The possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) were one of the reasons for the recent strikes by screenwriters and actors in Hollywood, who have received guarantees not to be displaced by this new technology.
Discussions about the use of AI are booming in the industry. Alphabet and Meta have begun talks with movie studios to license content to train their algorithms to create videos from text. Bloomberg reports, citing sources close to the situation, that these deals are worth tens of millions of dollars. However, major companies such as Disney and Netflix have rejected these offers due to concerns about ultimate control over the content.
While Disney and Netflix have shown interest in various collaborations, Warner Bros. Discovery has considered licensing parts of its catalog for these purposes. Film companies view the tech companies' approaches with skepticism as they fear losing control over the end use of their content.
OpenAI
OpenAI is also engaged in similar discussions and is expanding its business in the media sector. The company recently struck a deal with News Corp. Its video creation tool, Sora, along with Alphabet's Veo, represents a significant advance in generating content from text descriptions. These technologies are transforming the industry, which is struggling with declining movie attendance and TV consumption.
The legality of licensing content to train AI algorithms is a key concern. During the recent strike, actors and screenwriters demanded protection against the unauthorized use of their voices and performances. It is expected that these collectives will demand a share of the revenue from such uses, similar to traditional license fees.
Although some believe that training tools such as Sora and Veo have used content without permission, the film industry has not taken legal action against OpenAI or Google. However, in the media industry, the New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft, and in the music industry, Universal Music has taken legal action against Anthropic, with Sony warning the companies about the unauthorized use of its music.
