‘The Brutalist’ has come under fire for use of AI. But is it really that big of a deal?

When movie editor Dávid Jancsó admitted that he had used AI to change some elements of actors’ voices in “The Brutalist,” he sparked an impassioned online debate about the impact of technology on the arts. But how unusual is this – and does it really matter?

When movie editor Dávid Jancsó admitted that he had used AI to change some parts of actors’ voices in new film “The Brutalist,” he sparked an impassioned online debate about the impact of technology on the arts. But this is not the first time that AI has been used in filmmaking, and it most likely won’t be the last, said Louis Heaton, a senior lecturer in digital film and TV production at London Metropolitan University. “I suspect the use of AI in production will become increasingly common and openly admitted, particularly for what might be seen as minor labour-intensive work such as generative backgrounds, crowd scenes and the like,” Heaton told CNN on Wednesday. “This is currently the kind of work done by visual effects houses that require large teams and hours of labour, and which AI will be able to produce cheaper and quicker.” This chimes with Jancsó’s comments about his motivations for using AI in “The Brutalist,” which tells the story of Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth, played by Adrien Brody, who moved to the US after surviving the Holocaust and is awaiting the arrival of his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones). Brody and Jones speak Hungarian in parts of the film. Jancsó, a native Hungarian speaker, said he had used an AI tool from Ukrainian firm Respeecher to make the lead actors’ Hungarian dialogue sound authentic.