The constant march of Artificial Intelligence – A.I. – is a hot topic in every boardroom in the world right now. In the creative industries, the feeling of fear is palpable. Technical craft, years or training, all under threat by suits and their latest tech tools, with dollar signs in their eyes. Actors are also starting to feel the heat, and one of those is Jodie Foster.
Foster, now also a director, was on a panel at the Aspen Festival of Ideas for a talk named Who Owns the Future of Hollywood. She was joined by former Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton.
When asked about A.I., the trade Variety reports she had this to say:
“I don’t say this disparagingly – how could I? This movie went on to make millions of dollars. But I look at a movie like ‘F1′ and I’m like, ‘F1′ was made by AI. Wasn’t it?
I mean, the structure was exactly the structure that you would learn in school. The actors say the lines exactly the way it would be written if a computer was writing exactly what would be the right thing for that time.
And they were able to dominate the technology to make something big and beautiful and potentially where a lot of the information comes from other places.”
When talking about A.I, generated likeness use, she said:
“Hopefully, things like unions will be able to come in and say, you can use my actor 20 times, but you’re going to pay him 20 times. And I think that’s fair.”
She said filmmakers should embrace the technology, but they should control it rather than the other way around:
“What we all would love is that filmmakers would be able to dominate AI, and never lose sight of that. If we are able to dominate AI consistently over time, we will be able to make things that reflect us, and we can make things better.”
Joseph Kosinski’s F1 was one of last year’s highest-grossing movies, and gained critical appreciation as well as a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and an Oscar for sound design.
