Impact of AI Algorithms on Hollywood Careers

Tyler Perry has decided to halt the planned $800 million expansion of his Atlanta studio, citing concerns over the rapid advancements in AI, particularly OpenAI’s text-to-video tool Sora. This decision reflects his apprehension about the potential impact of AI on the film industry, including the risk of job losses across various sectors, from actors to technical crews. Despite recognizing the utility of AI in filmmaking, such as aging himself in post-production and the possibility of creating sets through text, Perry emphasizes the need for regulations to protect jobs and maintain human involvement in the creative process. His concerns extend beyond the film industry, urging a comprehensive approach involving the entertainment industry, government, and other stakeholders to address the challenges posed by AI advancements. OpenAI’s Sora has sparked discussions about the realism of AI-generated videos and their potential to contribute to misinformation and disinformation. While Sora is only in its beta test phase, it’s clear that we are extremely close (months to a few years) away from AI-based applications that will enable users to simply describe the video they want to see and get usable results. I’m calling this “social production.” Whatever you think social media did to media, that’s what social production will do to production. People with absolutely no training in audio/video production will simply describe what they want to see and hear. AI will do the rest. Tyler Perry is right: the leap from professional production to social production will profoundly impact professional production companies. Consumer tastes will change, distribution will adapt, etc. Pausing this expansion is prescient because B2B AI tools (professional production tools enhanced by AI) are being incorporated into every workflow and process so quickly that it’s impossible to think that existing movie or video production methodologies won’t be radically changed over the next few years. Please note that I’m talking about movie and video production, not film and TV production; if you think of this story in the context of F/TV, you are looking at the future through a lens from the past. #TylerPerry #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #SocialProduction #TV 

One of the key unknowns about the effect of GenAI on Hollywood is whether established talent will embrace it. I believe they will for three reasons: historical precedent, the continued progression of creative control in AI, and, most important, the problems in Hollywood will push them that way.: * Many in Hollywood have spoken out against AI, but some high-profile writers, directors, and producers are publicly endorsing it, with many more privately experimenting. Over the next year, I expect many more to emerge. * There is a long history of creatives first rejecting new technologies as somehow undermining or bastardizing art, but then embracing them. In Hollywood, prior villains have included talkies, the DVD, and CGI. * The deep learning models that power GenAI are massive, opaque, and hard to control. But commercial AI video and tool providers and the open source community are working hard to give professionals the fine-grained control they need. A non-exhaustive list of these efforts includes: training models with a richer understanding of visual terminology for more precise prompting; enabling conditioning of video models with both images and video; post-generation editing tools; ControlNets; fine-tuning; node-based editors; keyframe interpolation; and integration into existing edit suites/API support, among others. * Perhaps most important, the challenges in Hollywood are inadvertently pushing creatives toward AI. With 2024 in the rearview mirror, it’s now clear that peak TV is truly over. Neither production activity nor spend bounced back from strike-depressed levels in 2023. From here, overall video content spend is unlikely to grow faster than video revenue—which is to say, not much. At the same time, rising sports rights and a mix shift toward acquireds will put even more pressure on original content. Tack on studios’ growing risk aversion and the path toward telling original stories in Hollywood is narrowing. * Many talk about AI as a democratizing technology, but for some established talent it may be a liberating technology too. * For a lot of people in Hollywood, AI still feels like a distant concern. As more talent embraces it, it will take on more urgency.  https://bit.ly/4c0Jx8x

The Hollywood writers strike isn’t just about traditional labor disputes like pay and benefits. It’s about artificial intelligence. AI has surged to the forefront of the picket line, and rightly so. If you provide writers with AI tools that help them do their jobs better and faster, you can have one or two writers—heck, even five writers—doing the job of 10. From a pragmatic standpoint, this could mean exponential productivity gains for these film studios. Considering executives get wild-eyed about productivity gains in the mere single digits, it’s safe to say this will have immense implications. Profits have the potential to go through the roof, and a lot of good writers will be out of work. Hollywood is absolutely right to be striking, but AI is pushing negotiations into uncharted territory. There’s its ability to replicate the voice and likeness of actors and create new content without compensation. Or for AI to generate entire scripts for blockbuster movies from scratch. We can’t deny what is happening, or how fast it’s coming. We can’t put the genie back inside the bottle. This is the sting of progress. What do you think? What responsibility do these studio heads have to their workforce? To their bottom line? To their writers? #FutureOfWork #ArtificialIntelligence #DigitalTransformation #Ethics 

I have said for at least a year that generative AI will heavily impact movie and TV production because the output of those industries is moving pictures and text, exactly what generative AI produces. This article suggests this impact might be happening faster than I thought. Generative AI “has already rendered dubbing and translation work nearly obsolete. Visual effects artists, perennially on the bleeding edge of new #technology for #Hollywood, are already working with #machinelearning and some generative #AI, particularly for pre-production visualizations and workflows. “From an artist’s perspective, we’re all trying to get ahead of the game and play with open source tools that are available,” said a cinematographer and director whose credits include The Mandalorian, Black Adam and Fallout. Jim Geduldick, a VFX supervisor and cinematographer has used AI to de-age its stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in an upcoming film (picture in post). He says: “Everybody’s using it. Everybody’s playing with it.” Geduldick “sees current generative AI models as more “assistive” than truly imitative of human art. “Are they implementing generative models that are going to speed up both the business and the #creative side of what we’re doing? Yes,” he said, “making pre-visualization cheaper and more efficient, streamlining tedious processes, shaping storyboard design.” “But I think that there is no generative model out there today that doesn’t get touched by artistic hands to get it to the next level. That is for the foreseeable future.” Geduldick is also a critic of #tech companies and their “lofty rhetoric, and soulless AI content produced for content’s sake.” He says they have “repeatedly shown in their public-facing interviews or marketing that there’s a disconnect [in] understanding what creatives actually do,” referring to OpenAI’s comment that generative AI might eliminate some creative jobs, “but maybe they shouldn’t have been there in the first place”. He says: “Film-making is a collaborative thing. You are hiring loads of talented #artists, technicians, craftspeople to come together and create this vision that the writers, director, showrunners and producers have thought up.” Other film-makers are using “generative AI as an anonymization device,” in documentaries, “to map actors’ faces over real subjects who faced harrowing violence.” Others do this for “the victims of nonconsensual, deepfake pornography.” For industries that aren’t selling moving pictures or text, the impact of generative AI will be much smaller. Although it will be used for making video ads, generative AI will probably not have a big impact on the productivity of companies manufacturing products, constructing buildings, mining minerals, raising or catching fish, producing or distributing energy, or even offering healthcare. #technology #innovation #startups #artificialintelligence https://lnkd.in/gqMA8zbB

Didn’t expect Ben Affleck to deliver the most articulate and realistic breakdown of where video models and Hollywood are heading. "Craft is knowing how to work. Art is knowing when to stop.” - “a library of vectors of meaning, and transformers that interpret context.” Damn, the man's got depth! (And yeah, now I get why he and J.Lo didn’t work the first time around… gossip alert, thanks for indulging me, it is Saturday). Just found out that he also predicted Spotify and Netflix back in 2003! (https://lnkd.in/g4eWEeFT) Yes, current AI models leverage existing patterns but while his short-term take makes sense, in a mid-long term, if we think ahead, studios will buy rights to actors' voices and likenesses. They'll just need writers, acting coaches, and prompt engineers. Next phase? 100% AI-generated actors. In-person performers (remember the actors' strike year also because of AI and background actors). Live musicians, sports stars, stand-up comedians will be fine because they bring something live and tangible. But screen performers will be squeezed out by extreme market pressure from AI-generated content. Only a handful of A-listers who license out their likenesses will thrive. AI won’t just emulate humans; it will learn from multiple models and allow anyone to create Shakespearean-level works—without a single human thespian involved. If that happens, human culture essentially stops evolving and becomes frozen in time, transitioning into AI culture. The only survivors? Anything live. Stage acting, sports, stand-up comedy, podcasts, and live arts will thrive because people crave authenticity in a world flooded with AI-generated content. Affleck spoke about a “meaningful period of time” before AI takes over. I’m not sure how long that’ll play out, but considering the maturity of the tech, adoption, and commercialization, we’re likely within that “meaningful” window already. AI-generated content will probably be “good enough” for 95% of people—just like music streaming has become sufficient for most listeners. It’s sad because quality still matters but unfortunately, most people will always take quantity over quality. Movies and shows as we know them will likely be decentralized, moving away from Hollywood’s traditional structures. Can’t say we’d lose much by losing Hollywood actors (sorry it is Saturday). One big question is whether indies will embrace it, or try to regulate it out of existence. If it's the latter, it'll end up primarily in the hands of large companies and studios. If the former, it'll enable small productions to take on more than they ever could before. #ArtificialIntelligence #AIandCreativity #FutureOfArt #TechAndCulture #StreamingRevolution #ContentCreation #MediaInnovation

Tyler Perry has just validated Hollywood's deepest fears about AI—and this is only the beginning. He's halting an $800 million studio expansion due to the advancements observed from OpenAI's Sora, a hyper-realistic text-to-video model unveiled last week. Perry envisions a future where physical travel and set construction are obsolete, thanks to AI's capabilities. He's already integrating this technology into his projects, using AI for aging effects instead of enduring hours in the makeup chair. This situation presents a paradox. For the business-minded, this technology boosts the bottom line. For the heart-centric creator, it threatens individual livelihoods and the industry that built you. On ethics and regulation, Perry stresses the need for collective action among unions from various industries. I believe a more immediate change will stem from leadership decisions, focusing not only on what's possible but also on what's ethical. Consider the comparison between fast fashion and eco-friendly fashion. One is clearly cheaper, but do we really want to support it when it's unethical, taking advantage of people, and not aligned with our values? No. Addressing AI's role in creative processes will, however, require answering significant questions about the value and necessity of human participation. So, as Hollywood, along with other industries, continues to streamline and reduce costs, it's also a call to action for contractors and 'non-decision makers' to decide on what YOU can control: - Remain inquisitive - Be proactive about learning about disruptive tech including AI - Lean on your community - Prioritize your mental health during uncertain times Where do you stand on this? How are you feeling? Would love to know your thoughts!

No crew. No actors. No VFX. Just the raw power of AI. A Hollywood director just made an entire short film without touching a camera. Every shot of Jason Zada 's film, The Heist is made using #Google Veo 2’s text-to-video technology. While the film has its imperfections, what's remarkable is how it opens up new possibilities for storytellers. Not everyone can do this. Creating a video like this (even considering its imperfections and issues) requires both directorial vision and clarity of thought to then blend it with the technical expertise to write precise prompts. The imperfections will be ironed out as these models also improve and mature. But the takeaway here isn't about AI replacing everything, or as most comments point out — the flaws and how AI will never replace human creativity. The real takeaway is that for all its smartness and 'intelligence', AI still requires human creativity. Be it creating a film like this, thinking of a concept, or getting AI to improve existing work — we'll always need the human mind's ability to analyse, maintain context, and build something truly useful, beyond just fun demos or trivial smartphone image editing. However, the thing to consider very seriously is that AI isn’t a passing fad. It is here and it is not going anywhere. The sooner we open up our minds and accept it, adapt to it and use it in our current professions to be more efficient, the better. Does this make you excited or concerned about the future of creative expression? Video Credits: Jason Zada #AI #Filmmaking #Directors #GoogleVeo #Storytelling

🤖🎥 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗔𝗜’𝘀 𝗦𝗢𝗥𝗔 text-to-video technology, directed by Paul Trillo for indie pop artist Washed Out's new song "The Hardest Part," marks a significant leap in how we conceive and produce visual media. Director Paul Trillo developed a concept involving an infinite zoom through a couple's various life stages without using real actors. He generates scenes directly from detailed narrative descriptions while blending reality with a surreal, dream-like quality and seamlessly transitioning 55 clips/scenes. According to the band, the visuals were designed to match the emotional depth of the song. Links to articles about the process are in the comments. 🤔 What do you think? Does it look very '𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚' to you or could have it been produced on a sound stage with real actors? Does it carry the "emotional depth" it intended? This pioneering use of AI in filmmaking exemplifies both the potential and the challenges of integrating advanced technologies in creative industries. Here are the key takeaways: — 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀: Filmmakers and artists can now bring to life visuals that were previously constrained by budget, physical logistics, and the limitations of traditional special effects. It could spawn entirely new industries based on the new capabilities of this technology. — 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘀: The increasing use of AI poses questions about job displacement in traditional roles, including those of actors and location scouts, and the ethical considerations of AI-generated content that may blur lines between reality and fiction, or generate biased depictions of people. 🤔 How do you see AI impacting filmmaking or the arts, in general? #VFX #GenerativeAI #DeepLearning #Creativity