Hollywood Faces AI Reckoning: Creativity at a Crossroads | Image Source: www.redsharknews.com
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, 31 March 2025 – The bright Hollywood lights can dazzle from afar, but behind the device, an existential conversation is being created – a conversation not led by celebrity or box-office gossip, but by code, algorithms, and the radical increase of artificial intelligence. To the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) This year, the Las Vegas show, the president of the Academy of Arts and Movement Sciences, Janet Yang, gave a sober but cautious message about the growing presence of AI in entertainment: the future must include – and be led by – the human touch.
“We need the human behind AI,” Yang said at a roundtable, highlighting the Academy’s strong position on preserving human fatherhood in the creative process. According to Variety, he stressed the importance of understanding IV as a tool – not as a substitute – in an area where narration is essentially a human effort. Together with Annie Chang, Chairman of the Academy’s Scientific and Technological Council, both reiterated a clear message: machines can help, but people must stay at the heart of Hollywood’s creative engine.
The changing sands of literary creation
The conversation about AI is no longer theoretical. From award-winning films to experimental short films, AI makes incursions through production, post-production and even performance. According to BBC News, this year two films named by Oscar – Emilia Pérez and The Brutalist - have openly integrated artificial intelligence tools to improve vocal work and refined accents. In The Brutalist, Adrian Brody’s Hungarian accent was perfected using the generic AI, which played a role in his best actor victory. However, while the utility of AI is undeniable, many industry veterans fear that its misuse threatens to dilute – or worse – the irreplaceable soul of cinema.
Filmmakers, unions and studies remain locked in a warm talk about the ethical deployment of AI in creative environments. Just two years ago, Hollywood actors and writers launched massive strikes, partly motivated by requests for protection against AI by replacing human jobs. At that time, AI was painted as the wicked, a silent creative thief. Today, he is tempted for studies, supported by technical entrepreneurs, and quietly integrated into production pipes. Juxtaposition is a syringe.
Can artists and artists coexist?
This issue was furious throughout the NAB conference and echoed the discussions in Atlanta, Los Angeles. According to the Institute of Creative Media Industries of the State University of Georgia (CMII), the answer can be in context and control. Elizabeth Strickler, Director of Entrepreneurship and Media Innovation at CIAI, said AI can be a valuable tool, but only when guided by human intent. “IA has no meaning without the artist at the centre,” said Strickler. In a world of unlimited digital possibilities, the core of narration must still come from living human experience.
Strickler believes in a set of guiding principles when working with AI: keeping people-centred narrative, using AI to improve – not too much – creativity, and keeping people in control of technology. These are not only high-profile ideals; These are practical principles that you plan to teach this summer in a course dedicated to the creation of films entirely generated by AI. ”People can create impressive and impressive work with a computer at home,” he said. But the emphasis is on authenticity, not automation.
What’s the IA Boom fuel in Hollywood?
Much of the acceleration comes from the democratization of powerful tools. AI image generators such as DALL · E 2, used in the short film Waymark El Frost, are now accessible to independent filmmakers and Youtubers. As reported in the MIT Technology Review, Waymark created his 24-minute film using general AI, transforming static images into dynamic scenes with flashing eyes and moving lips. Production was an important step, showing what is possible when IA, creativity, and minimal resources are intersected.
Start-ups like Moonvalley take advantage of this dynamic. Co-founded by Bryn Mooser, Marey’s AI video tool pays creators for their original images, offering what Mooser describes as a “clean” use of AI. Mooser told BBC News, “Artists must be on the table… it is better to build tools for filmmakers than to be stopped by the great technology.” However, scepticism abounds. Critics argue that even IA’s ethical tools threaten the collaborative and human resource culture of cinematography by devaluing the roles that require years of training and intuition.
How do studies respond?
The response of the main studies was better. While Disney, Paramount and Universal have extensive libraries of copyright-protected material – a source of life to form AI models – none have made any demands against technology giants for the use of this material without consent. However, writers and actors have not been so silent. OpenAI, Google and other technology companies are now fighting the multiple demands of creators and news organizations that copyright content has been used to form AI without authorization or compensation.
This area of legal shadow has only exacerbated tensions, creating an imbalance of power that favours large technology platforms compared to individual creators. According to Variety, the Academy’s position is clear: to protect human fatherhood at all costs. But in practice, this requires more than promotion, executable industrial standards, clear legal frameworks and, above all, transparent communication between AI creators, studies and developers.
What challenges do AI still face in films?
AI can progress quickly, but it is far from impeccable. According to RedShark News, Eric Shamlin from Secret Level showed a Martial Arts trailer generated by AI created using Google Ve. Although visually striking, the project revealed significant limitations. Problems such as lifeless emotions, senseless facial animations and imprecise cliché compositions emphasized the need for human supervision. Shamlin himself admitted, “We still need actors.”
Even when AI tools improve, they often require enormous resources to deliver marginal profits. The term “excellently more resources to achieve better linear results” was a recurring theme in the SAB. This suggests that, despite popular fears, AI will not eliminate traditional movie roles at night. Instead, we are likely to move towards a hybrid model, where humans and machines collaborate, each fill leaves the other empty. Think of it as an electrical address in a car: useful, but not autonomous.
Will it democratize or dilute cinema?
Depends on how it wilts. On the one hand, AI could significantly reduce production costs, allowing emerging artists to create visually impressive stories from their show. As Strickler pointed out, “IA could help discover the next Quentin Tarantino or Martin Scorsese, even if they do not have the support of a great study.” It is a convincing promise – creative equity in action.
But there’s a back side. Reducing entry barriers can also flood the market with content that lacks depth, consistency or originality. It’s not because someone can make a movie that everyone makes a good one. In a landscape of saturated content, human narrative, emotion and artistic vision become even more vital, no less.
Some compare AI cinema to the invention of the music synthesizer. At first, he seemed able to replace the instrumentalists, but eventually expanded the sound palette for the musicians who embraced him. Similarly, AI can reshape the film not by erasing humans, but by offering new tools for creative expression, provided these tools are used with care, intent and respect for craftsmanship.
And then what about AI and Hollywood?
Despite deep divisions, there is growing consensus on the need to find a medium ground. As Yang said when he appeared at the NAB, “what we do is a spectre of love at one end and money at the other… now it has to be love.” In this spirit, the Academy has published its ACES 2.0 - a new version of its open source color management system – as a step towards inclusion and education in production technologies. According to Variety, this system aims to empower filmmakers of all origins, whether they embrace or resist IV.
Meanwhile, AI continues to weave deeper into the Hollywood fabric. Directors of Marvel Joe and Anthony Russo who invest $400 million in AI tools for filmmakers, at OpenAI, which is hosting their first AI film festival in Los Angeles, the tides are fast becoming. However, when the rain fell at Silver Lake during a cocktail hosted by Moonvalley, a rare event for Angelenos, a frame summarized the prevailing sentiment: “We’re here to learn.”
Learning, adapting and negotiating – that’s what awaits us. Because if one thing is clear from this year’s NAB and the discussions surrounding it, the question is not whether AI belongs to Hollywood. That’s how, and in what terms.
And that answer, like any good film, will depend on who tells the story.
