On the Horizon: Artificial Intelligence and Entertainment

Whether it’s the robots in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis or the video teleconferencing platform demonstrated in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the things of fantasy often prove to be the tools of the future. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has, in a way, been the long-sought Holy Grail of fantastical fiction. Yet today, we’re already using AI in multiple areas of entertainment—and we’re just scratching the surface. Can the Tin Man actually have a heart? Not the organ, but the empathetic, loving core that informs our choices and makes us human? In just a few decades after The Wizard of Oz posed the question, a new class of philosophers and scientists were already planting the seeds for what would become today’s AI. British polymath Alan Turing wondered if it were possible for computers to use available information and reason to solve the same problems and make the same decisions that humans do. After all, are we not complex biological machines ourselves? I mean, we’ve all seen Ex Machina... 

So, what is AI? Simply put, it’s technology that simulates human intelligence. With the ever-increasing scalability, the potential upside is incalculable. Of course, there are obvious dangers (we’re looking at you, Skynet...), but different forms of AI are already being used in entertainment processes, doing things we traditionally thought only humans could do. As AI has advanced, we’ve developed several subsets and specified functionalities of the technology. Machine Learning (ML), for example, is a process that automates things like data analysis and pattern recognition (e.g., identifying license plates, faces, and separating photos of dogs and cats). Deep Learning (DL) takes ML one step further, mimicking all the complexities of the human brain with artificial neural networks, using multiple layers to progressively extract higher and higher levels of features from the raw input. (The dog in the aforementioned photo? Deep Learning can deduce that it’s specifically a German Shepherd puppy.) 

The integration of AI and storytelling is heralding a new age of entertainment, above and below the line. We’ve already seen this technology at play in films like The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, where computers populated massive battle sequences with digital performers that had a degree of independence. Behind the scenes, this tech is helping artists create realistic populated environments from little more than reference photos. In addition to things like voice and face simulation, recent technologies are making content and audience analysis a simple and automated process (just think of the “Recommended for You” tab in Netflix, which are determined by algorithms and AI!) A form of the technology is already being used in VFX and film editing to speed up mundane workflows and for subtitling and audio annotation. It is at the heart of the modern video game boom, with learning computers providing adaptive challenges to players in real time. And with Machine Learning, AI is also helping streamers collect user data to personalize individual watching experiences with recommendation algorithms that keep us glued to the screen.  

With more than a third of U.S. households set to leave cable behind by 2024, AI will have even more say over the content we see. The number of Americans who say they watch television with a cable or satellite provider has plummeted from 76% in 2015 to just 56% this year, according to a Pew Research Center survey of adults. The proof is in the pudding, as they say, with the global AI software market expected to reach $134.8 billion by 2025, up from around $62.5 billion today. In marketing and advertising, companies can now use AI to place ads at the proper times and places, which increases conversion through more personalized and contextual offers. Using programmatic ad buying, advertisers can use AI to purchase relevant ad space the millisecond it becomes available, rather than hoping or gambling on their pre-bought spots finding the right audience. In film, the Machine Learning-based personalization of trailers helps identify elements an audience most wants to see and delivers them on the platform they most frequently use. For example, 20th Century Fox described using AI to detect objects and scenes within a trailer to predict the “micro-segment” of audiences that would find their film most appealing. It’s even in sports, used to augment training and coaching by identifying patterns in tactics, strategies, and weaknesses. It can also provide predictive analysis to improve player health, prevent injuries, and tell a coach when to go for it on fourth and inches. 

AI is touching all our everyday lives as well. At home, you can already feel its presence with your smart TVs and voice assistants. By 2023, voice commerce is predicted to hit the $19.4 billion mark, with voice-enabled apps becoming standardized. About half of respondents in this survey by Variety said they use voice commands to find and view streaming content. But convenience is just the beginning. Soon, you may start to see AI-developed content. This technology has already written songs and composed stories (and when pressed, humans couldn’t tell the difference). As the business side of media becomes more automated (from HR and security to compliance), everything will feel more personalized.  

In the world of scriptwriting software, several AI-adject features are in the works, such as automatic script breakdowns. While this would greatly speed up many processes, AI will be most helpful to writers by analyzing projects for salability and their potential to be greenlit. Services are already being developed that use AI to search for material with specified script tags. Is your masterpiece a buddy-cop-horror-mystery? Tags in your script will alert people seeking to package or produce similar material. Automated script analysis can already show writers the emotional content of a piece or specific story element, and AI will continue to drive future development in this way. 

AI is science fiction turned science reality, and that raises a host of new questions. Is it better to have this new intelligence take charge, or does the human element play an inexplicable role in creation? Truthfully, technology is evolving to a point where AI-generated material is becoming almost indistinguishable from the rest. Certainly, AI is making parts of storytelling easier and more efficient. Who knows, maybe someday the Tin Man will get his heart and start telling his own story. But that is a very big conversation for another day...