{"id":392110,"date":"2026-04-14T20:13:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/392110\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T20:13:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:13:36","slug":"motion-picture-association-boss-says-ai-can-bolster-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/392110\/","title":{"rendered":"Motion Picture Association Boss Says AI Can ‘Bolster’ Storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMotion Picture Association Chairman Charles Rivkin<\/a> walked a fine line at CinemaCon<\/a> on Tuesday morning, acknowledging concerns about artificial intelligence, while also stressing its creative and commercial potential. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve entered the era of AI<\/a>,\u201d Rivkin told cinema operators at the exhibition industry conference taking place this week in Las Vegas. \u201cNone of us should ignore its potential dangers. Nor should we dismiss its possibilities. We should view it as we do its predecessors: as a tool that can enhance human creativity, not replace it. We should focus on how to\u00a0develop and\u00a0use AI responsibly. We should see AI the way many already do: as a means to\u00a0improve the fan experience or enable artists to explore novel formats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are widespread fears in Hollywood that AI will lead to job losses as studios find cheaper ways to produce films. Anxiety about AI helped spark the actors and writers strikes of 2023 that brought the entertainment business to its knees. It remains a contentious topic. However, Rivkin argued that movies were also once viewed as a disruptive technology. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cInnovation is part of our DNA too,\u201d Rivkin said. \u201cAnd every time we\u2019ve seen a new advancement in our industry \u2013 and we\u2019ve been told that our end is near \u2013 we\u2019ve persisted. We\u2019ve adapted. We\u2019ve thrived. We\u2019ve always embraced\u00a0what technology could do in the hands of creators to bolster the art of storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf Rivkin seemed to be engaging in verbal gymnastics, it\u2019s likely because his members, which include the major film studios such as Warner Bros., Paramount and Disney, as well as streamers like Netflix and Amazon, haven\u2019t reached a consensus on how they want to deploy AI. The technology can cut costs, but it also threatens their cultural dominance by removing the barriers to creating high-end content. Already, members like Disney and Comcast have engaged in legal fights with AI platforms that they believe are infringing on their copyrights by allowing users to create content with their characters without consent. Rivkin sounded a similar alarm during his speech on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBut no matter what, no matter how AI might change the game, we will remain clear about our core principles,\u201d he said. \u201cProtecting copyright as the engine of free expression. Defending intellectual property as the driving force of our creative community. Now there are some who say we should sweep away copyright \u2013 to keep pace with America\u2019s rivals and gain ground in the geopolitical arena. But that is a false choice. At our best, what sets our industry, and our country, apart is our fidelity to the rule of law, matched by our openness to change. We can and must do both.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf Rivkin had to strike a delicate balance on Tuesday, Cinema United chief Michael O\u2019Leary drew a starker line, reiterating his opposition to the pending merger between two MPA members, Paramount and Warner Bros. He argued their union will lead to theater closures<\/a>. O\u2019Leary, who is the exhibition industry\u2019s top lobbyist, has a different constituency, one that is worried that more consolidation will lead to fewer movies being produced.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFurther concentrating marketplace power in the hands of a smaller group of distributors that dictate the terms, windows, scheduling, screen-placement of movies, and access to historic film catalogs will have a real and lasting impact on Main Street and millions of movie fans around the world,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Warner Bros. and Paramount merger is expected to be approved by the Trump administration, but Cinema United chief has been pressuring state attorney generals, as well as international legal bodies to more closely examine the economic impact of a deal. They believe they can slow it down, even stop it. As he presses his case, O\u2019Leary has noted that Disney\u2019s 2019 purchase of 20th Century Fox dramatically reduced the number of movies the studios produced for theaters.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnfortunately, history shows us that consolidation results in fewer films being produced for movie theaters,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. \u201cWe believe [the Warner Bros.] transaction will be harmful to exhibition, consumers and the entire entertainment eco-system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring his time on stage, Rivkin used his remarks to tout the trade organization\u2019s recent legal victory in its fight with Meta over its co-opting its PG-13 terminology for teen Instagram accounts.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not very often that the MPA takes on a $1.6 trillion company. But in this case, in defense of our ratings, and your theaters, and the trust we\u2019ve built with families together \u2013 we knew it was the right thing to do,\u201d Rivkin said on Tuesday. \u201cWe made it clear: there\u2019s something very distinct about what\u2019s discovered in a theater from what users find online.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe dispute kicked off last October when Meta, which owns Instagram, said the social media platform\u00a0would restrict what users under the age of 18 can see through filters that mirrored the MPA\u2019s \u200bPG-13 classification. The MPA argued Meta\u2019s plans amounted to copyright infringement. In March, Meta blinked, agreeing to \u00a0\u201csubstantially reduce\u201d its reference to the PG-13 rating, as well as adding a disclaimer that distinguishes between its own rating system and that of the MPA.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cInstagram and Meta agreed to the limits we demanded. Which keeps our ratings focused where they belong \u2013 on films you can see on the big screen,\u201d Rivkin said. \u201cLet there be no doubt: on my watch, no one will confuse movies shown in your theaters with user-generated content people watch on their phones. We will always fight to defend the integrity of our ratings, no matter the adversary. We will always fight to preserve the trust we have forged with parents. We will always fight to protect theaters as trusted places of entertainment for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRivkin, who was ambassador to France under President Barack Obama before he became Hollywood\u2019s top lobbyist, noted that the MPA\u2019s ratings system has a 91% approval rating.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNobody in politics gets those numbers,\u201d Rivkin said. \u201cBut our ratings do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Motion Picture Association Chairman Charles Rivkin walked a fine line at CinemaCon on Tuesday morning, acknowledging concerns about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[345,343,344,147849,163362,85,46,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-392110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-charles-rivkin","12":"tag-cinemacon","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}