With the increase in AI-generated content, it’s getting harder and harder to know what was made by a human and what was just thrown together by a robot. Some things you can definitely tell are not real (it’s always the teeth) but as technology advances, it seems impossible to tell the difference between a real Grimes song and a fake Grimes song. Though let’s be honest, Grimes has never been shy about her desire to be a computer.
Now that AI is taking over art, music, and basic conversation, the next logical step would be to start creating AI-generated movies, which is something that Joe Russo of the Russo Bros duo thinks will happen very soon. Too soon, maybe!
Russo, who directed Avengers: Endgame, a real movie that is inhabited by dozens of CGI superheroes, thinks that AI-generated movies are on the horizon. He also admits that he is on “on the board of a few AI companies,” so we are in for a whole new batch of AI movies, whether we want it or not. Russo told Collider, “What you could do with [AI] is obviously use it to engineer storytelling and change storytelling,” he explains. Though the word “obvious” is doing quite a bit of heavy lifting in this scenario. He continued:
So you have a constantly evolving story, either in a game or in a movie, or 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.
Does this seem a little risky? Yes. Does it also sound like a Joaquin Phoenix movie? Yes. But it also does seem to be a place that many artmakers are heading, especially with the usage of various “aging” technologies that keeps Harrison Ford in business.
Russo believes that AI can be utilized specifically in the gaming community. “Say you want Fortnite to be more of a horror game, right? Then you could ask the AI to ramp up the horror elements of it,” he explained. “So again, you could curate your experience.I think that’s where it’s going. How quickly we get there, I don’t know, but that’s where it’s going.”
If we don’t need actors or storytellers or even directors anymore, then…what are we left with? Should those people be forced to get real jobs, like plumbers or accountants? Imagine Joaquin Phoenix as a handyman. It’s impossible! Let the actors act!