Hollywood's Secret AI Initiative: Industry Leaders Plot Human-Centric Tech Future

A significant collaboration between Hollywood filmmakers, executives, actors, and Silicon Valley executives has been underway for the past three years, convening secretly to tackle the intricate challenge of defining artificial intelligence's utility within a human-controlled creative process. Initiated in November 2023 by LucasFilm pioneer Kathleen Kennedy and American Film Institute dean Susan Ruskin, these meetings culminated in a comprehensive framework after a recent gathering of approximately 120 participants.

This framework, first unveiled in The Ankler, outlines the existing applications of AI in the film industry and establishes clear guidelines for humans to maintain control over future use cases. Crucially, it also defines pathways for potentially using AI to produce copyrightable work. Notable attendees at these discussions included actor and InterPositive co-founder Ben Affleck, A24 partner Scott Belsky, CAA agent Greg Siegel, Paramount+ Originals executive Chris Parnell, “Stutz” producer Diane Becker, 30 Ninjas CEO Jed Weintrob, and director Jon Avnet. This proactive engagement reflects the industry's increasing willingness to openly discuss AI's place in Hollywood, even as the creative community grapples with fears surrounding generative AI, model training, and the proliferation of deepfakes.

The group's foundational document, titled “Human Generative Workflows,” seeks to stimulate industry-wide discussion and provide a shared vocabulary for understanding authorship in the era of generative AI. While acknowledging that the document doesn't delve into critical issues like AI model training or potential job displacement, the group emphasizes that the conversation extends beyond AI itself. Instead, it focuses on uniting the entertainment community to collaboratively shape a shared approach to the future of the creative process, asserting that “The future of entertainment will be shaped not by AI alone, but by the choices we make about how AI is integrated into the creative process.”

A core issue addressed by the framework is the current ambiguity surrounding the term “AI,” which is often used indiscriminately to refer to both simple tools like color grading assists and complex applications such as prompted synthetic performances replacing actors. To rectify this, the group proposes developing a classification system to differentiate various forms of AI used in production and, eventually, for audiences. The framework further distinguishes between AI-assisted tools—like upscaling, sharpening, and markerless motion capture—which are already producing copyrightable work, and AI-generated assets such as voices and likenesses that substitute for human creative work. The latter, the group asserts, are not copyrightable, drawing a clear line between tools that serve human vision and prompt-based generative tools that replace it.

Ultimately, the group hopes that the publication of this framework will ignite a broader dialogue within the entire entertainment sector, including creatives in music, sound, and writing. This conversation is intended to refine the diverse use cases for AI, addressing vital concerns such as artist consent and equitable compensation for the use of their likenesses for generative purposes. Reaffirming their core belief, the group reiterates, “The future of entertainment will be shaped not by AI alone, but by the choices we make about how AI is integrated into the creative process.”