Is Hollywood “cooked”? Do video generating AI models mean its “over” for filmmakers? The jury’s out on that. But according to one Hollywood insider, the whole industry is “lying” about how much AI they’re using.
“The thing with AI right now in Hollywood: Everyone’s lying just a little bit,” Janice Min, a former editor of Hollywood Reporter and CEO of cinema industry media group Ankler Media, told Business Insider in a new interview. “Studios are lying about how much they’re using it.”
When the interviewer asked if that meant studios are using AI more or using it less, she clarified: “Using it more.”
“Companies are lying about the capability of their products. And for creative people, they’re lying about the fact that they’re not using it,” Min continued. “I dare you to find a screenwriter who is staring at a blank page and not talking to Claude or ChatGPT at the same time.”
Last year, the Oscar-winning film “The Brutalist” became the center of controversy after its director Brady Corbet confirmed that AI was used to help enhance the Hungarian accents of lead actors Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones. But according to Min, this wasn’t an exceptional case.
“This year, it is crickets,” she said of the lack of AI controversy. “Even the Academy, the most precious, legacy-protecting institution in Hollywood, has not come out in a really firm way about AI. They basically have a don’t ask, don’t tell policy. I would say with some certainty that every single best picture nominee this year has used AI in its production process.”
It’s worth taking these claims with some skepticism. To be sure, Hollywood studios are probably using some form of “AI” in post-production, especially in applications like visual effects. But AI could describe a multitude of tools that aren’t necessarily generative AI, and are merely powerful algorithms that have been around long before ChatGPT and image or video generators became a phenomenon.
Artists also tend to be ardently against AI, perhaps more so than any other field or demographic. AI protections were a major factor in the 2023 strikes led by actors and screenwriters that were some of the longest in Hollywood history. That makes it hard to believe that most screenwriters are using AI chatbots.
Moreover, it’s the same alarmist narratives being pushed by AI boosters, who see it as a cause of celebration rather than concern. Every minute there’s a new AI-generated video being cranked out with the video generator du jour — right now it’s Seedance 2.0 — featuring deepfaked celebrities, usually accompanied with the common refrain that “Hollywood is cooked.”
But like many displays in the AI industry, many of these tend to be theater. That viral AI video of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting on a rooftop that had credulous Marvel screenwriters quivering in their boots and AI bros prematurely dancing on actors’ graves? It turned out to just be a digital reskin of a video of two flesh and blood humans fighting in front of a green screen. The only thing that’s “cooked,” maybe, are the brains of people that believe every claim that comes out of AI circles.
More on AI: OpenAI’s Hardware Device Just Leaked, and You Will Cringe
The post Hollywood Is Lying to Everyone About How Much AI They’re Using, Says Consummate Hollywood Insider appeared first on Futurism.
