TWhile last year’s Hollywood writers and actors strike was about a variety of factors, among them fair pay and back pay, one concern far outweighed the others. It was a breach of a type of generative AI that can generate text, images, and video. people’s lives. It was a foregone conclusion that we would use generative AI in the content we watch, from movies to television to tons of trash on the internet. Pandora’s box has been opened. But the cry at the time was that even with a three-year contract, this technology was developed, deployed and deployed so quickly that protections were ensured against companies using AI to cut corners. If they did, it would be a victory.
It was no fuss. In the mere months since the Writers Guild and Actors Guild signed a historic deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the average social media user has almost certainly become aware of AI, whether they realize it or not. You will have encountered the generated material. Efforts to curb celebrity porn AI deepfakes have even reached the notoriously recalcitrant and insensitive US Congress. The internet is currently rife with misinformation and conspiracies, and with the presence of generative AI; Tore what was left of our shared reality to shreds., Kate Middleton’s AI deepfake video seemed like a not-unreasonable conclusion to many. (For the record, it was real.) Hollywood executives are already testing OpenAI’s upcoming text-to-video program, Sora, and producer Tyler Perry said: canceling his studio’s $800 million expansion Because “jobs will be lost” in Atlanta.
In short, many people are scared, or at best wary, and with good reason. That’s all the more reason to focus on the small battles over AI, rather than through an apocalyptic lens. Because amidst all the big talk about Taylor Swift deepfakes and the potential job apocalypse, generative AI is creeping into movies and TV in small ways, some potentially creative, some latent. Because it’s unlucky. In recent weeks alone, many examples of AI being used legally in and around creative projects have tested what audiences pay attention to and receive, and what is ethically acceptable. We are investigating.
