The rise of artificial intelligence is just getting started. From custom illustrations imagining anything you might desire, to having AI literally scripting out stories, many people are wondering how the phenomenon will be affecting the entertainment industry in the coming years. It’s a question that was posited to Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame co-director Joe Russo, and as far as he sees it, it’s looking like AI will be full-on making movies in Hollywood within a couple of years time.
Russo explains how this is the latest step in the advancement of technology. It’s going to be “embraced by Gen Z” as they grew up with it and know how to use it. He says that this is different from an out-of-touch uncle who doesn’t know how to send emails, and surmises that younger filmmakers will be utilizing AI for the creative process of their films in the near future, and it’s probably only going to grow from there. As Russo explains, filmmakers will essentially have the ability to fully script out a feature film and even mimic the people in it, whether it’s themselves or even dead celebrities. As Russo explains, via Collider:
“Potentially, what you could do with it is obviously use it to engineer storytelling and change storytelling. So you have a constantly evolving story, either in a game or in a movie, or a TV show. You could walk into your house and save the AI on your streaming platform. ‘Hey, I want a movie starring my photoreal avatar and Marilyn Monroe’s photoreal avatar. I want it to be a rom-com because I’ve had a rough day,’ and it renders a very competent story with dialogue that mimics your voice. It mimics your voice, and suddenly now you have a rom-com starring you that’s 90 minutes long. So you can curate your story specifically to you.”
Will Artificial Intelligence Take Over Hollywood?
While the rise of AI is exciting for some, others are concerned about the effects that it will have on various forms of entertainment. Because of how quickly the technology is advancing, it’s theorized that we may not be too far off from having full 90-minute films made in moments, from the writing of the story to acting out the scenes without real people. Russo notes how it’s still fairly early in the process, but he predicts that it won’t be very long before AI is running wild in Hollywood.
“[AI] is certainly in the nascent stages, yeah, that is a critical issue. I’m on the board of a few AI companies, I’m gonna speak from my experience of being on the board of those companies is that, there are AI companies that are developing AI to protect you from AI. And unfortunately, we’re in that world, and you will need an AI in your life because whether we want to see it developed or not, people who are not friendly to us may develop it anyways. So, we’re going to be in that future. The question is, then, how we protect ourselves in that future?”
When asked how long he thinks we have until full-on AI movies are released, Russo had this guesstimate:
“Two years.”
Perhaps we should be enjoying “old-fashioned movies,” with genuine scriptwriters, directors, and actors, while we still can.
