Is Hollywood \u201ccooked\u201d? Do video generating AI models mean its \u201cover\u201d for filmmakers? The jury\u2019s out on that. But according to one Hollywood insider, the whole industry is \u201clying\u201d about how much AI they\u2019re using.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing with AI right now in Hollywood: Everyone\u2019s lying just a little bit,\u201d Janice Min, a former editor of Hollywood Reporter and CEO of cinema industry media group Ankler Media, told Business Insider in a new interview<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cStudios are lying about how much they\u2019re using it.\u201d<\/p>\n When the interviewer asked if that meant studios are using AI more or using it less, she clarified: \u201cUsing it more.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCompanies are lying about the capability of their products. And for creative people, they\u2019re lying about the fact that they\u2019re not using it,\u201d Min continued. \u201cI dare you to find a screenwriter who is staring at a blank page and not talking to Claude or ChatGPT at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, the Oscar-winning film \u201cThe Brutalist\u201d became the center of controversy after its director Brady Corbet confirmed that AI was used<\/a> to help enhance the Hungarian accents of lead actors Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones. But according to Min, this wasn\u2019t an exceptional case.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year, it is crickets,\u201d she said of the lack of AI controversy. \u201cEven the Academy, the most precious, legacy-protecting institution in Hollywood, has not come out in a really firm way about AI. They basically have a don\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell policy. I would say with some certainty that every single best picture nominee this year has used AI in its production process.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth taking these claims with some skepticism. To be sure, Hollywood studios are probably using some form of \u201cAI\u201d in post-production, especially in applications like visual effects. But AI could describe a multitude of tools that aren\u2019t necessarily generative AI, and are merely powerful algorithms that have been around long before ChatGPT and image or video generators became a phenomenon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Artists also tend to be ardently against AI, perhaps more so than any other field or demographic. AI protections were a major factor in the 2023 strikes<\/a> led by actors and screenwriters that were some of the longest in Hollywood history. That makes it hard to believe that most screenwriters are using AI chatbots.<\/p>\n Moreover, it\u2019s the same alarmist narratives being pushed by AI boosters, who see it as a cause of celebration rather than concern. Every minute there\u2019s a new AI-generated video being cranked out with the video generator du jour \u2014 right now it\u2019s Seedance 2.0 \u2014 featuring deepfaked celebrities, usually accompanied with the common refrain that \u201cHollywood is cooked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But like many displays in the AI industry, many of these tend to be theater. That viral AI video of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting on a rooftop that had credulous Marvel screenwriters quivering in their boots<\/a> and AI bros prematurely dancing on actors\u2019 graves? It turned out to just be a digital reskin<\/a> of a video of two flesh and blood humans fighting in front of a green screen. The only thing that\u2019s \u201ccooked,\u201d maybe, are the brains of people that believe every claim that comes out of AI circles.<\/p>\n