first viral moment. The Chinese robotics company, which has previously demonstrated products at high-profile Chinese cultural events including the 2021 CCTV Spring Festival Gala and the 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, has built a reputation over recent years for releasing striking demonstration videos that consistently draw significant public attention, both from enthusiasts impressed by the technology’s rapid advancement and from viewers who find the machines’ increasingly lifelike movements unsettling.
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