A24 Labs and the Future of Creativity: Progress or a Problem in the Making?
Malachi B.
A24 is opening a new division, A24 labs, “with a focus on integrating artificial intelligence into company practices,” per The New Yorker. Not much has been said about how exactly A24 labs will implement AI into the company, but the news has been met with mixed reception. Many are unsurprised because they accept AI as the future of business and entertainment. Others are outraged and think it has no place in film, that it could only make art less human and has no justifiable positives. The appointed head of A24 labs, Scott Belsky, formerly of Adobe, has commented briefly on his potential goals with the division. He is quoted saying AI will help creatives experiment more by helping them “explore the full landscape of their imagination.”
Belsky’s comments leave some to be desired by those anxious about AI’s use in film. He seems to be open to many different possibilities as he continues to figure out the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence. There is one source that may give us a preview into how far he will go if AI lets him. This source is his Substack, fittingly titled Implications. His writings in March 2024, titled, The New Stack of Entertainment, Tensions of the AI Age, & Navigating Cambrian Explosions show an interesting glimpse into his attitude with AI in the entertainment business.
Scott Belsky - From Startup Stories
He considers dozens of different scenarios including AI ‘entirely replacing’ extras in movies and tv and using AI to keep famous actors in new media after their deaths. For clarity, this is not him saying exactly what he would use AI for in the entertainment business or even saying it is the preferred end goal of AI. He understands how important it is to have humans, ‘bring soul to content’. It is just a glimpse into the ideas he may be willing to consider and how far he may go with his new role. For what it’s worth, he uses AI generated images for his thumbnails on Substack, so we know he’s not against replacing artists with AI.
It's easy to point out the worst-case extremes of AI when it may never even reach that point, but are the positives of AI use necessarily true? It’s indisputable that it will be cheaper and more convenient to use than whichever practice it ends up replacing but it must be more than that. Belsky claims that AI will be able to expand upon the imaginations of writers and directors, but as AI stands currently, it can only steal and regurgitate ideas it finds in its database. It’s no guarantee that AI will progress to the point that it can create its own ideas or expand upon existing ideas better than human beings already can and have.
A24 isn’t the first studio to implement AI into their business and certainly won’t be the last. Countless other companies have made deals with AI firms, campaigned for AI use or have even been caught using AI with no official statement:
Big name actors and directors have made AI deals (some in secret) and called it the future of media. So, what is specifically wrong with A24Labs and Belsky’s hiring?
For the past decade, A24 has been the face of Independent Cinema. It has also been the distributor connected to some of the most popular directors of the new cinematic age. So much so that the casual movie viewer sees A24 as a specific style or genre. As A24 grows as a studio, it should remember the niche that got it to this point.
A full embrace of AI will hit the little guys first:
Writers that haven’t built a reputation yet will be the first to be phased out in favor for AI story building.
Actors that aren’t household names will start to be replaced by AI background avatars and digitally reanimated dead actors.
A24 has been the place for the lesser known to get funding and distribution but if they choose AI over them, they will have to find other means. Frequent collaborators of A24 have spoken against AI like the Oscar-Winning director Daniel Kwan and Ari Aster, but what happens if they want nothing to do with A24Labs?
SideNote: A24 is only getting bigger and the complete integration of AI would be the antithesis of everything a film studio should be.
It's still too soon to say exactly when and how A24 will implement AI into their practices. It can be worth considering the most extreme cases if A24Labs grows as a division, but it must be realized that for now, it’s just a tool to experiment new creative opportunities. Belsky’s hiring is another marker of a new era in A24 that comes with their ever-growing popularity and box office successes.
