AI shuts down Hollywood

There have been several lawsuits thrown against OpenAI. The biggest one is probably the one filed in California’s federal court in June, citing OpenAI scraped a huge amount of personal data in order for them to train Chat GPT and DALL-E. Microsoft is even named as a defendant here, considering they are a major investor.

The law firm behind the suit provided this comment: “By collecting previously obscure personal data of millions and misappropriating it to develop a volatile, untested technology, OpenAI put everyone in a zone of risk that is incalculable - but unacceptable by any measure of responsible data protection and use.”

So the largest issue here is considering privacy, and undisclosed use of this personal data from various websites and social media platforms.

This is only three days old, but comedian Sarah Silverman has just joined a class action lawsuit with authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey alleging OpenAi has used their own intellectual property for chat-GPT, scraping illegal online libraries that were violating copyright laws. This lawsuit is also levied against Meta claiming that Meta uses the same ‘shadow libraries’ as they are called to train large language models themselves.

So it seems that a lot of the stuff that is used to train these AI chatbots are from copyrighted material. Digital copyright is already such a grey area too- see YouTube and people striking down videos unjustly.

But it’s probably too late already. My thoughts on this lawsuit? They’re just going to slap a fine. I don’t think they are going to dismantle the entire Chat-GPT project considering how useful it is. Some agencies are using it to automate processes that would otherwise be very menial. Marketing agencies are using it to, say, write the copy for ads and posts, or their blogs for SEO optimization. These things otherwise would take time that would otherwise be better spent towards other processes.

I watched a great YouTube video by a channel called BritMonkey called 46 Predictions about Artificial Intelligence. I walked in thinking this is going to be another dystopian prediction of what AI is going to do to our jobs and society. Surprisingly? It was an optimistic view about the effects AI was going to have.

Sure, there were some things that were less than exciting to think about, like Rogue AIs or the shaking-up of the art industry. However, most of it was interesting, and I’m willing to stand beside the claims he makes.

BritMonkey says that the only jobs that get removed are jobs that are seemingly only one task- and AI is replacing the need to have someone do that one task and optimizes the workplace entirely. Assistants can focus on three, maybe five different companies as their AI does the stuff that would otherwise take up the entire day — scheduling meetings, sending follow-up emails, and the assistants can focus on the things that take real human intelligence like creative problem solving or planning with the CEO or executive that they may work for.

The job market becomes saturated with “AI Prompters” people who know what words exactly to input when interacting with generative AI. These people can create exactly what they want and they have had years of experience doing so, and their ability is highly valued in the workforce no matter the industry.

And I mean, this is what I’ve been saying to people all around. AI, when it is inevitably regulated because of course it will be, will help to optimize our lives immeasurably.

Now to go back to what I said about art and AI — writers are already on strike, and as of recording on July 13th actors have voted to strike as well, and part of their demands to production companies is guardrails involving the use of AI in creating movies.

The actor’s guild is concerned that the rise in generative AI could allow production companies to cut costs and allow movies to have actors perform without proper compensation and consent. The writers guild has the same point in regards to the film being written. Now what’s weird is that the director’s guild earlier this year had negotiations, and actually had a deal secured stating that movies could not be directed by AI. What makes it so different for writers and actors?

Now this is the same issue. People online are concerned about the privacy issues with AI scraping personal and confidential data off of social media and other websites. Actors and writers are concerned about their pre-existing material or likeness being used to create something they had no part in without their consent.

It’s a very grey area right now. I think what’s going to happen is that we’ll see a sort of middle ground. AI will be used to generate more “filler” or “entertainment” content a la Marvel’s endless supply of movies and TV shows, while real actors and artists will be focusing more on the art aspect of it. I feel like the industry has already started going down this route already, seemingly taking the cheap and easy way of just releasing movies that have already been made and making very little tweaks to it for a quick buck. I’m talking about YOU, Disney.

Anyways, though, AI has played a part in your favorite movies being delayed or cancelled altogether because of its connotation of ruining art. Generative AI is unregulated and rampant right now. I think once it is reined in and allowed to flourish under guidelines and proper supervision, we could have a really important tool in the toolbox for making our lives easier, so we can focus on the nicer things.