Artificial intelligence is making its way somehow silently but decisively into many industries and aspects of life as companies are seeing the technology’s potential to save them billions of dollars in operating expenses and expedite their internal processes.
One particularly controversial area is the use of AI to create imagery and videos that are used copyright-free to be displayed to large audiences. Yesterday, a milestone was hit as one of the world’s most successful big-screen production companies – Marvel Studios – used the technology to come up with the opening credits of a widely awaited show.
Method Studios Was in Charge of Producing the Opening Sequence
Marvel’s Secret Invasion, a new TV series launched on Disney+ that depicts Nick Fury’s efforts to reveal a plot against humanity on behalf of a shape-shifting race of aliens known as Skrulls is crediting itself with the accomplishment of being the first top-notch production to incorporate AI-generated content.
The use of the technology was confirmed by the show’s director and executive producer, Ali Selim, who, in an interview with Polygon, said that Marvel Studios worked with a company called Method Studios, to create the sequence.
“When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it — it just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this?”, Selim told the entertainment-focused news outlet.
Selim acknowledged that he was not fully aware of how the technology worked but that it felt “explorative and inevitable, and exciting, and different”.
The series is already receiving some negative comments from users who are feeling disappointed by the fact that AI is being used to create this kind of content. Comments include ethical concerns associated with how the software is trained by using artwork and pieces under copyright created by other artists.
Moreover, an interesting tweet from a user compared the use of AI on the opening credits to how the show’s Skrulls progressively penetrated human organizations and structures as part of their plan to take over the world.
In a similar fashion, the pace at which AI is being adopted by businesses, professionals, and organizations across the world is frightening to some extent as there are several risks related to the indiscriminate development of powerful AI models.
AI-Powered Video Generation Tools Are Still at an Early Stage of their Development
Several companies are working on creating tools that facilitate the task of creating storyboards, editing, and adding effects to films. Some prominent players that have already launched beta versions of this type of software include Adobe (ADBE), which recently unveiled its Firefly AI-powered tool for video production and editing.
In addition, some startups like Runway and Metaphysic are also developing generative AI tools that let creators easily produce content by using text prompts. They go beyond the point of editing or polishing existing content to the creation of human characters, speech, scenarios, and computer-generated sequences.
The technology is still at an early stage but the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Metaphysic, Tom Graham, acknowledges that AI may eventually consume “everything”, referring to the fact that it will be an ever-present force in the entertainment industry once it gets to a certain level of advancement.
Data from Market.us indicates that the market for artificial intelligence used in video production will grow rapidly at a rate of around 18.5% per year in the following 9 years to eventually be worth more than $2 billion by 2032.
They refer at this point to video content used on social media platforms primarily but streaming services like Disney+ and Netflix (NFLX) may start to progressively rely on these AI-powered solutions once they get more sophisticated to expedite their production process and save costs.