Is Hollywood warming to AI?
To measure the progress of AI video, you need only look at Will Smith eating spaghetti.
Since 2023, this unlikely sequence — entirely fabricated — has become a technological benchmark for the industry.
Two years ago, the actor appeared blurry, his eyes too far apart, his forehead exaggeratedly protruding, his movements jerky, and the spaghetti didn't even reach his mouth.
The version published a few weeks ago by a user of Google's Veo 3 platform showed no apparent flaws whatsoever.
"Every week, sometimes every day, a different one comes out that's even more stunning than the next," said Elizabeth Strickler, a professor at Georgia State University.
Between Luma Labs' Dream Machine launched in June 2024, OpenAI's Sora in December, Runway AI's Gen-4 in March 2025, and Veo 3 in May, the sector has crossed several milestones in just a few months.
Runway has signed deals with Lionsgate studio and AMC Networks television group.
Lionsgate vice president Michael Burns told New York Magazine about the possibility of using artificial intelligence to generate animated, family-friendly versions from films like the John Wick or Hunger Games franchises, rather than creating entirely new projects.
"Some use it for storyboarding or previsualisation" -- steps that come before filming -- "others for visual effects or inserts," said Jamie Umpherson, Runway's creative director.
Burns gave the example of a script for which Lionsgate has to decide whether to shoot a scene or not.
To help make that decision, they can now create a 10-second clip "with 10,000 soldiers in a snowstorm." That kind of pre-visualisation would have cost millions before.
In October, the first AI feature film was released — Where the Robots Grow — an animated film without anything resembling live action footage.
For Alejandro Matamala Ortiz, Runway's co-founder, an AI-generated feature film is not the end goal, but a way of demonstrating to a production team that "this is possible."
'Resistance everywhere'
Still, some see an opportunity. In March, startup Staircase Studio made waves by announcing plans to produce seven to eight films per year using AI for less than $500,000 each, while ensuring it would rely on unionised professionals wherever possible.
"The market is there," said Andrew White, co-founder of small production house Indie Studios.
People "don't want to talk about how it's made," White pointed out. "That's inside baseball. People want to enjoy the movie because of the movie."
But White himself refuses to adopt the technology, considering that using AI would compromise his creative process.
Umpherson argues that AI allows creators to stick closer to their artistic vision than ever before, since it enables unlimited revisions, unlike the traditional system constrained by costs.
"I see resistance everywhere" to this movement, observed Georgia State's Strickler.
This is particularly true among her students, who are concerned about AI's massive energy and water consumption as well as the use of original works to train models, not to mention the social impact.
But refusing to accept the shift is "kind of like having a business without having the internet," she said. "You can try for a little while."
In 2023, the American actors' union SAG-AFTRA secured concessions on the use of their image through AI.
Strickler sees AI diminishing Hollywood's role as the arbiter of creation and taste, instead allowing more artists and creators to reach a significant audience.
Runway's founders, who are as much trained artists as they are computer scientists, have gained an edge over their AI video rivals in film, television, and advertising.
But they're already looking further ahead, considering expansion into augmented reality and virtual reality — for example creating a metaverse where films could be shot.
"The most exciting applications aren't necessarily the ones that we have in mind," said Umpherson. "The ultimate goal is to see what artists do with technology."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
26 minutes ago
- Express Tribune
Ozzy Osbourne dies at 76
Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary frontman of heavy metal group Black Sabbath, died on Tuesday at the age of 76, his family announced in a statement, as per AFP. "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning," read the family's statement. "He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time." The British singer leaves behind his wife Sharon, six children, a host of grandchildren and a permanent legacy in the annals of rock'n'roll. Heavy metal maestro Osbourne will go down in rock history as the "godfather of heavy metal" who fulfilled his hard-living dreams as the frontman of Black Sabbath. After decades of debauchery and more than 100 million albums sold, his death came a little more than two weeks after Black Sabbath played a farewell concert to 40,000 fans at Villa Park, in his native Birmingham. Rock royalty lined up to pay tribute to him including Metallica, Guns N' Roses and members of Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones at the stadium that is the home to his beloved Aston Villa football team. Ozzy, as he was routinely referred to, attracted legions of new fans in the 2000s after appearing as the hard-of-hearing, slightly crazy but doting grandfather in MTV's hit reality show The Osbournes, a far cry from the excesses that defined his 1970s heyday. Until his renaissance, he was best known in the mainstream for biting the head of a live bat during a concert and for urinating in the wine glass of a record-label chief – as well as on the Alamo monument in Texas. But for hard-rock fans he will forever be remembered as the "Prince of Darkness" leading Black Sabbath, the band that helped launch heavy metal, a blend of rock and blues drenched in distortion and dark lyrics. 'Girls ran out screaming' The band enjoyed immediate success on the release of its eponymous debut album in 1970. Hundreds of thousands around the world continued to flock to hear rock hymns such as Paranoid, War Pigs and Iron Man at the band's riotous live shows for almost 50 years, until the band brought down the curtain a first time with a gig in Birmingham in 2017. Ozzy, like many of his contemporaries, suffered from gaps in his memory due to drink and drugs on the road, but few can claim to have such monumental black holes. He said that he had forgotten attempting to strangle his wife Sharon the year their eldest daughter was born, adding that he had very few recollections from the 1990s as a whole. In 2010, scientists even analysed his genome to try to understand how he had survived so much self-inflicted punishment. Ozzy said he could not remember where he performed Black Sabbath's debut album for the first time. "But I can sure as hell remember the audience's reaction: all the girls ran out of the venue, screaming," he recalled in his autobiography I am Ozzy. His wild lifestyle led to run-ins with the law, including visits to court on charges of satanism and encouraging suicide, though his criminal career started before he joined the band, spending time in jail for stealing a television and baby clothes. Born John Michael Osbourne, the singer came from a working-class family in Birmingham on December 3, 1948. He inherited his nickname in primary school. Dyslexic and angry with homework, he left school at 15 before working in manual jobs, including at an abattoir. But he decided he would become a rock star after hearing the Beatles on the radio, a fantasy he realised incredibly quickly. 'Everyone around me is dying' Shortly after meeting guitarist Tony Iommi, the two decided to "stop doing blues and write scary music instead", inspired by horror films. The resulting sound of heavy riffs accompanied by Ozzy's droning voice singing lyrics exploring the dark side of human nature became the template for heavy metal. "Pink Floyd was music for rich college kids, and we were the exact opposite of that," he said. Albums followed at a frantic pace, often shunned by critics but acclaimed by fans. Ozzy left the band in 1979, going on to have a successful solo career and releasing 11 albums while juggling a turbulent personal life. His first marriage to Thelma, with whom he had two children, Elliot and Jessica, was by his own admission a disaster. In 1982 he married Sharon, his manager, who quickly became his rock. They had three children – Aimee, Kelly and Jack – and adopted another boy, Roberto. Despite his seemingly carefree personality, the deaths of his rocker friend Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead and David Bowie left him in a reflective mood. "Everybody's dying around me, but I'm at that age," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 2016. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2019, with all profits from his last concert on July 5 going to charities including Cure Parkinson's and Birmingham Children's Hospital. The Prince of Darkness clung on for another six years after his diagnosis, before joining his peers in the pantheon of late, great British musicians.
Express Tribune
a day ago
- Express Tribune
Italian festival drops Putin-aligned conductor
Gergiev is recognised as one of the world's leading conductors. Photo: File Italy's Royal Palace of Caserta announced on Monday that it was cancelling a weekend concert of pro-Kremlin maestro Valery Gergiev – a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin – after an uproar from politicians and Kremlin critics, reports AFP. Gergiev has not condemned Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a stance for which he was fired from the Munich Philharmonic in March 2022. He has not played a concert in Europe since. The scheduled concert in the 18th century palace near Naples – now a museum – had caused a heated debate in Italy, with Ukraine condemning the move and Russia's exiled opposition calling for protests. Days of uncertainty over whether the concert would take place ended with an abrupt cancellation. "The Directorate of the Royal Palace of Caserta has ordered the cancellation of the symphony concert conducted by Valery Gergiev, scheduled as part of the Un'Estate da Re festival for July 27," the palace said in a brief statement. It gave no official reason for the cancellation. The team of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny welcomed the cancellation on social media with a "Hurrah!". "Putin's pals should not be touring around Europe like nothing happened," they said in a statement. Moscow's ambassador to Italy, Alexei Paramonov, however, slammed the move as a "scandalous situation". In a statement on the Russian embassy's Facebook account, Paramonov railed against Western politicians' "policy of 'cancelling' Russian culture". He also said it was "sad" to watch Italy "subordinate its cultural policy to the demands of Ukrainians and other immigrants". Russia's state TASS news agency said Gergiev was not informed about the decision, quoting the conductor as saying: "I do not have this information." 'Common sense' Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli – who had earlier warned that the concert risked turning into a propaganda event – said the cancellation was "common sense" and aimed at "protecting the values of the free world". The 72-year-old Gergiev – recognised as one of the world's leading conductors – is known for conducting epic symphonies of Russian classical music by Piotr Tchaikovsky, amongst other successes in Western opera houses. For decades, he has been one of the most vocal supporters of Putin's long rule. He famously played a 2016 concert in the ruins of Syria's Palmyra after its capture by Russian-backed Syrian forces. He also conducted a triumphant concert in Georgia's Tskhinvali region after the Russian invasion in 2008, just a few metres from a detention centre where Georgian civilians were being held. Gergiev also supported the Kremlin's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. The conductor has stayed silent on the Ukraine invasion and mostly out of the public eye since 2022, but has played concerts in Asia. He is believed to have personal ties with Putin. In 2023, Putin named him as the director of Moscow's historic Bolshoi Theatre, while he was already heading Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky theatre. Russia's cultural figures have been divided since the Ukraine invasion – with many supporting the Kremlin while others have gone into exile to denounce the military offensive.
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Express Tribune
Astronomer CEO resigns after viral Coldplay moment
The CEO of an American tech company resigned Saturday after a video of him embracing an alleged colleague at a Coldplay concert went viral and fuelled relentless memes, reports AFP. "Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met," New York-based Astronomer said in a statement shared on LinkedIn. "Andy Byron has tendered his resignation," the firm said, after previously launching an investigation. During a Coldplay concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Wednesday, the jumbotron zoomed in on a man and a woman embracing in the stands. But the canoodling pair appeared shocked and horrified when they spotted themselves on the big screen, with the man ducking out of frame and the woman hiding her face. "Uh-oh, what? Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy," joked Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Within hours, internet sleuths tracked down the man as Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and said the woman was the company's chief people officer, Kristin Cabot, alleging that the two were having a not-so-discreet affair. The video has garnered millions of views on TikTok and other social media, giving rise to memes discussing everything from the folly of having an affair at a Coldplay concert, to the hypocrisy of an HR representative seemingly caught in a workplace relationship. "The craziest thing about the Astronomer CEO cheating scandal is that it was the HR lady," said one X user. "The person who would warn you against fraternising with coworkers." Users with zero stakes in the affair have been churning out to add their own comments, observations and analysis to Cabot and Byron's collective misery. "Could have been worse - imagine the embarrassment if it had been Nickelback," wrote one commenter. Another eagle-eyed user noted, "Coldplay hasn't made a single in years. Last night they made two." Thoughts and prayers were also held for other men in a similarly precarious position to Byron who had escaped the unsolicited attention of this particular crowd-cam. "[The other guy cheating on his wife at the Coldplay concert: 'Phew'.]," offered one forward-thinking commenter, paying homage to other individuals who were able to successfully carry out their cheating in private that night. Furry mascots of the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team jumped on the trend and recreated the scene for the jumbotron at a game after the video went viral. However an apology statement attributed to Byron which spread rapidly online was fake and appeared to have originated from a parody account.
