Opinion The Third Edit: How Artificial Intelligence can play ‘the role of a lifetime’ in film

In recent years, particularly since the writer and actor “double strike” that brought Hollywood to a standstill for much of 2023, fears about how generative artificial intelligence can change everything about filmmaking — rendering jobs such as writing and editing obsolete, among other anxieties — have dominated conversations about the new technology. Yet, as new movie-making AI tech rolls out — Meta’s Movie Gen being the latest — what is clear is that there is no stopping this juggernaut.

There are reasons to be optimistic about AI’s impact on the entertainment industry, as pointed out by actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck in a panel discussion in New York City last week. Affleck makes the case for a future where AI lowers the barriers of entry into the industry, allowing a greater diversity of voices and perspectives in filmmaking, as well as paid customisation of content, which could open up a new revenue stream for an increasingly cash-strapped business. This rosy picture, however, becomes somewhat marred when considering questions to which there are no easy answers: Can AI be made compatible with existing jobs instead of replacing them outright? How much more control will be wrested from the hands of creatives and ceded to studio moguls? Will technological efficiency come at the cost of originality of vision? Questions will also need to be answered about the energy-hungry technology’s environmental impact.

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To dismiss the potential of AI — good and bad — is to be wilfully blind to cinema’s essential malleability. Already, Lionsgate, the studio behind such films as John Wick and The Hunger Games, has announced a partnership with an AI company to train a new model on its archives, with usage extending to future productions. Over a century ago, Charlie Chaplin dismissed the emergence of the talkie, saying “I give it six months”. A 100 years on, another revolution looms in the offing. Putting guardrails in place would be a far more effective strategy than putting on blinkers.