In Hollywood, AI's no match for creativity, say top executive

A leading executive said the technology would never eclipse the human creative. Read more at straitstimes.com.

AUSTIN - Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming Hollywood at a pace that has sent shockwaves through creative industries, but human creativity will always prevail, a leading executive at the cutting edge of that change told AFP.

The disruption was a dominant theme at this week’s South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, where veteran American director Steven Spielberg made clear he was drawing a line in the sand.

“I’ve never used AI on any of my films yet. We have a writer’s room. All the seats are occupied,” Spielberg said. “I am not for AI if it replaces a creative individual.”

Mr Joshua Davies, chief innovation officer of Artlist – a Tel Aviv-based AI video platform that has most recently been positioning itself as a supplier of creative tools to film-makers – told AFP the technology would never eclipse the human creative.

If given the choice between something made using an AI tool by a techie and a creative, “I know which one I would rather watch at the end,” said Mr Davies, who founded video editing software company FXhome before it was acquired by Artlist in 2021.

Mr Davies acknowledged the industry’s anxiety was not unfounded, with new video models having “struck fear in the hearts of everybody” – not just over copyright and personality infringement, but over the fundamental question of how film and television production will look in a matter of years.