Devin Gordon
Appearances
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What if A.I. Is Actually Good for Hollywood?’
Hi, my name is Devin Gordon, and I'm a contributor to the New York Times Magazine. So maybe you remember, last year, there was a major strike by the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild that completely stopped Hollywood for several months. And one of the issues at the core of the contract negotiations with the movie studios was the subject of A.I.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What if A.I. Is Actually Good for Hollywood?’
One use of AI is to make actors look younger or older than they actually are. For example, in a new movie called Here, AI transformed Tom Hanks' face to make him look anywhere from 18 to 80 years old. This method of facial replacement technology is also being used in stunt work.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What if A.I. Is Actually Good for Hollywood?’
You can take the face of, say, Dwayne Johnson and digitally paste it onto the face of a stunt person leaping off a cliff. Filmmakers have also used AI to bring back dead actors to reprise roles, as was done with Ian Holm for his android character in this summer's Alien Romulus.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What if A.I. Is Actually Good for Hollywood?’
This is the kind of work that would typically take teams of hundreds of artists, drawing every pixel, frame by frame, several months to do, and it can cost tens of millions of dollars. For this week's Sunday read that you'll be hearing next, I wanted to get as many honest takes from people in Hollywood about where AI might ultimately lead.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What if A.I. Is Actually Good for Hollywood?’
And I really wanted to know, and I think many of us as moviegoers do as well, but might be hesitant to ask, could AI actually make movies better? So here's my article, read by Eric Jason Martin. Our producer is Jack D'Isidoro, and our music was written and performed by Aaron Esposito.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What if A.I. Is Actually Good for Hollywood?’
guild members were concerned that AI could replace humans at every stage in the creative process, that studios would soon use AI to write screenplays, direct and edit films, design the special effects, and even read and decide which scripts were greenlit. Actors, meanwhile, were concerned about copyright ownership over their images.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What if A.I. Is Actually Good for Hollywood?’
They wanted to protect their likenesses from exploitation, reproduction, and profit without their benefit. But I also heard another perspective from AI optimists in Hollywood. They told me that the technology was still widely misunderstood. So I decided to find out what AI was actually being used for. Did the anxiety match the reality?
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What if A.I. Is Actually Good for Hollywood?’
At first, it was difficult to find people in the industry who would go on the record in praise of AI because that can be seen as siding with the machines or undermining union solidarity. But eventually, I was able to speak with artists who have already incorporated AI into their work in films you might have already seen.