Disrupting Hollywood: AI and the writers’ strike
In media and entertainment, AI is going beyond generating efficiencies to achieve incredible feats. But at the same time, it’s bringing thousands of careers into question.
The pace at which AI continues to evolve, it seems every industry will be subject to revolution. From healthcare to manufacturing, AI tools are already transforming processes for efficiency, resulting in lower costs and higher outputs. But at this early stage, AI isn’t without its problems. One industry less than happy about AI’s growing influence is media and entertainment, and in particular Hollywood.
The Writers Guild of America strike has brought Hollywood to a standstill. Highly anticipated movies and TV shows like ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Deadpool 3’ have halted production, and actors such as Meryl Streep and Matt Damon have expressed their solidarity with the strike.
In addition to pay disputes and residual royalty payments from streaming, the strike is driven by AI. It’s feared that increased implementation of AI tools will reduce work opportunities and hamper careers for thousands of people.
The potential for AI to disrupt the entertainment industry is immense. For one day’s pay (approx. $200), background actors can be scanned to have a digital copy of themselves inserted in future productions as a replacement for extras. With AI being able to change facial expressions, body movements, even actors’ speech, this practice of fully scanning background actors is already putting the livelihood of many actors in question.
As voice imitation technology becomes more advanced, voice actors are fearing a future where their work is redundant. Resemble AI, for example, can create a voice clone with as little as 50 sentences spoken by an actor. This type of AI voice imitation has been used for people who have passed away. In a documentary about celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who passed in 2018, AI was used to produce a 45-second speech which sparked ethical questions about whether recreating a person’s voice should even be allowed.
Similarly, backdrops or images can also be created through generative AI – again streamlining production but also resulting in a wrath of copyright and IP issues. This means it’s not only actors who are fearful of their future. The whole ambit of the creative process from visual effects to creative writing stands to be upended.
While introducing AI will increase productivity and make the production process cheaper for the entertainment industry, there are still many unanswered questions around IP ownership, as well as ethical concerns which will undoubtedly see greater regulation in the space, and increased exposure for firms utilising AI. Human involvement in review of content produced by AI tools is key for entertainment firms.
If you want to discuss anything related to the use of AI in the creative sector and the impacts it might have on insurance, get in touch with one of our media and entertainment underwriters: media@cfc.com