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- 🤖 AI Enters the Spotlight in Hollywood
🤖 AI Enters the Spotlight in Hollywood
+ Lionsgate Announces AI Video Collaboration with Runway
MegaSuperAI
September 22, 2024
Hello, AI Fans!
AI-powered app brings legendary Hollywood voices back to life, allowing them to narrate digital text for modern audiences.
Lionsgate partners with AI firm Runway to create a custom AI model using its film and TV archive, aiming to enhance content creation while sparking industry debate over job security and creativity.
This week’s edition:
AI Enters the Spotlight in Hollywood
Lionsgate Announces AI Video Collaboration with Runway
Your 5-Min AI Learning: Find Movie Suggestions with MovieVanders
New AI Tools
More AI News
AI Image of the Week
Read time: 7 minutes
LATEST NEWS
AI Audio in Hollywood
Image Courtesy of OpenAI
What you need to know: ElevenLabs, an AI company specialising in audio tools, has introduced a new feature called "Iconic Voices" for its Reader app. This update allows users to have text content on their phones read aloud by AI-generated voices of famous actors like Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Sir Laurence Olivier.
The finer details:
The Reader app can convert various types of digital text, including e-books, PDFs, and articles, into audio content. It selects voices that match the mood of the text.
ElevenLabs partnered with the estates and heirs of the late stars to recreate their voices, ensuring respect for their legacies.
This technology offers a new way to keep the memory of iconic actors alive, potentially introducing them to new generations of fans.
Currently, the app is available for iOS users in the US, UK, and Canada, with a free three-month trial period. Android users can join a waitlist for future access.
While currently only available in English, the app is expected to expand to 29 languages in the future.
So what? The rise of AI-generated celebrity voices brings both exciting opportunities and significant challenges. It provides a fresh method for preserving the legacies of cultural icons and enhancing how we engage with content, all while showcasing advancements in AI technology. However, this innovation also raises important ethical questions concerning the use of the likenesses of deceased stars. As this technology develops, it could transform our interactions with media and legacies, while simultaneously offering new revenue opportunities for the estates that manage these legendary figures.
Lionsgate x Runway
Image courtesy of Apple
What you need to know: Lionsgate, the studio behind popular franchises like The Hunger Games and John Wick, has partnered with AI company Runway to train a new AI model using Lionsgate's extensive film and TV archive. This collaboration aims to develop AI technology for use in future productions, with a focus on creating "cutting edge, capital efficient content creation opportunities".
The finer details:
The partnership is the first of its kind between Runway and a major Hollywood studio.
The AI model will generate cinematic video that can be further adapted using Runway's suite of tools.
Lionsgate filmmakers are reportedly excited about potential applications in pre-production and post-production processes.
Specific details on how the AI technology will be integrated into production processes remain scarce, but Lionsgate Vice Chair Michael Burns suggested that the technology could be used for generating backgrounds and special effects, particularly in action films with explosive scenes.
While many in the industry have expressed concerns, some professionals view the partnership as a positive development that could bridge the gap between AI and traditional film production.
So what? The partnership between Lionsgate and Runway has raised significant concerns in the industry regarding job security, creative integrity, and ongoing legal challenges. Critics worry that AI may replace human roles and reduce originality in filmmaking. However, supporters argue that the technology could improve special effects and streamline production workflows. And the partnership has faced significant backlash, particularly in light of the 2023 Hollywood actors' strike, which was largely driven by concerns over AI's role in filmmaking.
YOUR 5 MIN AI LEARNING
What you need to know: What you need to know: MovieVanders is an AI tool that serves as your ultimate destination for all things cinema! Whether you're a casual viewer or the person who goes to the cinema to watch every other new movie release, MovieVanders can help provide you with tailored movie recommendations based on different movies or series you like or generate some ideas based on themes you choose. It is definitely a way to stop the endless scrolling when finding something to watch in the evening! With a treasure trove of content on timeless classics and the latest blockbusters, Movievanders is the perfect tool to help you embark on an exciting journey through the magic of movies. Get ready to ignite your passion for film like never before!
I love movies and every other free day I have, I either go to the cinema or find a movie to watch, so I’m happy I’ve come across this tool!
P.S. MovieVanders can also import your watchlist, favourites and watched movies from Letterboxd.
Step-by-step:
Visit MovieVanders and in the textbox, type in what type of movie you are wanting to see. For example, I’ve written ‘ A movie like Taxi that is funny and action-packed’. Then select whether you would like either movie or series recommendations from your input. Once done, click the arrow button located in the bottom right of the textbox.
You will now be presented with multiple options of movie suggestions, inspired by what you have written. Alongside the movie name, you will be presented with a trailer of the movie ( to see if it’s for you!) and the streaming services it is currently available on.
Alternatively, you can select one of the suggested prompts underneath the textbox, when on the website’s homepage, if you are struggling for ideas or go through the ‘Popular’ or ‘Today’s pick’ tab on the left horizontal taskbar.
Have fun exploring this site and hopefully, it proves to be useful for you, like it is for me!
LATEST AI TOOLS
LTX Studio’s new features enable creatives to easily build output to help sell their vision and ideas (free)
“AI-powered visual storytelling: From concept to delivery in one seamless platform. From Script to Visual Story. Take a simple idea or a complete script, and transform it into a detailed storyboard.”
A tool to create and animate 3D scenes for dynamic videos and film production (paid)
“Storyteller.ai is an AI-powered 3D creation engine designed to function as a fully digital AI Film Studio, allowing users to construct and animate their own 3D scenes with ease. With capabilities such as facial and body motion capture, voice conversion, and a variety of artistic style transformations, the tool enables creators to generate dynamic videos and films.”
An AI Fact Checker to verify the accuracy of news claims and rumours (free)
“FactBot AI Fact Checker by Snopes is a digital tool designed to verify the truthfulness of various claims and rumors. Users can submit questions about a wide range of topics, including news, politics, entertainment, and more, to ascertain their validity.”
A tool for investment research and analysis (freemium)
“Intellectia.AI is an AI-driven investment research platform that provides investors and traders with essential insights, including financial data access, stock analysis, and news aggregation, to streamline their research and enhance decision-making.”
AI HIGHLIGHTS
One in five GPs in the UK are using generative AI tools like ChatGPT in their practice, despite lacking formal training and facing potential risks, including patient privacy concerns and biases in care. A study revealed that 28% of these GPs use AI to suggest diagnoses, while 29% utilise it for documentation. The NHS currently provides little guidance on AI usage, prompting calls for targeted training and advice for healthcare professionals.
Google has warned that the UK risks falling behind in the global AI race without more data centres and relaxed copyright laws for AI training. The company highlighted that the UK ranks seventh in AI readiness and urged the government to implement supportive policies to enhance its competitive edge amid increasing global investments in AI technology. Key recommendations include establishing a "National Research Cloud" and creating a national skills service to prepare the workforce for AI advancements.
Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, has cryptically hinted at the upcoming release of the Orion AI model, potentially by the end of the year. This new model is expected to significantly advance AI capabilities, building upon GPT-3 and GPT-4's successes. The announcement has generated widespread anticipation in the AI community, with Orion poised to push the boundaries of AI technology and potentially transform various industries.
EssilorLuxottica and Meta have extended their partnership to enhance smart eyewear technology, building on the success of their Ray-Ban Meta glasses. This collaboration aims to integrate AI capabilities into the eyewear, offering features like real-time translations and virtual shopping experiences. The companies anticipate that these advancements will reshape consumer interactions with both digital and physical retail environments.
The head of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, Nikhil Rathi, has warned that AI use in insurance could make some people "uninsurable" while also calling for more experimentation with new technology. Rathi emphasised the need for safe and responsible AI use to drive innovation, but also stressed the importance of an open conversation about risks and trade-offs. He acknowledged the potential benefits of AI-enabled hyper-personalisation in insurance while cautioning against potential discrimination and the risk of making some customers uninsurable.
AI IMAGE OF THE WEEK
This week given all the new Hollywood AI integration news we’re looking at the comparison of AI image generation for a well-known image taken from a movie that was produced using CGI (by humans!)
The image is of Caesar on horseback in the snow from War for the Planet of the Apes.
Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
The prompt we used to generate this image in Bing Image Creator:
“Realistic, ai generative hollywood scene from planet of the apes movie caesar on a horse in the snow looking head on.”
“Caesar’s Dedication” - By MegaSuperAI
I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed!
FEEDBACK
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