AI’s impact on film industry to be explored at special event

Artificial Intelligence is opening up new possibilities in film production that could change cinema and TV forever.

That’s the suggestion of film and AI expert as the University of Reading prepares to host an event about synthetic media and its influence in the screen industries next month.

The thoughts of Dr Dominic Lees are featured in the Summer 2023 edition of the BFI’s Sight and Sound magazine, in which he explores the film production processes that artificial intelligence will have the greatest impact on.

He writes: “AI is opening up new possibilities in film production processes.

“It is a development both inspiring and contentious: already arguments have ignited about the rights and wrongs of using algorithms to replace human imagination and labour in scriptwriting, performance and the creation of moving images.”

The article, out now, explores the benefits and costs of using apps such as ChatGPT in screenwriting, the rapid rise in popularity of deepfakes in Hollywood and the advances in visual effects that have been made possible by AI.

Dr Lees writes: “It is certain that the [AI] technology will take us down extraordinary paths and we will argue over the desirability of the alternative forms of cinema culture that it will present.

“There is a huge risk for filmmakers both in finding ways to use the new technology and in negotiating new relationships with their audience.”

Upcoming event

Next month, Dr Dominic Lees and Dr Mathilde Pavis, Associate Professor in Law, will lead a two-day conference on Synthetic Media and the Screen Industries.

The gathering will enable researchers, innovators, stakeholders and policymakers to discuss recent breakthroughs in synthetic media, concerns around ethics and regulation, and opportunities for collaboration.

Dr Dominic Lees will host day one, which features talks on machine learning in content production and using AI and archived footage together, screenings of upcoming films that have used synthetic media, and opportunities to network.

Dr Mathilde Pavis, an expert on the legal protection of people’s face, voice and body in digital media, will lead day two, which features a talk on ethics and governance in synthetic media, panels featuring experts from the worlds of film and law, and group sessions where participants will have the opportunity to discuss the themes presented at the conference.

The conference will take place at The Meadow Suite, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, RG6 6UA. July 5th-6th, 2023.

View the programme for the conference.