How AI Could Transform Movies as We Know Them

In recent years, technological evolutions have led to a revolution in visual media. Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between real images and digitally created ones.

To add to this progress, artificial intelligence, which has been intensely developed in the past five years, now promises to further blur the lines between reality and fiction. In the film industry, AI has opened up endless possibilities in video editing, scriptwriting, and, most importantly, digital image creation.

The Rise of Deepfakes

One of the biggest concerns related to AI is deepfakes and how they can distort the reality in which we live. Most people will be familiar with the term deepfake thanks to recent pictures in which the Pope is wearing a white puffer jacket or sitting on the beach. As shown by ExpressVPN’s blog piece, deepfakes are actively changing the way we remember things and events and are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. Ultimately, this can even contribute to the Mandela effect, according to which large parts of the public incorrectly remember specific events.

As a result, the introduction of deepfakes or highly realistic images in films could prove dangerous and raise questions regarding the role of actors in films and the limits to the use of AI in the seventh art.

AI in Hollywood

Filmmaking has always relied on visual effects to simulate different types of settings and situations. However, in recent years, because of the rapid development of computer software and computational power, such progress was radically sped up. Nowadays, most productions feature realistic CGI and animations, but still, many insiders are now predicting that AI is the future of visual effects in the film industry. 

In practical terms, artificially generated images could help create fictitious worlds and animated characters but are also powerful enough to transform the craft of filmmaking. For instance, currently, AI is already capable of producing hyper-realistic images of some of the most famous people in the world and accurately mimicking their expressions and movements – even their voices. In the future, further technological development could see AI create ultra-realistic sequences with deepfakes, dispensing human actors completely. 

However, this wouldn’t be entirely new, since, in the past, producers and directors have used CGI and body doubles to replace actors. That is the case with Paul Walker in Furious 7 (as reported by Screen Rant) or Brandon Lee in The Crow. Nonetheless, it should be noted that while technology has already been used to ‘replace’ actors, AI-generated images and videos would go well beyond any digital tools currently available. 

Going forward: ethics and legislation

Much like other forms of AI-generated content, the debate around AI in films should focus on two central points to guide us forward: ethics and legislation. First and foremost, filmmakers and AI developers should reflect on the ethical and moral responsibility of creating deepfake videos or images of real people and the impact they might have. Additionally, it is inevitable that AI content comes to fall under specific legislation, as detailed by The Guardian, that can regulate what images can be created, shared and how to protect the image of individuals.

Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the cross of AI and filmmaking will mark a new age in entertainment and transform the medium itself.