Generative Artificial Intelligence can create lifelike imaging and audio, which is likely why an increasing number of film studios are incorporating A.I. into special effects. It comes just two years after Hollywood’s largest union went on strike, in part over the impact A.I. would bring.
“Popular culture movies like The Terminator have created a very dark dystopian version of what this could look like,” White House A.I. and Crypto Czar David Sacks said. “The version of the future of A.I. that I think is probably most accurate if you want to pop cultural references is Star Trek Enterprise. Think about the ship computer in that. You can talk to it. It can talk you. It understands. It can perform tasks for you. But it doesn’t have a will of its own, it doesn’t’ have a mind of its’ own. It’s there to help the crew, and it needs to be supervised by humans.”
Six months after the strikes began, SAG-AFTRA members approved a three-year contract with major studios. The agreement addressed pay models, job protections and also set A.I. guardrails.
“We all know that A.I. is gonna change jobs,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said. “I think that we all have to navigate through this together. We’re all on a journey together to find a way to make it work as well as possible.”
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences considered requiring films with Oscar potential to disclose if A.I. was used. Instead it issued a rule stating that A.I. neither helps nor harms a film’s chances of receiving a nomination.
“Two years ago, the question was whether they would use A.I. in the processes at all. Now the question is, how do we use AI?,” said Margarita Grubina, Vice President of Business Growth at Voice Cloning effects firm Respeecher.
The Ukraine-based company uses voices from real people to enhance how an actor sounds. The technology was used in parts of at least two Oscar-nominated films this year. In The Brutalist, the A.I. technology helped make actors Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones sound more authentic when speaking Hungarian.
“The Hungarian language and Hungarian accent is considered one of the most complicated in the world and if you’re not Hungarian you cannot do Hungarian accent,” Grubina said.
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Respeecher hired native Hungarian speakers to train its system in the dialect and sound. When the actor’s voice is added, the system replicates what the actor is saying, making it sound more like a native speaker.
“You still keep the actors and the humans, because humans are best at performing,” Grubina said. “Their voice changed but their performance didn’t change.”
Respeecher also worked on Emilia Perez to enhance the film’s musical performances.
“We always encourage our clients to not hide that they used A.I. because usually this backlash from the audience that we’ve seen in the past, it actually comes from the audiences when they don’t know what was done and how it was done,” Grubina said.
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A.I. is also helping actors appear younger or older for certain roles. In Neflix Mexico’s Pedro Páramo, A.I. powered-tools delivered de-aging visual effects. Director Rodrigo Prieto also worked on The Irishman, which premiered on Netflix in 2019. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos says the de-aging A.I. used in Pedro Páramo was a fraction of the cost compared to the effects in The Irishman.
“The entire budget of the film was about the VFX cost on The Irishman,” Sarandos said on Netflix’ April Earnings Call. “So same creator using new tools, new better tools to do something that would have been impossible to do just 5 years ago. That’s incredibly exciting.”
Netflix is also using A.I. to build new worlds. In the new series from Argentina, El Eternauta, A.I.-powered visual effects helped reconstruct Buenos Aires amid a deadly toxic snowfall. Scanning and drone technology captured 3D models of real neighborhoods in the city, including cars, graffiti and people. It marked the first time Netflix has used A.I.-generated shots as final footage in a global title. The streaming service says it was able to complete the sequence ten times faster with generative A.I.
When the initial SAG-AFTRA agreement was reached, some actors argued the A.I. guardrails did not go far enough and video game actors reached an agreement last month after a year-long strike over A.I. protections. The group argued against treating motion capture actors as data rather than performers.
“That is what workers are dealing with, is whether or not it’s to their advantage to highlight the fact that they’re using AI,” said Gregory Allen, senior advisor with the Wadhwani A.I. center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I would say that the use of AI is extraordinarily widespread and growing ever more so as AI technology becomes more capable. And the reality is, is that this is something that the economy does need.”
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