Ted Sarandos, one of the Co-CEOs of Netflix, has made a bold statement: AI will not take away jobs and livelihoods from screenwriters, directors, and actors. However, he reiterates a widely held view: AI might not steal jobs, but those adept at utilizing AI will replace those who aren’t.
Sarandos highlights the potential risks generative AI poses to creative industries. This includes scriptwriting, voice generation for dubbing actors, and even creating short videos through simple commands. These threats have fueled recent protests and strikes. For example, the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild have organized major strikes to voice their concerns.
There’s a growing worry among creative professionals that their jobs might be at risk as AI technology evolves. AI can create new faces, mimic voices, and the current lack of clear copyright regulations adds to the uncertainty. Many fear big studios might exploit actors’ images and voices for profit. Recently, controversy erupted over “Sky,” a voice assistant using GPT-4, which closely resembled Scarlett Johansson’s voice. Johansson revealed that OpenAI had twice attempted to license her voice over the past year, and she declined both times. Despite her refusal, the voice was unnervingly similar to hers. OpenAI quickly halted Sky’s operations, stating on their blog that Sky’s voice wasn’t intentionally mimicking Johansson but was provided by a professional actress.
In an interview with The New York Times, Sarandos expressed that AI programs can’t surpass talented screenwriters in adapting scripts nor replace the stellar performances of actors. “We can distinguish AI-created works from those crafted by the human mind,” he asserted. However, he reiterated a familiar warning: “AI will not steal jobs from humans, only from those who know or don’t know how to leverage AI.”
Sarandos compared the current AI revolution to the digitization era in the entertainment industry. He recalled the days when everyone competed in the home video market and how studios refused to sell their film rights to TV channels. He suggested that AI’s rise might bring about similar technological advancements, leading to business growth.
Drawing parallels from the DVD-to-streaming transition pioneered by Netflix two decades ago, Sarandos noted: “We entered a transitioning market by delivering DVDs to homes, knowing that physical media wasn’t the future of entertainment. AI, in my view, is a natural technological advancement, at least in the creative domain. While meticulously designed film sets cannot replace real-life scenes, screenwriters, directors, and editors will use AI to enhance their tasks more efficiently and effectively.”
Business Insider previously reported that Netflix plans to use AI to order or create “exceptional content.” For instance, in February, OpenAI introduced Sora, a video generation tool that can create short clips using AI models based on simple commands. Users can control characters, settings, movements, and visual details. Sora has even been used to produce the four-minute music video for Washed Out’s “The Hardest Part,” fully made by AI.
Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has acknowledged that AI technology could lead to massive job displacement. Altman has consistently advocated for a “universal basic income” to ensure workers are not left unemployed due to AI advancements.
Key Takeaways:
- AI will not take away jobs but will distinguish between those who know how to use it effectively and those who don’t.
- Creative professionals are rightfully worried about AI’s ability to mimic human work and the current lack of specific copyright regulations.
- Netflix plans to utilize AI for creating superior content, viewing AI as a natural technological progression.
- Calls for universal basic income aim to counter potential widespread unemployment due to AI developments.
