‘Hunger Games’ studio Lionsgate to partner with AI company

Lionsgate will work with artificial intelligence research company Runway to create and train a new artificial intelligence model customized to the “Hunger Games” and “John Wick” studio’s film and TV content, marking the AI company’s first collaboration with a Hollywood studio.

The model will generate cinematic video that can then be edited with Runway’s suite of tools, the Santa Monica-based studio said Wednesday.

Lionsgate Vice Chair Michael Burns said in a statement that several of the studio’s filmmakers were “already excited” about the potential applications for AI in pre- and postproduction processes.

“We view AI as a great tool for augmenting, enhancing and supplementing our current operations,” he said.

AI has emerged as a thorny issue in Hollywood, as entertainment companies want to harness such powerful tools to reduce costs and streamline their operations, but also don’t want to offend actors, writers and behind-the-scenes workers who fear that the technology will replace them.

Runway is far from the first AI company making inroads into the entertainment business. Already, ChatGPT maker OpenAI has started to meet with entertainment industry players to demonstrate its latest technology.

Also on Wednesday, YouTube said it would make an AI-powered text-to-video tool, Veo, available for creators later this year on YouTube Shorts. Through Veo, creators can type descriptions like “dreamlike secret garden, vivid colors, visible brushstrokes,” and a six-second clip will be created with AI depicting that image. Videos generated with AI will be labeled as such, YouTube said.

YouTube also announced it will add a “brainstorming buddy powered by AI” in its YouTube Studio that will suggest video ideas to creators that could help their projects.

“When we show this to creators, the thing they love most is how it unlocks elements of an idea they hadn’t even thought of yet,” said Sarah Ali, senior director of product, leading YouTube’s creation experiences and YouTube Shorts during a presentation in New York.

“This is not about replacing your ideas. It is about providing you with the tools to help you get there faster, or to uncover new areas you just hadn’t considered before.”

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