WGA & SAG Strike of 2023

[Jerroddragon]

It shouldn't matter if AI is good now, or will be in 10-15 years. AI movies and TV shows are just depressing to think about, and no one should want to live through that reality. Entertainment is an extension of human expression, y'know, things made by humans.

And what happens when hundreds of millions, or even billions of people are considered "no longer necessary" and put out of work?

No idea

But to me it’s like telling someone not to use a PC because it had spell check, and excel can do math for you

As time goes on people will not care about who is behind it

Look at music used to be people playing instruments but top songs today are songs not written by the artists and using computers to make many of the sounds

I’m nice again, I’m with the writers but I also see the writing on the wall. AI is gen one and saying it can’t make art is like telling someone the original computer could never evolve into a device that’s in your hand and can send data wirelessly

Also so many blockbusters in zero way feel written by a human, transformers, Jurassic world films, the sequels in Star Wars many either just make stuff up, rely on nostalgia or just have things smashing into each other and the general public eats it up and studios see this.

I hope the writers get the best things they deserve money wise but the future is unclear on what will happen to jobs

 

[Cygnus]

No idea

But to me it’s like telling someone not to use a PC because it had spell check, and excel can do math for you

As time goes on people will not care about who is behind it

Look at music used to be people playing instruments but top songs today are songs not written by the artists and using computers to make many of the sounds

I’m nice again, I’m with the writers but I also see the writing on the wall. AI is gen one and saying it can’t make art is like telling someone the original computer could never evolve into a device that’s in your hand and can send data wirelessly

No it's not. AI is opening Pandora's Box. Microsoft Word can do grammar and spelling check, but it can't spit out a 1000-word essay for a history class in a few seconds. It is literally a replacement for human activities.

FL Studio has digital instruments, VST's, and Plug-Ins that aid the music production process, but it's still up to the human behind the computer to do a very large portion of the heavy lifting.

There is only one tool created in the last few months that can make "dog eating sushi on a bike by the sunset" in seconds, and no, it's not Photoshop

Also so many blockbusters in zero way feel written by a human, transformers, Jurassic world films, the sequels in Star Wars many either just make stuff up, rely on nostalgia or just have things smashing into each other and the general public eats it up and studios see this.

This is also a bad faith argument because you aren't trying to get better movies to be made, you just want your "smashed together bad movies" to be made by a program instead of humans. AI blockbusters will still be more depressing and dystopian than human blockbusters! It's the same line of thinking made by executives who want to be paid more money and cut expenses of unnecessary writers because they've never cared about the quality of output, only their bottom line.

 

[Lucky Planet]

why? do we have no agency over our future?

there’s nothing wrong with telling people like mark zuckerberg to beat it. if they aren’t innovations in a way that makes our lives better, tell them to pound sand.

It shouldn't matter if AI is good now, or will be in 10-15 years. AI movies and TV shows are just depressing to think about, and no one should want to live through that reality. Entertainment is an extension of human expression, y'know, things made by humans.

And what happens when hundreds of millions, or even billions of people are considered "no longer necessary" and put out of work?

No idea

But to me it’s like telling someone not to use a PC because it had spell check, and excel can do math for you

As time goes on people will not care about who is behind it

Look at music used to be people playing instruments but top songs today are songs not written by the artists and using computers to make many of the sounds

I’m nice again, I’m with the writers but I also see the writing on the wall. AI is gen one and saying it can’t make art is like telling someone the original computer could never evolve into a device that’s in your hand and can send data wirelessly

Also so many blockbusters in zero way feel written by a human, transformers, Jurassic world films, the sequels in Star Wars many either just make stuff up, rely on nostalgia or just have things smashing into each other and the general public eats it up and studios see this.

I hope the writers get the best things they deserve money wise but the future is unclear on what will happen to jobs

Uber drivers are worried as well over self driving cars. I heard that Tucker Carlson on Fox was freaking out over trick drivers losing their job over self driving trucks last year I think. I remember something like that with complaining about ai cars.

Even ai is doing music now. Some Rock and heavy metal songs made by ai sound real. So a movie production can do their entire script and entire score with ai. And if the movie is cgi they can do that with ai. It's kinda crazy. ( Even the voices for the cgi characters can be ai. )

So an animated or cgi movie can be made by one guy and a bunch of computers doing everything. So it's really beyond just the script writing because outside of the actors, everything else can be made with ai ( the sets could be cgi made with ai) this will hurt every industry attached to movie making and music. The set design, everything.

I think both the music and the animation of this video were both ai. Sounds like a regular band:

 

[graspthesun]

And what happens when hundreds of millions, or even billions of people are considered "no longer necessary" and put out of work?

We'll either be destroyed by a Skynet-like entity or have a blissful, capitalism-free utopia. There is no in between.

But to me it’s like telling someone not to use a PC because it had spell check, and excel can do math for you

Spell check in Microsoft Word still can't tell the difference between their, there and they're.

 

[Grabnar]

There is only one tool created in the last few months that can make "dog eating sushi on a bike by the sunset" in seconds, and no, it's not Photoshop

FWIW Dall-E etc can only do that because of the lack of subtext in a single still image coupled with incredibly specific prompting. This form of “AI” will not replace writer jobs, it’s more a threat for things like customer service and reporting, and it’s going to do a bad job of that anyway.

 

[Jerroddragon]

So an animated or cgi movie can be made by one guy and a bunch of computers doing everything. So it's really beyond just the script writing because outside of the actors, everything else can be made with ai ( the sets could be cgi made with ai) this will hurt every industry attached to movie making and music. The set design, everything.

I think both the music and the animation of this video were both ai. Sounds like a regular band:

Yeah, I think sadly artists will have less work sooner then writers.

Persona 3/4 used AI to upscale objects and while it wasn't perfect, I can see in the future movies/video games just have an AI run through them and up ressing everything

 

[Jerroddragon]

Dan has a video out and does a deep dive on this.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Dan has a video out and does a deep dive on this.

I love him. His vids are always great.

 

[Nick]

This is one of the only pieces of leverage the studios have. This is it.

 

[Rhian]

Even ai is doing music now. Some Rock and heavy metal songs made by ai sound real.

Unless 'AI' can go on tour and sign CDs I think a majority of musicians will be fine in that regard. Some studios and individuals may toy around with it but there's always going to be a larger demand to see an artist perform live. Even an all "AI-band" wouldn't be much more than a performance piece not having longevity once the novelty wears off—not to mention the numerous copycats the follow which would further dilute the "AI music genre."

To a larger point, I do think actual AI has its usefulness in the right [human] hands as all things but for art in its various forms, it ultimately comes down to the human element. It's not only about the final product (image, music, or prompt response) but also what went into it, the fandom that builds around the creation as well as the people behind it. Fans of things want to talk to and know the creators, hear their experiences, and what inspired them to create the things they love. Some things simply cannot be replaced.


On a side note, if Ask Jeeves was still around it would have made an amazing comeback as a search engine. Talk about a perfect match for branding and technology.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Unless 'AI' can go on tour and sign CDs I think a majority of musicians will be fine in that regard. Some studios and individuals may toy around with it but there's always going to be a larger demand to see an artist perform live. Even an all "AI-band" wouldn't be much more than a performance piece not having longevity once the novelty wears off—not to mention the numerous copycats the follow which would further dilute the "AI music genre."

To a larger point, I do think actual AI has its usefulness in the right [human] hands as all things but for art in its various forms, it ultimately comes down to the human element. It's not only about the final product (image, music, or prompt response) but also what went into it, the fandom that builds around the creation as well as the people behind it. Fans of things want to talk to and know the creators, hear their experiences, and what inspired them to create the things they love. Some things simply cannot be replaced.


On a side note, if Ask Jeeves was still around it would have made an amazing comeback as a search engine. Talk about a perfect match for branding and technology.

It would be like GORILLAZ or Metalocalypse Deathklock with screens I guess. Live performances would be like a movie.

There's a blue hair anime pop star in Asia as well. Some anime girl with pigtails I think?

 

[graspthesun]

It would be like GORILLAZ or Metalocalypse Deathklock with screens I guess. Live performances would be like a movie.

There's a blue hair anime pop star in Asia as well. Some anime girl with pigtails I think?

Hatsune Miku

I learned about her in a religion class I had in college.

 

[Nick]

Just stumbled upon this, but very interesting up-close look at the picket lines from about a week ago shutting down Marvel's Wonder-Man in the first video and at Netflix in the second.

 

[grlhowl]

The difference between using AI to create "art" and using tools like spellcheck or excel or electronic instruments is, as Cygnus said, those tools assist in a task. They do not create the art or product themselves. I don't mean to be rude, but if art is a task to be completed, that's bleak and dehumanizing. Art is an expression first, not a product to be sold. Whenever AI inevitably is used to write a full movie or something, it will just be something we've already seen. Maybe a superhero movie with no depth where a bunch of characters you recognize just show up. Maybe a bland teen drama. Maybe one of those awful "if (blank) was made by Wes Anderson" videos on Twitter. The point is, viewing art as just a product is so weird in this situation. It deserves to be respected and made by real people, with real experiences, real stories, and unique inspirations.

 

[Jerroddragon]

The difference between using AI to create "art" and using tools like spellcheck or excel or electronic instruments is, as Cygnus said, those tools assist in a task. They do not create the art or product themselves. I don't mean to be rude, but if art is a task to be completed, that's bleak and dehumanizing. Art is an expression first, not a product to be sold. Whenever AI inevitably is used to write a full movie or something, it will just be something we've already seen. Maybe a superhero movie with no depth where a bunch of characters you recognize just show up. Maybe a bland teen drama. Maybe one of those awful "if (blank) was made by Wes Anderson" videos on Twitter. The point is, viewing art as just a product is so weird in this situation. It deserves to be respected and made by real people, with real experiences, real stories, and unique inspirations.

I won’t disagree with that but the works we live in is all about profits

Unless your A24, most companies just want money. Disney is literally remaking moana.

We can discuss the philosophy of it all day and the studios might pretend to agree but the minute they think an AI can write a show or movie, they will do it

I’m not pushing for it but I’m just calling it as it is. America especially is all about profits and everything that has happen to the citizens the past decades proves that the richest people who own and run these companies only want profits going up

Hopefully they come to an agreement but I feel it will be hard with some of the demands unless the studios have an end date on part of the wants. Heck one of the demands is or you have a show you must have a certain amount of writers which I don’t agree with, if mandalorian is written by two people cool it’s there vision and no one else should be forced in and maybe ruin said vision

 

[Lucky Planet]

The difference between using AI to create "art" and using tools like spellcheck or excel or electronic instruments is, as Cygnus said, those tools assist in a task. They do not create the art or product themselves. I don't mean to be rude, but if art is a task to be completed, that's bleak and dehumanizing. Art is an expression first, not a product to be sold. Whenever AI inevitably is used to write a full movie or something, it will just be something we've already seen. Maybe a superhero movie with no depth where a bunch of characters you recognize just show up. Maybe a bland teen drama. Maybe one of those awful "if (blank) was made by Wes Anderson" videos on Twitter. The point is, viewing art as just a product is so weird in this situation. It deserves to be respected and made by real people, with real experiences, real stories, and unique inspirations.

This one made me laugh to be honest

 

[Jake S]

I won’t disagree with that but the works we live in is all about profits

but you're part of this world, aren't you? as such, you can decide whether you give up and side with disney and amazon or with artists who want to create something. acknowledging that capitalism exists doesn't preclude you from, at the very least, pointing out its negative ramifications. or, better yet, fighting against them.

 

[GA-MBIT]

It would be like GORILLAZ or Metalocalypse Deathklock with screens I guess. Live performances would be like a movie.

There's a blue hair anime pop star in Asia as well. Some anime girl with pigtails I think?

Virtual Bands are not the same as AI bands. When Gorillaz goes on tour it's not just music videos, they tried that early on and people didn't resonate with it. The artists and people behind the virtual band, Damon Albarn and his collaborators, go on tour and play the music live. That's what people go to see.

And a Vocaloid is more like a synthesized instrument than AI. Definitely closer, but it is all still made and curated by artists for a crowd that loves the brand that Miku represents.

I am not convinced that an AI band, completely made using code with limited or no human involvement, would ever get a following anywhere as big as any of the three you mentioned. It's neat, but in the way that Extratone is neat. It's a novelty, at least for now.

 

[Jerroddragon]

but you're part of this world, aren't you? as such, you can decide whether you give up and side with disney and amazon or with artists who want to create something. acknowledging that capitalism exists doesn't preclude you from, at the very least, pointing out its negative ramifications. or, better yet, fighting against them.

I mean what did any of us do when Theaters got screwed and movies went Digital only during COVID or shorted the theaters exclusive window. Why have we as viewers for years supported HBO when they just dumped a huge amount of good content because it wasn't "profitable" enough. Disney screws many classic/legacy Star Wars authors on deals. We go to theme parks where the hard working CM make barley over minimum wage. The list goes on, I won't fault those who 100% support the writers but my question is why are some so passionate about this but in other area's do we ignore the issues with capitalism but here we must stand as one?

I support the writers but if your asking me to pledge to never play an AI made Video game or movie forever. If I hear its good I'll most likely check it out.

The future comes and things change, its life we have seen it time and time again as the tech changes so do the jobs behind it. We have millions of people going to college right now for jobs that won't be there in 5-10 years. It really sucks but "I" can't do anything but vote people in who try to form good laws around AI.

 

[Viator]

The closest we’ve gone to virtual artists atleast in the terms is that of Cover Corporation and the Hololive concerts in JP (and the upcoming US concert) as two of their members are fully billed under UMGJP. Otherwise, we are still a ways off from that really being proper.