18 Mar Is AI the Future of Hollywood? How the Hype Squares with Reality [LA Times]
BY BRIAN CONTRERAS
March 18, 2023 | For every problem you can think of, someone is out there pitching a solution that involves artificial intelligence. AI could help solve such intractable problems as climate change and dangerous work conditions, the technology’s most eager boosters promise.
It could even fix the much-maligned “Game of Thrones” finale, if you believe one of the industry’s most powerful proponents and a featured speaker at this month’s South by Southwest conference.
“Imagine if you could ask your AI to make a new ending that goes a different way,” said Greg Brockman, president and co-founder of OpenAI, the research group behind the conversation software ChatGPT and the image-generation module DALL-E. “Maybe even put yourself in there as a main character or something, having interactive experiences.”
Rewriting an HBO show so that your digital likeness can slay dragons might seem a little frivolous for a technology as hyped-up as artificial intelligence. But it’s an application that’s getting a lot of attention, including at South by Southwest (or SXSW), the annual tech and culture expo that overran Austin, Texas, this last week with film nerds, celebrities and venture capitalists.