Sundance, 'The Brutalist' And The Rollback Of AI Resistance

Prominent sentiment has been against the controversial technology. But the Oscar-nominated drama and discussions at this year's film festival have made the topic murky.

PARK CITY, UTAH — Like many conspicuously shifted vibes in the wake of the 2024 election and inauguration of President Donald Trump (big companies dissolving their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts; celebrities’ greater support of Republican platforms; etc.), the discourse against artificial intelligence has also seen a remarkable rollback. Prior to that about-face, there was an almost consistent resistance in Hollywood against the increasing use of AI, especially following the 2023 actors and writers strikes, which tirelessly helped protect human creativity and contribution.

But in the last few weeks, amplified by the news that the editor behind the newly Oscar-nominated drama “The Brutalist” used AI to tweak a few lines of Hungarian dialogue, that anti-AI sentiment has softened — or at least loosened. Public sentiment is moving more and more away from a “fight against AI at every cost” vibe and into our “let’s try to hear out this whole AI thing” era.

Nowhere was that more apparent than at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Typically, festival organizers aim to drive attendees’ attention toward the buzzy movies, celeb-spotting on the snow-capped mountains of Park City, and the parties. There is still plenty of that. But there is also a heightened effort for festivalgoers to be invested in the “opportunities” that AI can bring to filmmaking and how best to use it “ethically.” Organizers took full advantage of the highly populated first weekend of the festival to offer multiple panels that engaged in those conversations.

Having attended two of those talks, it’s hard to say where any of them land as they mostly centered on the inevitability of AI, how to use it appropriately, and how it isn’t necessarily the threat social media users, journalists and many creatives might have the rest of the world believe.