Lionsgate has become the first significant Hollywood studio to go all-in on AI. The company today announced a “first-of-its-kind” partnership with AI research company Runway to create and train an exclusive new AI model based on its portfolio of film and tv content.
Lionsgate’s exclusive model will be used to generate what it calls “cinematic video” which can then be further iterated using Runway’s technology. The goal is to save money – “millions and millions of dollars” according to Lionsgate studio vice chairman Michael Burns – by having filmmakers and creators use its AI model to replace artists in production tasks such as storyboarding.
In corporate jargon terminology, Burns said that AI will be used to “develop cutting-edge, capital-efficient content creation opportunities.” He added that “several of our filmmakers are already excited about its potential applications to their pre-production and post-production process.”
By design, AI is only able to regurgitate the info it’s been trained on in a slightly different pattern. So I’m not sure how this is supposed to work out.
I have a better proposal for you, Lionsgate: cut the CEO and all their cronies. I’m pretty sure you’ll save a lot more money that way, while keeping the people who actually produce the stuff that makes you money.
What a horrible timeline.
