Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ Hotstar, and YouTube are going all-in on generative AI. Not only are they focusing on reducing production costs but also bringing personal experience to shows and films, thereby enhancing their quality in ways never seen before.
Recently, the Walt Disney Company’s new business unit was reported to drive the company’s efforts in AI and extended reality (XR) applications across its film, TV, and theme park divisions.
Up until recently, AI was mostly implemented at the editing stage of movie production. As reported by AIM last year, AI had entered the pre-production stage, where its biggest use case was storytelling. Now, it has surpassed that stage and is being used to create full movies.
“AI needs to pass a crucial test. Actually, can it help make better shows and better films? That is the test and that’s what they have to figure out,” said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos during their recent earnings call. He emphasised that for AI to be truly impactful, it must contribute to the quality of storytelling rather than simply reducing production costs.
Sarandos’ statement reinforces Netflix’s commitment to enhancing viewer experience and industry standards through technology.
“Netflix is the best platform for premium stories because we’re the home to the best storytellers. We have an enormous reach–600 million watchers. We assume the financial risk when we’re making your content,” said Sarandos.
There’s more. The company recently onboarded Mike Verdu as the VP of GenAI for Games at Netflix. Evidently, there are exciting developments brewing at Netflix.
A New Era of AI Shows and Films
Celebrated filmmaker James Cameron recently revealed he has been constantly experimenting and using AI to assist with the production of films such as ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’.
Nevertheless, he explained that storytelling relies on and is inspired heavily by human emotions, experiences, and imagination. This cannot be replaced by machines.
“We were using machine deep learning to generate algorithms that were speeding us up and giving us better work for the past eight years or so,” he said in an interview with Business Think, a digital platform that collaborates with researchers at UNSW Business School.
Indian startup Sensara Technologies teaches machines how to watch movies and aims to enable a knowledgeable and visually rich interaction between people and television.
Bharath Mohan, the founder, recently turned down acquisition offers from global tech giants, but in the process, pulled the interest of streaming giants Disney+ Hotstar, Jiocinema, and broadcasters like Astro.
Multiple other players apart from major OTT platforms are delving into the use of AI in filmmaking. AI, for them, is instrumental in generating or enhancing diverse elements of short films, from images, animations, scripts, music, and editing.
For instance, ‘The Frost: Part One’, dubbed the world’s first AI-generated film, has gained significant popularity. This 12-minute film created by Waymark employed DALL-E 2, an image-generating AI, to bring its script to life.
AI is now also delving into more complex narratives with human assistance. To explore themes of solitude and online existence, actress and filmmaker Anna Apter created the short film ‘/Imagine’ with the assistance of AI tools and her dog.
The year 2024 marked the rise of several films entirely generated by AI. YouTuber Alex Patrascu has shared multiple AI-generated films and trailers on his channel. He experiments with AI video generation by using tools like Midjourney, RunwayML, Soundful, ElevenLabs, ChatGPT, and CapCut.
Recently, Patrascu released the trailer for his upcoming series ‘One Night’, which is set to be released in 2025 and will be completely AI-generated. These procedural episodes with captivating stories are set in the same city and all happen in one night.
Last year, he released a trailer for his AI series ‘The Outworld’. Eight months later, its follow-up, ‘The Outworld: Chronicles’, was released.
Patrascu also used Leonardo.ai for image generation and Runway for video in the AI movie ‘It’s Time’, another one of his projects from last year.
In retrospect: In 1927, Fritz Lang, an American film director and screenwriter, depicted the concept of AI in his film, ‘Metropolis’. With time, the portrayal of AI in cinema has grown deeper and changed drastically.
Social fears and hopes are some common metaphors hidden within such media. This fear stems from AI’s potential to rapidly evolve, surpass human intelligence, and even overthrow human society. However, some movies also reflect hopes for a better future where AI can positively contribute to the world and live in harmony with human society.
Notably, this positive outlook is being embraced by the entertainment industry. Now, AI is not just a character in films and shows; it has evolved to actively participate in the process of making. This has further led to AI revolutionising shooting, image assistance and the automation of production processes in the industry.
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