Klaus Solko, contributor

Lionsgate has partnered with AI company Runway and this is the start of the downfall of mainstream corporations — or is it? 

First let’s discuss what the deal is. Lionsgate, the studio with such notable films as “The Hunger Games” and “John Wick,” went public about their deal with Runway on Sept. 18. They claimed in their press release that they will be making a new AI model based off Lionsgate films and use that model to help their filmmakers, directors and other creatives. They avoided addressing any ethical concerns, specifics and the subject of how this would affect jobs. 

In May 2023, a major writers strike occurred, with things such as writers’ wages being fought for along with the growing concern about the lack of regulations on studios’ uses of AI. In the contract that ended the strike on Sept. 24, 2023, it was agreed that studios would not be prohibited from using AI; however, they could not force a writer to use it. While this might seem like a reasonable result, it is only so when viewed through the lens of trusting greedy executives. Hollywood has always been in the forefront of screwing people over for money and a union agreement won’t stop them, especially if they start to believe AI can replace writers. 

Senior Reporter Brian Welk in an article for IndieWire speculated how the company is planning to use the AI as Lionsgate notably avoided clarifying in their press release. The article points out that Runway doesn’t specialize in large language models, like ChatGPT, but instead focuses on text to video generation. This leads to the conclusion that the new AI model will most likely be used to generate storyboards for writers to work off of. Now while that would not force the writers to use AI, I do not believe that it doesn’t put pressure on them too. 

AI can’t be creative, it can only mix what it has been given into something that maybe people won’t be able to tell is a bad copy. That is already what Hollywood has been pushing its writers to do because they don’t want to spend the money or time to come up with good ideas. Incorporating AI into a process that is already having humanity sucked out of it will only accelerate the process. Art is meant to convey something whether it be emotion or experience or something else it has a purpose and that is a purpose that AI can’t meet. 

Does that mean it is over for Lionsgate? What about other media companies that are considering deals like this? Well, that depends on the people. Everyday we are faced with the option of what to consume, often choosing to look away from a brand’s ethics in favor of personal convenience. Media and other large corporations are going to continue pushing the lines of what we are willing to put up with until we won’t. Entertainment is not worth a detriment to human life, but to corporations, saving money is.