The AI Takeover of All Media Is Coming

"AI is coming for content, meaning everything from advertising and novels to movies and journalism. The result, starting very soon, is likely to be simultaneously horrific, wonderful, depressing, and exciting. There will be not only creative destruction, but also lots of plain old destruction. Having spent most of my adult life producing research, journalism, and documentaries, as well as consuming many escapist novels and movies, I have great sympathy for creators."

"First, consider the prospects for Hollywood. The film and television industry has already been contracting for years, owing to the new forms of media delivery (like streaming services) enabled by the internet, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. The decline of cable TV and DVDs reflects a variety of factors, including video streaming, the rise of user-generated content, the democratization of creation through inexpensive cameras and software, and the resulting competition for eyeballs from YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok."

"Yet throughout this decade of painful contraction, the fundamental techniques of video production didn't change much. You still used real cameras to film real people and things. Soon, though, all these real-world inputs will be obsolete, replaced by AI. The pioneers of this new world will be, without exception, startups, some of them less than a year old. Not a single legacy studio, producer, or distributor is at the forefront of AI filmmaking or distribution."

AI will transform content across advertising, novels, movies, and journalism, producing outcomes both horrific and wonderful. The change will cause creative destruction and substantial practical disruption. Film and television have contracted for years because of new media delivery—streaming, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Cable TV and DVDs declined due to video streaming, the rise of user-generated content, cheaper cameras and software, and competition from YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. Despite years of contraction, video production methods remained the same—real cameras filming real people and things. Those real-world inputs will soon be obsolete, replaced by AI. Startups, not legacy studios, are leading AI filmmaking and distribution, including Runway, Arcana, Flick, Koyal, and Zingroll.

Read at www.project-syndicate.org