cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/1708448
Text for the visually impaired: Post by lestatlestits
I see Hollywood is now very into the idea of buying something once and then owning it forever and being able to make infinite copies. Which. Isn’t quite the message they imparted upon me in my childhood. I the spirit of their own long-held stance:
A photoshopped version of the “You wouldn’t download a car” ad saying: “You wouldn’t download an actor”
I feel very out of the loop. What are Hollywood doing?
They’re trying to fire all the talent that made them rich so they can use AI to find out firsthand that creating content takes talent. Meanwhile all the talent will join creative co-ops and replace Hollywood. Big platforms will side with Hollywood and AI and also fail. The fediverse will eat them all. Muhaha I’m being simplistic…
One of the biggest reasons for the SAG strike is because of AI/DL generated footage of actors and actresses. We have seen bits of it in various Star Wars and the like, but tech is only getting better.
The current (arguably intentionally egregious) drama is the revelation/accusation that “Hollywood” are more or less telling performers that they want the rights to use them in all perpetuity. So Vin Diesel does one movie and then that studio can have an AI come on screen and say “family” for thousands of years. And this obviously resonates well with the Futurama gag
That said, the reality is a lot closer to what we have already seen. There is not a lot of value in owning the rights to an actor or actress because they will always “look off” no matter how photorealistic it gets. What “hollywood” instead wants is a training data database. Make your female actresses an amalgamation of all the most attractive features in human history but blended to be “imperfect” so that people believe it. Male actors who can combine Hugh Laurie’s eyes with Hugh Jackman’s body and so forth.
This was sort of tried in the early 2000s with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within where the big deal was that the lead actress’s 3d model would become a real actress in her own right (even if she was voiced by Ming-Na Wen). It bombed for a lot of reasons, obviously. But, sticking with Final Fantasy, just look at how THIRSTY the internet got over trying to figure out who Jenny (or whatever lady ecoterrorist was called) was modeled after and the realization that she was likely a body morph of a bunch of actresses and models.
AI Voice impressions are also getting very good, very quickly. I can convert a song to an AI celebrity cover in a few minutes on consumer grade hardware with a model trained on 15 minutes of audio. We will almost certainly reach a point within my lifetime, probably within 20 years, where you literally can’t tell the difference between an AI actor and a real one.
Jet Li refused to be in the Matrix sequels after the Wachowskis told him they’re were going to copy his appearance and kung fu moves so they could use them forever.
Digital doubles for things like unsafe stunts are fine. Using them so you never have to pay an actor again is very much not.
My bad understanding is that Hollywood was giving actors contracts where they would own your likeness forever. They want to make 3D models of actors they could use in future projects without the actors consent. Effectively not needing to hire actors because they could use past 3D models.
If anyone has more info please correct me.
I was under the impression the main reason for the strike was something about streaming residuals
It’s both.
SeinfeldVision