Sony Pictures' “Madame Web”
© Marvel / © Columbia Pictures / Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Sony Pictures is turning to generative artificial intelligence to cut costs.
Speaking at an investor conference in Japan on Thursday, CEO Tony Vinciquerra said the company is “very focused on AI” and is working to incorporate the technology into the filmmaking process to make movies more efficient.
“We're going to look at ways to make movies more efficiently, primarily through AI, to make movies for theaters and television,” Vinciquerra said.
The comments come as negotiations continue between Hollywood's top crew unions and major studios over new contracts, which are set to expire on July 31. As with the actors' and writers' strikes, guardrails around the use of AI have emerged as a key negotiating point.
Since the settlement of last year's labor strike, there has been growing fear in Hollywood that hot-button AI tools such as OpenAI's text-to-video model Sora could lead to undercutting of crew and talent, with union protections emerging as a key barrier to layoffs.
Vinciquerra's comments suggest that studios are keen to further adopt the technology, constrained only by union contracts.
“The agreement that came out of last year's strike and the agreement that's coming out of IATSE and the Teamsters. [negotiations] “It's going to be a broad definition of what you do with AI,” he said.
Last year, DreamWorks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg predicted that AI technology is expected to revolutionize the media and entertainment industry, reducing the cost of making animated films by up to 90%. Citing the “good old days” when it took 500 artists five years to create a world-class animated film, Katzenberg said, “It won't cost 10% of that in the next three years.”
AI is destroying Hollywood jobs, with little sign of relief, according to a survey of 300 entertainment industry leaders released in January. The report found that three-quarters of respondents said AI tools are driving the elimination, reduction or consolidation of jobs at their companies. Voice actors, concept artists, visual effects and other post-production workers were found to be particularly vulnerable.
Director of Photography: Katherine Brillhart, Visual Production Supervisor fall out, Rebel Moon and Black AdamShe emphasized the potential that AI tools have to streamline VFX. “AI is driving technology forward,” she said in May at AI on the Lot, a conference focused on how studios can adopt AI. “You can pick up skills faster than ever before. You can think about your workflow in different ways.”
Sony Pictures is Madame WebThe box office failure of Spider-Man 2 killed off plans for a new series. Another film in Sony's Spider-Man universe – in 2022 Morbius ” was similarly a huge flop with critics, but grossed $170 million worldwide.
