The director of four of the most successful Disney superhero films is excited by the possibilities that artificial intelligence (AI) is going to create in Hollywood.
Key Details
- Joe Russo is a regular collaborator with Marvel Studios and the co-director of the second-highest-grossing film of all time—Avengers: Endgame.
- Speaking on a panel hosted by entertainment news outlet Collider, Russo argued that films made entirely by AI are just around the corner and could emerge within the next two years.
- He calls AI a “revolution” and shared his excitement for the possibilities of this generation of filmmakers ushering in the technology.
- Russo similarly warned that there is a danger to the technology and that companies will need to be created to “protect you from AI.”
Why It’s News
The “AI arms race” is well underway. Major tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Baidu have pushed hard to race AI solutions into the marketplace following the unprecedented success of ChatGPT since it launched on November 30.
The speed of the race has left many business leaders and watchdogs nervous about the technology’s potential—with Microsoft President Brad Smith, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, presidential candidate Andrew Yang, and watchdog Tristan Harris being among its numerous notable critics.
The applicability of AI technology in creative spaces is highly debated at the moment. Graphic novel writer Kristina Kashtanova has faced months of copyright infringement allegations for using AI-generated images in her graphic novels. Alternatively, many creative writers like Kristin McTiernan argue that technology is too imperfect to write compelling fiction. It remains to be seen whether AI can be used to create quality art and if consumers will embrace it.
Notable Quotes
“So potentially, what you could do with it is obviously use it to engineer storytelling and change storytelling. So you have a constantly evolving story, either in a game or in a movie, or in a TV show. You could walk into your house and save the AI on your streaming platform. ‘Hey, I want a movie starring my photoreal avatar and Marilyn Monroe’s photoreal avatar. I want it to be a rom-com because I’ve had a rough day,’ and it renders a very competent story with dialogue that mimics your voice. It mimics your voice, and suddenly now you have a rom-com starring you that’s 90 minutes long. So you can curate your story specifically to you,” says Russo.
