‘Of course it’s disturbing’: will AI change Hollywood forever?

theguardian.com:

W hat will AI (artificial intelligence) do to Hollywood? Who better to answer that question than ChatGPT, a thrilling but scary chatbot developed by OpenAI. When the Guardian asked it about AI’s potential impact on the film industry, it made the following points:

Scriptwriting: AI can be used to analyze existing screenplays and create new ones, potentially leading to more efficient and cost-effective screenwriting.

Pre-production: AI can be used to streamline the pre-production process, including casting, location scouting and storyboarding.

Special effects: AI can be used to create more realistic and immersive special effects, potentially reducing the need for practical effects and saving time and money in post-production.

Audience analysis: AI can be used to analyze audience data and preferences, helping studios make more informed decisions about which films to greenlight and how to market them.

Distribution: AI can be used to personalize movie recommendations for viewers and optimize distribution strategies, potentially leading to higher ticket sales and revenue.

It was a reasonable answer that did not hint at HAL 9000-style malevolence or Terminator-like plans for world domination. But nor did it have much to say about how AI might be a disruptive force for actors (dead or alive), audiences, screenwriters, the principle of intellectual property or the fundamental art of storytelling.

When the Guardian turned to human interviewees, they offered a more ambivalent set of predictions – acknowledging the power of AI to help a screenwriter overcome writer’s block or an editor to skip mundane tasks, but expressing alarm about the risk of machines replacing humans or effectively forcing them to work for free.

AI is already here. It