Credit: Marvel StudiosAvengers: Endgame (2019) director Joe Russo had some thoughts…
Marvel is no stranger to the dangers of Artificial Intelligence. Although there has been a heroic element in JARVIS (Paul Bettany) and later FRIDAY (Kerry Condon), one of the biggest threats The Avengers ever faced was Ultron (James Spader), who, perhaps not directly tore the team apart from his actions. Now, a Marvel director is weighing in on the real-life implications of AI.
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In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ultron (Spader) is an Artificial Intelligence that becomes self-aware and decides that the next step in evolution, for “Peace in our time,” is not humanity but his own mechanical and digital system. Ultron (Spader) almost achieves his goal, coming moments away from causing mass extinction on the planet by dropping Sokovia like an asteroid onto the earth.
He, of course, doesn’t achieve this but tears The Avengers apart, causing a civil war and mass ripple effect in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is still felt in current offerings from Marvel Studios. While it is very much a science fiction take on Artificial Intelligence, the dangers that such technology poses are very real.
In recent years, audiences across the world have seen deepfakes, using face mapping technology to recreate Star Wars characters, jaw-dropping voice synthesis that has recreated vocal performances from decades ago, brought to life once again, and of course, written examples from AI like ChatGPT. Where will it all lead? Joe Russo, Marvel Studios Directing alumni, had a few thoughts on entertainment anyway.
Collider recently covered an interview with Russo in which he was asked what he thinks the future of AI and entertainment will look like. His response was pretty bleak for artists:
“So potentially, what you could do with it is obviously use it to engineer storytelling and change storytelling. So you have a constantly evolving story, either in a game or in a movie, or a TV show. You could walk into your house and save the AI on your streaming platform. “Hey, I want a movie starring my photoreal avatar and Marilyn Monroe’s photoreal avatar. I want it to be a rom-com because I’ve had a rough day,” and it renders a very competent story with dialogue that mimics your voice. It mimics your voice, and suddenly now you have a rom-com starring you that’s 90 minutes long. So you can curate your story specifically to you.”
Instead of an entire team of artists working together to write, act, direct, and create a movie, Russo believes in the near future, it can all be done almost instantly with AI. While it may seem like an enticing idea for consumers, being able to instantly curate their own content, the implications are shocking and unsettling.
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Of course, this is only a prediction, and should things actually go that way, there will still be those that choose to make movies the old-fashioned way, with actors, directors, screenwriters, composers, and an entire team dedicated to telling a story. Audiences should hope so anyway: no matter what, there are just certain things AI can’t get exactly right, the human touch needed in real art.
What do you think of this prediction? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments below!