TVBEurope’s artificial intelligence columnist Graham Lovelace explains why a groundbreaking studio pact is a big deal for AI
This year’s IBC was abuzz with artificial intelligence as vendors demonstrated time-saving automation and showcased integrations of the technology’s content-creating sibling, generative AI. But as exciting as these innovations are, an agreement signed thousands of miles outside of Amsterdam is the one that could determine the trajectory of the still-nascent technology’s relationship with broadcast media.
Before I explain why, let’s all get on the same page: Generative AI creates words, audio, photos, and video in response to text or image prompts. The hard work is done by a model, a complex set of machine learning algorithms, trained on large amounts of data. AI models analyze patterns in that training data, build a series of statistical correlations, and use them to create content based on the likelihood that a particular word, sound, or cluster of pixels will be followed by another.
Image and video generators have come a long way in a short time: people with six fingers, three legs and faint hairlines have switched to photorealistic outputs. Generative video remains a work in progress, but is good enough to convince Hollywood studios to take a look, while several directors and filmmakers are experimenting with Google’s video generator Veo and OpenAI’s rival product Sora. In June, Sora was used to create the first generative TV ad for Toys ‘R’ Us. Veo is rolling out to YouTube creators.
So far, so good. But there’s a problem. Much of the data used to train generative AI models has been taken from the internet without permission from copyright holders. Several AIs admit that model training infringes on creators’ intellectual property rights, but claim it falls under copyright exemptions. Until the courts decide the outcome of multiple lawsuits filed on both sides of the Atlantic, commercial use of generative AI comes with a health warning that at least part of an image or frames in a video may infringe on copyright. It’s a reputational and legal risk that no right-thinking broadcaster would ever want to take.
This is why the agreement between Lionsgate Studios and Runway AI – the first agreement between a major studio and an AI – is so important. The model, which will be used to generate content exclusively for Lionsgate productions, will be trained on its own archive of more than 20,000 TV and film titles. As long as that model is 100 percent trained by Lionsgate, there is no risk that clusters of pixels (if not entire clips) from competing studio productions will find their way into Lionsgate’s generative output. It also means Lionsgate can claim ownership of the synthetic content, solving another legal problem with AI – although I suspect the copyright will be shared with Runway as the system co-creates the material.
Lionsgate – co-producer of Mad men, nurse JackieAnd Orange is the new blackand home of the John Wick, Hunger Games And Twilight franchises – is poised to save what Vice Chairman Michael Burns predicts will be “millions and millions of dollars” as generative AI is used as a tool to “augment, improve and complement our current operations.”
Runway is working on other licensing arrangements for individual creators so they too can build and train their own proprietary models, which will give them the “best and most powerful tools,” according to co-founder and CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela. The Lionsgate deal underwrites this move and signals Runway’s potential strategic shift away from deployments powered by the large model reportedly trained on a dataset built by scraping billions of images and artwork without permission or compensation from the maker. This accusation is at the heart of a class action lawsuit filed by a group of artists against Runway and image generators Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt. Developing large B2B relationships future-proofs his business in the event that the AIs are forced to delete data allegedly collected without consent, or pay for it – a financial burden that is unlikely to be viable even for start-up ups with a value of hundreds of millions (if not several) billions) and hi-techs with stratospheric market capitalizations.
Generative AI developers have much to gain from following a more ethical path, building trusted relationships with media groups that are symbiotic rather than parasitic, and devising solutions supported by technology that is as transparent as possible rather than hidden to remain in a black box. If they can do this and demonstrate that their products are ethical and commercially safe, then the TV and film industry has an opportunity to do something different: welcome a new generation of visual storytellers who are already using generative tools to create new content. . They bring new skills, a fresh perspective and youthful creative flair to an industry that knows it must adapt in the age of generative AI.
Graham maps the global impact of generative AI on human-made media grahamlovelace.substack.com
