The film world was in a flurry of comments after actor, director and tech evangelist Ashton Kutcher was seen enthusiastically portraying a future dominated by AI in conversation with former Google chairman Eric Schmidt.
During the wide-ranging conversation, Kutcher spoke about his experience using the beta version of OpenAI's AI video generator Sora. “I've been tinkering with Sora, and it's really amazing,” he said. “There's footage here that could easily be used in a major motion picture today.”
Kutcher went on to explain that technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, and while results are good so far, “if we could get 30 times the performance, we'd be able to render an entire movie.”
He even suggests that one day anyone will be able to produce an entire movie from a simple text prompt, turning us all into filmmakers.
Hollywood wasn't happy
Predictably, Hollywood isn't amused, with industry heavyweights including Top Gun producer Jerry Bruckheimer slamming him for essentially predicting the demise of the filmmaking industry.
Kutcher isn't the only filmmaker embracing generative AI: Donald Glover was seen working with a Google DeepMind Veo model at Google's recent I/O developer event, and five top filmmakers will be using Sora to create short films for the TriBeCa Film Festival, all of which will be released next week.
The actor and Schmidt spoke at the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, where they discussed the various impacts of AI on the world, and during the conversation he offered a series of thoughtful and insightful answers, particularly about the realities of AI in filmmaking.
Kutcher is not just a movie star, he's also an active and passionate technology investor with his own venture capital fund and a string of past investments, so when he says something, he's basing it off of more knowledge than the average person (or screenwriter, for that matter).
The dawn of AI movies is coming
His uncompromising statement is based on a reality that true proponents of technology and media know to be true: just as talkies destroyed the silent film era, AI has the very potential to upend everything about the art of filmmaking.
Instead of watching a movie someone else made, you can generate the movie yourself and watch the movie you made.
Ashton Kutcher
“Instead of watching a movie that someone else made, you can make your own movie and watch the movie you made,” Kutcher said.
History has shown that an industry's insistence that it's not has never stopped it from being what it is, and it's no different here.
The automotive industry is struggling with electrification, the music industry is dealing with its own AI tsunami, and now it's time for the movie industry to face the future.
As O'Brien said in 1984, “There's learning, there's understanding, and there's acceptance.” Perhaps now is the right time for Hollywood to gracefully slide into the second phase.
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