Kathleen Kennedy Dealt the Final Blow in the Hollywood and AI Debate
Few people know the film industry like Kathleen Kennedy. The former Lucasfilm president definitely has the recipe for producing a hit,, with films like E.T, Jurassic Park, and The Sixth Sense on her star-studded CV.
So, when she has something to say about making movies it’s probably worth listening to, even if it’s something you don’t want to hear. And her most recent audience, at the Runway AI summit, would have likely not wanted to listen to what the superstar producer had to say.
While speaking to Runway founder Cristóbal Valenzuela on stage, Kennedy was clear that she didn’t think AI could make films. As per THR: “It’s [creating good films] life experiences; it’s educational. The best directors of films and photography came out of art, they studied art.”
Kennedy didn’t just focus on the creative process, also drilling further into the practical aspects of filmmaking that producers are involved in and most wouldn’t consider, singling out lighting as something that couldn’t be replicated properly as it “permeates everything we [Hollywood] do.” And she stood up for artists whose works have been vultured by LLM training.
“I think what’s missing in the discussion right now is transparency. I think people [in the business] feel that there’s a lot they don’t know about what’s going on. When there’s conversation around how these language models are being trained, for instance… I think if we can reach a point where there’s more transparency in those discussions, and… more transparency… in people using these tools then I think that will help greatly to dissipate [the distrust].”
While she did admit AI had its uses in the grunt work parts of film making, like budgeting and scheduling, she was steadfast in her beliefs, adding “There’s unpredictability in the creative process that’s going to be tricky to preserve because AI is so predictable.”
(featured image: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney)
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