Actor Natasha Lyonne may not come from the tech world, but her production company is emerging as a trailblazer in bringing AI content to the big screen\u2014and she has thoughts about the tech\u2019s increasing influence.<\/p>\n
Lyonne, who is most well-known for an on-screen roles in Netflix\u2019s \u201cRussian Doll\u201d and \u201cOrange is the New Black,\u201d is also a writer, director, and the cofounder of Asteria Film Co., an artist-led animation and film studio that aims to provide high-quality and copyright friendly generative AI for marquee content.<\/p>\n
Other AI video-generation models like OpenAI\u2019s Sora 2 and Google\u2019s Veo 3 have run into controversy for scraping the web and sometimes clashing with copyright rules. Asteria, which Lyonne co-founded in 2022, is taking a different approach.<\/p>\n
Asteria partnered with Moonvalley AI, which makes AI tools for filmmakers, to create Marey<\/a>, named after cinematographer \u00c9tienne-Jules Marey. The tool helps generate AI video that can be used for movies and TV, but only draws on open-license content or material it has explicit permission to use.<\/p>\n Being careful about the inputs for Asteria\u2019s AI video generation is important, Lyonne said at the Fortune Brainstorm AI<\/a> conference in San Francisco last week. As AI use increases, both tech and Hollywood need to respect the work of the cast, as well as the crew and the writers behind the scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s super kosher copacetic to just kind of rob freely under the auspices of acceleration or China,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n While she hasn\u2019t yet used AI to help make a TV show or movie, Lyonne said Asteria has used it in other small ways to develop renderings and other details.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty revolutionary act that we actually do have that model and that\u2019s you know the basis for everything that we work on,\u201d said Lyonne.<\/p>\n Marey is available to the public for a credits-based subscription starting at $14.99 per month<\/a>.<\/p>\n While her production company aims to lead the AI charge in Hollywood, Lyonne said it\u2019s important to remember the human aspect of tech. With so many countless possibilities for AI\u2019s uses, she noted it can at least be used to make human lives better, and not purely for \u201ccutting costs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need human beings in AI so that the tools don\u2019t run us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n