Fear and Loathing (and Hype and Reality) in Los Angeles

🌈 Abstract

The article explores the potential impact of generative AI (GenAI) on the entertainment industry, particularly the major Hollywood studios. It discusses the challenges the studios face in adopting these new AI video generation tools, including labor relations, unresolved legal issues, and technical limitations.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Disruptive Threat of GenAI to Hollywood

1. What are the key ways GenAI could disrupt Hollywood?

• GenAI will democratize high production-value video creation, exacerbating the low-end disruption of Hollywood by creator content.
• AI video generators like Sora, Veo, and Runway Gen-3 represent an entirely new way to create video by replacing much or all of the principal photography.
• These AI video generators are improving rapidly and could enable a vast increase in the supply of video content, potentially making Hollywood a smaller business.

2. What are the three major impediments the major studios face in using these AI video generators?

• Labor relations: Talent relations are critical, and AI has emerged as a key issue in recent union strikes. Studios are wary of the backlash from using AI.
• Unresolved legal issues: It is unclear whether training models on copyrighted IP is fair use or infringement, and who owns the rights to content created using GenAI models.
• Technical limitations: Current AI video generators have limitations in areas like understanding physics, geography, and film production techniques that make them unsuitable for replacing significant portions of principal photography.

[02] The Potential Use Cases for GenAI in Hollywood

1. What are the most promising use cases for GenAI in Hollywood outside of replacing principal photography?

• Animation, horror, and sci-fi/fantasy genres that are less reliant on highly emotive human actors.
• Music videos, which can benefit from the surreal, abstract nature of AI video generation.
• Educational and documentary content, as well as corporate training/compliance videos, where historical accuracy is less critical.
• Incorporating GenAI into traditional production processes, such as for concept art, localization services, and post-production work.

2. What are the key reasons why GenAI is more likely to disrupt than replace Hollywood in the near term?

• While AI may make production more efficient and reduce some labor needs, it is unlikely to replace Hollywood's reliance on talent and the complex ecosystem in which it operates.
• However, by lowering the barriers to entry for high-production value video creation, GenAI could make Hollywood a smaller business by increasing competition for viewers' attention, even if it does not directly replace Hollywood jobs.

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