Director Tyler Perry said his $800 million studio expansion is now “indefinitely on hold” after he saw what OpenAI’s Sora program can do.
Last week, OpenAI announced its latest artificial intelligence program could turn text into video clips that are up to one minute long. According to the company, the advancement means that its AI can “understand and simulate the physical world in motion.” Perry sees this as an opportunity for the film industry but is also worried about job losses, according to an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.
“There’s got to be some sort of regulations in order to protect us. If not, I just don’t see how we survive,” Perry said, speaking also as an actor. “I think it’s going to be a major game-changer because if you could spend a fraction of the cost to do a pilot that would’ve cost $15 [million], $20 million, or even $35 million if you’re looking at HBO, of course the bottom line of those companies would be to go the route of lesser costs. So I am very, very concerned that in the near future, a lot of jobs are going to be lost. I really, really feel that very strongly.”
However, Perry did report he did not feel “any pressure to use” AI. But the unfinished studio expansion had already taken four years until he paused its construction. Meanwhile, AI saved Perry from sitting “through hours of aging makeup” and subsequently removed the need to hire a makeup artist. Perry was in the middle of building an additional 12 soundstages to a 330-acre property he owns for future film projects. Now, the director has already used AI in two of his films that have yet to be released.
“I no longer would have to travel to locations. If I wanted to be in the snow in Colorado, it’s text. If I wanted to write a scene on the moon, it’s text, and this AI can generate it like nothing,” Perry said. “If I wanted to have two people in the living room in the mountains, I don’t have to build a set in the mountains, I don’t have to put a set on my lot. I can sit in an office and do this with a computer, which is shocking to me.”
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The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists recently wrote up a new contract with the major studios that included protections against AI. Now, contracts require consent from performers before their likeness is infused with AI and compensation should they opt into it.
Similarly, the House has announced a bipartisan task force to regulate AI. According to Perry, Congress should “galvanize” to protect those in Hollywood who will be negatively affected by the technology.
