July 8 (Reuters) - Skydance Media CEO David Ellison

sketched out a vision on Monday for Paramount Global ( PARAA ) as

a technology-media hybrid company at a time Hollywood has been

competing for attention with tech giants moving into the

entertainment business.

In an hour-long presentation to the financial community

following the announcement of a merger agreement with Paramount,

Ellison invoked Steve Jobs, describing the late Apple ( AAPL )

co-founder and Pixar Animation Studios leader as a mentor who

informed Ellison's view of the relationship between art and

technology.

"The art challenges the technology and the technology

challenges the art," said Ellison, recalling a favorite Jobs

quote. "We believe that understanding of the symbiotic

relationship between art and technology is essential to be able

to meet this moment."

A "key thesis" behind the merger of Skydance, a media

company launched in 2010 to capitalize on the rise of streaming

media, with the century-old Paramount whose roots extend into

the silent film era, is to position the company to better meet

the demands of a changed market. Ellison discussed making

changes to the Paramount+ streaming service and hinted at using

artificial intelligence.

"There are a lot of technology companies that are rapidly

expanding into media," said Ellison. "We believe it is essential

for Paramount to be able to expand its technology prowess, to be

both a media and technology enterprise."

Ellison told investors he would work to improve the

algorithmic recommendation engines that Paramount+ uses, hoping

subscribers will spend more time on the streaming service and

that fewer will cancel.

He also proposed upgrading the advertising technology to

give marketers more information about which audiences they

reach.

A slide deck accompanying the investor call described how

artificial intelligence would "turbocharge content creation" and

help drive "efficiencies" and streamline operations.

"One of the things that people are underestimating" about

Ellison "is his sense of tech, compared to some of the other

guys ... maybe with his father's help or just his upbringing,"

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel said in an April interview with

Reuters. Ellison's father is Oracle co-founder Larry

Ellison.

PARTNERSHIP WITH ORACLE

Ellison's tech pedigree factored into the decision by

Paramount controlling shareholder Shari Redstone to strike a

deal with Skydance, a longtime production partner of Paramount,

according to a source familiar with the discussions.

"Skydance is well aware of what we have accomplished over

the years and it is for that reason that they have pursued a

combination with Paramount," Redstone wrote in a note, seen by

Reuters, to Paramount's employees on Sunday night after the

merger was announced.

"They have a clear strategic vision for the future and the

resources to build on Paramount Global's ( PARAA ) competitive advantages

to drive the company's success."

Ellison described how Skydance worked in partnership with

Oracle to create a cloud-based animation studio. Skydance used

this "studio in the cloud" to produce part of "Spellbound," an

animated film scheduled to be released this fall on Netflix ( NFLX )

. He said the approach increased efficiency and reduced

costs.

"We intend to scale that business across all of our

production workflows and animation," said Ellison.

Tech is also at the core of storytelling at Skydance's two

interactive games teams, a virtual reality development studio

behind "The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners" and an interactive

group partnered with Walt Disney ( DIS ) and Marvel to produce

the forthcoming title, "Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra."

Ellison is using AI in a way that he described as "really

pushing the boundaries of what's possible in game-play."

Jeff Shell, the former NBCUniversal chief executive who will

join the newly merged company as president, told Reuters Ellison

is well equipped to help navigate the entertainment industry's

technological change, "as somebody who writes scripts and is in

table reads and was an actor at one point and also, by the way,

can code."

"David is one of one," said Shell. "And he's going to define

... the identity of new Paramount."

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by David

Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)