The AI startup Runway has gained notoriety for creating generative models that appear to have been trained on unrestricted online content. According to a contract the two parties just reached, the business will now have access to Lionsgate’s enormous library of movies and TV series.
Lionsgate, the studio known for movies like The Hunger Games and John Wick, is teaming up with Runway to develop a new personalized video creation model that will assist “filmmakers, directors, and other creative talent in augmenting their work.”
Vice-chairman of Lionsgate Michael Burns said in a statement regarding the agreement that the studio saw the technology as “a great tool for augmenting, enhancing, and supplementing our current operations” and that it will help create “capital-efficient content creation opportunities.” “Many of our filmmakers are already excited about its potential applications to their pre-production and post-production processes,” Burns further emphasized.
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Cofounder and CEO of Runway, Cristóbal Valenzuela, expressed similar views to Burns regarding the value of the new model as an augmentation tool, stating that the business wants to provide filmmakers with “new ways of bringing their stories to life.”
There are currently few specifics available on the deal, such as whether creative teams will receive payment if and when their projects are used as training material for the model. However, as The Hollywood Reporter points out, one of the main draws for Lionsgate—a studio that is renowned for keeping to smaller budgets in comparison to other entertainment companies—might have been the possibility of being able to keep production expenses low.
The news of Lionsgate’s agreement with Runway is released when production companies are starting to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) in their works, even though many directors are worried that the technology’s unrestricted use could endanger their careers. Last year, the SAG-AFTRA strike was largely caused by the studios’ insistence on producing and utilising AI copies of background actors.
These worries contributed to California Governor Gavin Newsom approving two SAG-AFTRA-backed measures earlier this week that will give performers and their estates greater control over the terms and circumstances under which studios can utilize their digitally produced likenesses. Furthermore, SB 1047, another contentious piece of legislation that would hold AI developers accountable for the “critical harms” generated by their technologies, may very possibly be signed into law by Newsom later this month.
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