The Sky Is The Limit

On February 22nd, OpenAI launched a revolutionary technology that has been both exciting and concerning for the entertainment industry. Sora, the text-to-video artificial intelligence, can generate up to one-minute videos with a quality we have never seen before - as written in Forbes.

"Sora" means "sky" in Japanese, and its developers chose this name to evoke the idea of limitless creative potential. Although this technology is not available to the public yet, you can watch its first videos here. 

Job Loss

In a recent THR interview, Tyler Perry announced that he postponed indefinitely his studio expansion (that would cost $800 MM) after witnessing firsthand what Sora could do. It only takes a few magic words to make images come to life.

Even though the prospect of cutting an immense amount of costs while maintaining a high-quality product might seem fascinating, Perry showed concern about the jobs that will be lost. Not only screenwriters and actors, but whole set crews could be replaced by Sora - from makeup to electricity; from art department to VFX (read more on this THR article). 

Not a Joke

Everything we know about AI is evolving so fast that it's hard to keep up and understand where it's going. This is something that was only expected to happen in the next two years (read it on Scientific American). Before Sora, AI-generated videos were blurry, undefined, and even treated as a joke. It didn't look like we would be able to fully develop an entire feature film anytime soon. Well, all predictions are being proven wrong, as this NY Times article points out. 

Laws and regulations

How to regulate what we cannot fully comprehend yet? This is the biggest question regarding the use of AI in the entertainment industry. And then again, the copyright issues. OpenAI has not answered the questions about how Sora is being fed to learn and improve. The company has already faced lawsuits for infringing copyrights with ChatGPT. 

Together

After the double WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, the entertainment industry needs to come together in order to face and regulate the AI tsunami. AI is inevitably going to be a part of future projects - it's already happening. The goal now is to prevent and control the damage over all the jobs and careers that will be lost. 

Cheers,

 Duda

(Duda Persson is a junior content manager at Malin Entertainment)