Hollywood: Ashton Kutcher wants to replace humans with AI in film productions

Ashton Kutcher, who has recently attracted attention in IT and political circles in Europe primarily as a strong advocate of chat control and marketer of software solutions that can be used for this purpose, has now also got himself into hot water in his home turf of Hollywood. The star of the TV series "The Wild Seventies" is currently causing a stir there because he is praising advances in artificial intelligence (AI) systems as the future of filmmaking. In essence, he thinks it would be great to save money on film productions in the future by replacing stunt people, writers, visual effects artists and other people involved with AI.

In a chat with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the Berggruen Salon in Los Angeles, Kutcher praised the advantages of Sora, the new generative video tool from OpenAI. When trying it out, he found that "you can create any footage you want", according to US media outlets such as Deadline, Variety and The Mercury News. "You can create good 10-, 15-second videos that look very real," the 46-year-old is quoted as saying. The software still makes mistakes and does not understand physics correctly, for example. However, the improvements compared to earlier relevant applications are great: in fact, this method now produces "footage that I would say could easily be used in a major motion picture or television program".

Kutcher predicted that films will soon no longer need location scouts, set designers or doubles. He asked: "Why would you shoot an opening scene of a house in a TV show when you could just create it for 100 dollars?" For action scenes where the main character jumps off a building, you don't need a stuntman, you could just do it with AI. He has also used Sora to create shots of a marathon runner fleeing from a sandstorm. He didn't need an expensive CGI department for computer animation for this.

Soaps at kitchen-sink level: harsh criticism from colleagues

The actor, who has recently appeared more as a producer and entrepreneur, even expects that soon everyone will be able to create their own professional-quality, tailor-made films with the help of AI. "You simply have an idea for a movie, then the system writes the script," he explained. You then enter this into the video generator and it creates the film. This means you no longer have to rely on audiovisual works that "someone else has come up with".

Kutcher's comments were not well received by many in the industry. Hollywood has not yet fully recovered from the effects of last year's strikes, in which numerous actors and screenwriters protested against the abuse of their creative services by AI. Their concerns about job security and protecting the integrity of the cinematic arts remain high. Caitie Delaney, former author of the animated series "Rick and Morty", immediately contradicted Kutcher. She accused him of disregarding the contributions of employees "below the pay grade" and "cannibalizing his own industry because he played Steve Jobs in an inferior movie and now thinks he's a technical genius."

"When you take everyone out of a collaborative and creative endeavor, you literally lose the humanity," Delaney continued. What would remain would be "a hollow, stupid, pointless shell". Television would then have "the same artistic value as washing-up liquid". Writer Ash Lazer was scathing: "This is such an ignorant, short-sighted, self-centered way of thinking that prioritizes short-term costs over long-term gain." It works towards self-replacement. Nothing is left of the children's dreams either. "Greed will always come first," lamented Damon Gonzalez from the SAG-AFTRA trade union. It's not just about saving money: "As consumers and filmmakers, we have to reject this garbage." Other observers also felt offended and wondered whether anyone in the industry still wanted to work with Kutcher.

(nie)