SAG caved and all is well in Hollyweird, right? Not so fast.
I likened the end of the strike as buggy manufacturers delaying the invention of the automobile.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will engulf Hollywood. And it will happen soon. Sadly for Hollywood, the threat won’t come from within. Expect a new version of Hollywood, whether SAG likes it or not. The outside world couldn’t care less about Hollywood, just as Americans embraced the Industrial Age autos.
A choice between riding a wagon or in a luxurious automobile? The winner is clear; unless you are on a romantic carriage ride through Central Park.
Writers will become obsolete, as AI takes hold. So will many other of the overpaid people in Hollywood; especially those pretentious and sanctimonious actors.
Post 148-day strike, although Hollywood screenwriters received significant guardrails against the use of artificial intelligence, the fight only begins. This battle against AI is but the first of many. I repeat: Hollywood loses.
As one periodical explained:
During the nearly five-month walkout, no issue resonated more than the use of AI in script writing. What was once a seemingly lesser demand of the Writers Guild of America became an existential rallying cry.
The strike was also about streaming-era economics, writers room minimums and residuals — not exactly compelling picket-sign fodder. But the threat of AI vividly cast the writers’ plight as a human-versus-machine clash, with widespread implications for other industries facing a radically new kind of automation.
I chuckle at the notion that Hollywood will soon be overrun by AI.
Just like the auto industry where dozens of workers were replaced by robots. Only in this case, the robots are a lot more sophisticated. They look and act human.
AI writes scripts using ChatGPT. And AU (augmented intelligence) can create and follow story lines in depths unknown to most writers. As good as a writer may be, he or she can’t interpret all the information that AI can access. The branches truly are limitless.
Deep Fakes pose a real threat to actors. They read lines like the titans of Hollywood. Again, they can study all actors, and have unlimited emotional range. Deep Fake actors can be programmed to be better than the originals.
Even better, Deep Fakes don’t age or complain. AI in the hands of the good guys, becomes a weapon of woke destruction.
I’m proud to be on the front edge of this transformation with my fledgling movie production business. And soon we will join with others to take this party to the next level.
