The Conversation Hollywood Can't Avoid

Artificial intelligence has moved from a distant concern to a frontline issue in the film industry. The 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes brought the debate into sharp public focus, with writers and actors fighting for protections against AI-generated content and digital likenesses. But what exactly is happening, what's likely to change, and what should film lovers understand about this shift?

Where AI Is Already Being Used in Film

AI tools have quietly been part of the production pipeline for several years already:

  • De-aging and visual effects: Machine learning has been used to smooth wrinkles, restore youthful appearances, and create digital doubles — most famously in Marvel productions and The Irishman.
  • Script analysis: Studios use AI tools to analyze scripts for commercial viability, identifying elements correlated with box office performance.
  • Localization: AI-powered dubbing tools are being developed that can match lip movements and adjust audio for international markets far faster than traditional methods.
  • Trailers and marketing: AI tools are increasingly used in post-production workflows for color grading, sound design, and editing assistance.

The Concerns Driving the Debate

The film industry's labor concerns around AI fall into a few key categories:

  1. Digital likenesses: The ability to scan an actor's likeness and use it in perpetuity without additional compensation raises profound ethical and contractual questions.
  2. Writer replacement: Generative AI tools can now produce functional script drafts, raising fears that studios will use AI for first drafts and reduce writing staff.
  3. Background performers: Studios reportedly sought rights to scan background actors' likenesses for a flat fee — a practice unions successfully pushed back against.
  4. Creative ownership: AI-generated content raises unresolved questions about who holds copyright and creative credit.

What the Unions Won — and What Remains Unresolved

The 2023 strikes resulted in important initial protections: writers retained rights over AI-generated script content being used without their consent, and actors won baseline protections for digital likenesses. However, industry observers note these are first-round agreements in what will be a long negotiation. As AI capabilities advance, the contracts will need continual updating.

The Audience Perspective

For filmgoers, the most immediate questions are aesthetic: will AI-generated performances and scripts produce films that feel hollow or homogenized? Early AI-generated content suggests these tools struggle with the authentic human specificity — the unexpected choices, the lived experience — that makes great performances and writing memorable.

There's also a transparency issue. Should audiences know when significant AI tools were used in a film's production? Many argue yes, in the same way visual effects work is credited.

Looking Ahead

AI will almost certainly become a standard part of the filmmaking toolkit — the question is how it's governed and who benefits. The most optimistic vision is one where AI handles repetitive technical tasks, freeing human creators to focus on the irreplaceable work of storytelling, performance, and vision. The most pessimistic is one where it's used primarily to cut costs at the expense of creative workers.

Either way, the decisions made in the next few years will shape what Hollywood — and cinema itself — looks like for decades to come.