What the fuck are the studios gonna do, make movies and shows without actors?

Highlights: The negotiating committee of the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, told its members on Saturday that it had received a “Last, Best and Final Offer” from the major entertainment studios as a strike that has brought much of Hollywood to a standstill continued for a 114th day.

“We are reviewing it and considering our response within the context of the critical issues addressed in our proposals,” the negotiating committee said. They did not say when they would respond to the offer, which came after an hourlong video conference call that included top studio executives.

Included in the offer was a wage increase that could be the highest in four decades, according to a person familiar with the offer who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations. The studios also offered the actors a new way to determine residuals for streaming programs based on performance metrics, and protections on artificial intelligence, including consent and compensation requirements. The studios also offered an increase to the pension and health funds.

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[+] -65 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (12 children)
  • [–] 25 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I highly doubt this for one big reason: The courts have already ruled that AI generated content isn't eligible for copyright protection.

    Suppose a studio managed to make a Big AI Action Franchise using only AI. They wouldn't be able to copyright any of the movie. This would mean that people could download and share it freely. Streaming services could put it online without needing to pay the studio that "made" the film. Movie theaters could get a copy online and show it instead of paying for copies.

    A copyright free AI Movie would be a revenue disaster. And we know that if there's one thing the studios care about, it's money.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Okay? Where's that line? Do we need one voice actor? A human "director"? Trust capitalism to find the limit. Also the judiciary is looking pretty compromised these days. There's a good chance the corporations bat their eyes at the judges and suddenly the studio's rights are recognized but not any individual creators.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    That line is whatever you want to copyright.

    So if you make an AI generated movie and then add one voice actor, then I can copy and sell everything except the voice actor.

    I can copy the movie replacing the voice actor with another, edit them out entirely, write and sell a novelization, use the images from your movie to make action figures and T shirts...

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Very soon is still 10 years out, but you aren’t wrong.

    Ironically this will level the playing field for truly good and creative writing, but will also generate a fuck ton of “crap”

    It’s gonna be an interesting ride.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    10 years out is still very optimistic...

    I'd be surprised if there's a movie in 2033 that had absolutely zero input from a human, let alone a popular one and definitely not the vast majority of movies.

    Even 20 years is probably optimistic.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Sure, but in 10 years, someone will be able to tell ai “make me a movie about cowboys where x happens” and it’ll make a script. And we’ll be able to ask ai to make a cgi scene where x happens.

    It will drastically shrink the workforce required to do it.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    There is no way that completely AI generated movies will be the majority of content that people actually watch and talk about in the next 50 years. Yes, it will take over a lot of the tedious parts of filming and will probably make up a significant portion of a lot of movies, like any kind of automation does.

    Any attempts to AI generate a script for a full movie is going to be gibberish without human intervention, actually doing the right emotion for the right lines, and action scenes that aren't a train wreck are going to be comedic levels of crap for a very, very long time.

    Humans can barely pull all of those off and what is the AI going to learn from when most of the current movies are crap? Hell, I will be impressed when AI can create a 10 minute short that is coherent and I don't see that happening before 2050.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Any attempts to AI generate a script for a full movie is going to be gibberish without human intervention

    How so? It's super easy to get 'AI' applications to do random stories based on loose ideas. Scripts are easy, especially so if you look at the garbage being pumped out on Netflix.

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  • [+] -6 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    It's my understanding that some movies are already doing big pieces of it already.

    A lot can change in 50 years.

    And if people are happy with superhero movies they'll be happy with AI content.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    That’s awesome, why would we need the studios then? I can just generate my own movies. But until then maybe we can compensate actors fairly and the studios can also live on until we don’t need them anymore.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    If AI can write, direct, act, and stage the movie then what is the production company for?

    If everything can be done by computer, then one small shop can type the idea into some cloud service and spit out a movie just as easily as Disney.

    Sure, for a couple years things might be proprietary, but just like every other software innovation, it'll quickly trickle down to everyone else and then the only thing left for a studio to do is marketing.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago*

    Their feedback loop will turn into copying a copy real quick. And the moment AI puts any hurt on any industry their lobbyists will get copyright updated and fuck AI sideways.

    This is all assuming a single AI produced thing isn't a horror show top to bottom which is a tall order.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    if that happens hollywood as we know it's over anyways. if anyone in their basement can just AI generate a whole ass movie, they will. hell you could make your own at home with a good enough GPU

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago*

    hell you could make your own at home with a good enough GPU

    You can literally already do this in various video game engines for the past two decades, some can even automate your animations like Unreal 3 &4 or Source Engine

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago*

    Kaufman already commented on this by saying that most drivel shat out by Hollywood could be done by AI anyways.

    It's rare you see something original and good. Most people won't know whether the next 10 marvel movies are written by AI because it's all ad-lib crap anyways.

    He specifically likened it to eating fast food your entire life and thinking it's normal because you haven't had anything else.

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