AI Isn't Going Anywhere

I went out and saw Sam Raimi's Send Help a few days ago. I had a good time despite the preposterous nature of the movie and the proliferation of digital effects.

Before the show we were treated to a free screening of Thanksgiving Day, the wretched winner of an AI short movie contest. It cost me no money, but it wasn't without a price.

Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary made the news this week. According to Avary, he tried in vain to raise funds to make films, but wasn't able to do so until he started a production company to make AI movies. Then the money started pouring in.

Of course the moneybag suits want to make AI movies. They're cheap. So many movies lose money now, why invest in time-consuming, expensive, outmoded technology?

I don't see AI going away. How I wish it would, but once Pandora's Box is opened, it will stay that way.

I applaud those who are fighting AI, but I believe it's a losing battle.

AMC customers raised so much hell the company stopped showing Thanksgiving Day in their theaters.

Authorcon, a writer's conference I love, has banned AI books.

The horror writing community is doing its collective best to stop AI publishing.

Nice tries, but I think it's merely putting off the inevitable.

Some people claim they can tell when AI is used. I can't. Everything looks so artificial now. Every commercial looks so phony. I basically only see them when I am at the movies.

It's not like there's going to be one big AI movie hitting the theaters. It will creep in, insidiously, here and there. The movies will have AI creations subtly integrated into live action footage. It will grow more and more obvious until there is no humanity left in them.

I read a really good book this week called The Last Kings of Hollywood. It's about the unprecedented rise of visionary filmmakers Frances Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas. These maverick talents made the most successful films ever made in their time. Their hand's-on craft, the painstaking setups, the careful choice of performers, made their movies special. It took a lot of time and money, but the results were worth it.

To me they were. I think a lot of people only care for cool visual effects and cliched stories.

The question arises: Why wouldn't you want perfection in a movie?

That's easy. Perfection is a lie. Life isn't perfect and the movies shouldn't be either.

You hear filmmakers talking about happy accidents on the set. Sometimes fate and chance conspire and result in something beautiful. More so than they ever could have dreamed up. Movies made by hand live, they breathe, they are alive in ways AI or even CGI can never be.

Oh, there will be real movies coming. The low budget realm will produce smart, well crafted little gems. I believe they will be fewer and farther between as time goes on.

Where will we watch them? At home in our hermetically sealed tombs? Three theaters in my area have closed down in recent months. My favorite is still going, but I'm often the only customer in the auditorium. How long can that last?

AI isn't going anywhere, I'm afraid. Like a lot of things, it's here to stay. Some people don't like immigrants. Get used to them. Immigrants were responsible for many, if not most, classic Hollywood movies. I'm not crazy about guns and I wish they were off the streets. Laws, restrictions, policies be damned. If people want guns, they'll get them. How successful was the war on drugs?

There's a war going on between traditional creative people and AI. I feel like we've already lost it.

Written by Mark Sieber