What Filmmakers are saying concerning AI in arts

The newest generative models are impressive in demos, but will they truly revolutionize the film and television industries? Not anytime soon, say specialists in filmmaking and visual effects.

Long-term, though, the alterations might be absolutely unimaginable. On a panel at SIGGRAPH in Denver, Michael Black (Meshcapade, Max Planck Institute), Freddy Chavez Olmos (Boxel Studio), and Nikola Todorovic (Wonder Dynamics) talked about how generative AI and other systems have the ability to alter the way media is produced today, but not always for the better.

They all agreed that although it is reasonable to doubt these instruments' utility in the near future, innovation is moving so quickly that we should be ready for significant change at any point after that. The inadequacy of today's video generators was among the first subjects discussed. Todorovic pointed out that there is a "misconception of AI that it's a one-click solution, that it will get you a final VFX shot, and that's really impossible." We might reach that point, but that black box doesn't provide much if you can't alter it. As of right now, research companies are just beginning to learn about 3D and filmmaking terminology, which means that UX is still being discovered.

Black made the point that some of the most significant facets of the formation of visual art are essentially outside the scope of language. Chavez Olmos said that because all the capital and talent was centered in Los Angeles, he had limited opportunities to participate in the film industry as a Mexican. However, he claimed that the demand for AI skills is more widely dispersed. "I had to leave Mexico because there was no opportunity there; now that I can see it, others who don't need to travel abroad can have that same opportunity."

However Black worries that short-term unexpected repercussions could arise from having sudden access to these systems. One does not automatically become a Formula One driver just because they have a powerful car, do they? It resembles what we currently have in certain ways. Everyone will be producing films, as people are discussing, he remarked. The strength is in the possibility that a new voice would be given an opportunity that they would not otherwise have, as [Chavez Olmos] stated when he spoke about democratization. However, I believe that there will still be a limited number of people producing truly good movies.

He went on, "I don't know exactly what it will look like, but the real revolution, the real power of what we're seeing in AI, is that we're going to see an entirely new genre of entertainment." It will probably involve some combination of real life, movies, and video games.

The film business is a form of passive storytelling; much like theater or podcasts, I just sit and watch. I take in the entertainment in a passive manner. However, in our daily interactions, we converse about our weekend activities, share anecdotes with one another, and so on. And that type of interactive storytelling is quite active. However, Chavez Olmos stated he anticipates a more conventional adoption curve for AI-generated imagery before that occurs.