Final week, actor and director Ben Affleck shared his views on AI’s function in filmmaking in the course of the 2024 CNBC Delivering Alpha investor summit, arguing that AI fashions will rework visible results however will not change artistic filmmaking anytime quickly. A video clip of Affleck’s opinion started circulating widely on social media not lengthy after.
“Didn’t anticipate Ben Affleck to have essentially the most articulate and sensible clarification the place video fashions and Hollywood goes,” wrote one X consumer.
Within the clip, Affleck spoke of present AI fashions’ skills as imitators and conceptual translators—mimics which can be usually higher at translating one style into another as an alternative of originating deeply artistic materials.
“AI can write wonderful imitative verse, but it surely can not write Shakespeare,” Affleck advised CNBC’s David Faber. “The perform of getting two, three, or 4 actors in a room and the style to discern and assemble that completely eludes AI’s functionality.”
Affleck sees AI fashions as “craftsmen” slightly than artists (though some may discover the time period “craftsman” in his analogy considerably imprecise). He defined that whereas AI can be taught by way of imitation—like a craftsman finding out furniture-making strategies—it lacks the artistic judgment that defines artistry. “Craftsman is understanding methods to work. Artwork is understanding when to cease,” he stated.
“It isn’t going to interchange human beings making movies,” Affleck said. As a substitute, he sees AI taking up “the extra laborious, much less artistic and extra expensive elements of filmmaking,” which may decrease obstacles to entry and make it simpler for rising filmmakers to create films like Good Will Searching.
Movies will grow to be dramatically cheaper to make
Whereas it could appear on its floor like Affleck was attacking generative AI capabilities within the tech trade, he additionally didn’t deny the impression it could have on filmmaking. For instance, he predicted that AI would cut back prices and velocity up manufacturing schedules, probably permitting reveals like HBO’s Home of the Dragon to launch two seasons in the identical interval because it takes to make one.
