What Media & Entertainment Execs Say About Using Gen AI in Film and TV

Note: This article relates to the June 2024 VIP+ special report “Generative AI in Film & TV,” available to subscribers only.

Generative AI adoption is underway at many media and entertainment companies, according to a survey developed by Variety Intelligence Platform in collaboration with HarrisX and fielded online by HarrisX among 150 U.S. industry decision makers May 2-13, 2024.

Fully 79% of U.S. media and entertainment decision makers indicated their company was either exploring, testing or actively deploying generative AI in some aspect of their business, with nearly half (49%) having implemented in either a few or several areas. Meanwhile, laggards or abstention accounted for 21% of respondents, with 6% saying their company has banned any use of the tech.

Among industry workers, 61% said they currently use gen AI (33%) or plan to (28%). (Full data provided in the full report.)

When it comes to implementation, M&E decision makers expect gen AI to be used in several areas. Relevant to film and TV production, half expect the tech to be used for concept design, visual effects and marketing and distribution, while 30% anticipate its use for content localization.

But in Hollywood, the decision to adopt a generative AI tool in any part of film and TV production is not always a simple one. Numerous factors influence that choice at all levels of an organization, whether among leadership, teams and workers themselves.

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Among M&E decision makers and workers alike, the foremost consideration is performance readiness of the tech. About half (51%) of decision makers said the quality of AI-generated content was relevant to their decision to use gen AI, followed by its efficacy and accuracy (39%). Other factors also rank as highly relevant, spanning data security, copyright legality, ethical training data for AI models and consumer acceptance.

Similarly, the top challenge workers cited in using gen AI was uncertainty about the quality of AI-generated content (data provided in full report).

But insofar as these factors are relevant to decisions to use gen AI tools, they can also pose challenges or obstacles that prevent adoption. For example, 38% of M&E decision makers cited copyright/IP law as a relevant consideration, while 27% cited the (non)copyrightability of AI-generated material as an obstacle for their company to use gen AI, and 38% of M&E workers cited concerns about copyright infringement.

Read on for additional survey data and in-depth analysis of how generative AI is being used and considered in film and TV production. The full 31-page report features a six-page section of charts from original quantitative surveys fielded among 1,001 U.S. consumers, 308 media and entertainment workers and 150 M&E decision makers. Those decision makers included C-suite executives (41%), leaders at the VP level or above (7%), directors (21%) and managers (31%).

Now dig into the VIP+ subscriber report …