This is a fragment Sources: Alex Heatha newsletter about artificial intelligence and the tech industry, distributed once a week only to The Verge subscribers.
This week, I took a closer look at Silicon Valley’s distance from Hollywood and what to do with artificial intelligence.
First, at OpenAI DevDay, Sam Altman presented the recent Sora app as a gift to content creators. If anything, he suggested, OpenAI is there too censored by not allowing humans to create even more AI-powered videos.
“Overall, the creators, rights holders and people are very excited about the potential of this film,” Altman said during a media question-and-answer session in San Francisco on Monday that I attended. “They believe it will deepen the bond. It’s a bit like next-gen fanfiction.”
The next day I arrived at BloombergScreentime in Los Angeles to find out what media executives, agents and studio heads think about the AI meteorite heading their way. Sora had just hit one million downloads in the App Store and was top of mind for everyone. Overall, my impression is that Hollywood leaders still have no idea what to do with the risks posed by artificial intelligence, and will be defeated by a technology that is advancing faster than they can comprehend.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison called AI “the new pencil” with which to create
I’ve lost count of how many times the phrase “we care about copyright” was invoked during Screentime like a prayer. At the same time, no one at the event wanted to specifically address the fact that OpenAI clearly trained in their intellectual property without permission and released a product that, at least initially, he had no shame in explaining it. The fact that Hollywood leaders are unable to share a public perspective on this issue or, more importantly, what they intend to do about it, should alarm everyone working in the industry.
On stage, Netflix co-founder Greg Peters dodged the question entirely BloombergLucas Shaw talked specifically about Sora and instead dwelled on the more lifeless ways AI was used in almost every step of the production process. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison also touted the less controversial, tool-like aspect of artificial intelligence, calling it a “new pencil” for creation. The only executive I’ve heard of that came close to addressing the real issue that’s on everyone’s mind was Warner Music CEO (and former YouTube executive) Robert Kyncl, who made it clear that Warner content had to be licensed in order to be trained on, and that there would be consequences for not following the rules.
It’s no surprise that the music industry has a stronger perspective than, say, hemming and embroidery about artificial intelligence currently being implemented by immense talent agencies. Labels are better equipped to compete with AI companies as a consolidated group of players that have already tackled this version of the problem with the rise of music streaming. Kyncl even went so far as to predict that artificial intelligence would bring long-term benefits to the music industry, much like YouTube finally solved the copyright problem and transformed itself into a major distribution platform for the entertainment industry.
He may be right about music specifically, but the lack of collective action from the rest of Hollywood means AI companies will continue to avoid asking for forgiveness rather than permission. OpenAI’s decision to train Sora this way was a conscious choice, not an accident, and showed a complete lack of respect for the consequences of siphoning other people’s content to power the AI. Altman is simply following the same pattern that the tech industry has used in the past achieve dominance, so who can blame him this time?