It’s hard not to feel the ripple effect when big changes happen. One of those changes came on Wednesday when Lionsgate, the studio responsible for the John Wick, The Hunger Games, and Twilight franchises—announced that it had partnered with artificial intelligence firm Runway for a “first-of-its-kind partnership” that would give the AI firm access to the studio’s archives to create a custom AI tool for pre- and post-production of its films and television shows.
Runway’s upcoming tool will “help Lionsgate Studios, its filmmakers, directors, and other creative talent augment their work” and “generate cinematic video that can be further iterated using Runway’s controllable toolset,” according to A press release announcing the agreement.
If this sounds like something that might pique the interest of those who have been observing the influence of AI on the work of creatives, it did. Hours after The Wall Street Journal Broke historywriter and director Justine Bateman, who was vocally critical Last year, during the Hollywood strikes, an AI activist posted a post on X that seemed almost like a warning: “Over a year ago, I told you that I assumed studios were NOT sending lawyers to #AI companies because their models were understanding their copyrighted movies, because they wanted their own custom versions. Well, here you go.”
If anything, the new deal could serve as a test of the AI protections that unions like the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) won in contract negotiations with studios last year. ProtectionsStudios must obtain consent from actors before making a digital replica of them. According to Lionsgate and Runway, the tool will only be used for pre- and post-production work, so it falls within the scope of that agreement, says Matthew Sag, a professor of law and artificial intelligence at Emory University.
“It seems like a significant step forward, but the film industry has been using all kinds of technology and automation for years,” says Sag. “So you could also consider it a natural evolution. The difference is that we are now seeing more things that we used to consider creative and artistic being automated.”
The announcement came the day after California Governor Gavin Newsom, signed legislation The measure, which will take effect next year, is intended to protect actors from having their work cloned without their consent and comes at a time when video game workers, particularly voice actors and motion subtitlers, are on strike, in part over artificial intelligence protections.
“We continue to venture into uncharted territory when it comes to how AI and digital media are transforming the entertainment industry,” the California governor said. In a statement“This legislation ensures that the industry can continue to thrive while strengthening protections for workers and how their images can and cannot be used.”
While the work of actors and other artists won’t be affected by the new tools, it’s hard not to wonder what effect the new generative AI tools might have on those working in pre- and post-production. According to the WSJ report, Lionsgate initially plans to use Runway’s custom tool for things like storyboarding. Eventually, the studio plans to use it to create visual effects for the big screen. According to Sag, “it’s impossible to know for sure which productivity tools will create or destroy jobs,” but it seems possible that these tools could impact jobs.
But according to Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela, that won’t be the case. “We firmly believe that AI, like any powerful tool, can significantly accelerate users’ progress on creative challenges,” Valenzuela says. “It does this by helping solve specific tasks, not by replacing entire jobs. Artists are always in control of their tools.”
Like Valenzuela, Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns sees AI as a boon for film production, which will help the studio “develop cutting-edge, capital-efficient content creation opportunities,” he said in a statement. A statementHe noted that several of Lionsgate’s filmmakers were excited about the new tools, though he didn’t name who. “We see AI as a great tool to augment, enhance and complement our current operations.” What effect it will have on their future operations is still unknown.
