7 OCTOBER | LONDON 2024
SEPTEMBER 12TH - 14TH
The O2, LONDON
Cinema & AI
Your weekly CogX newsletter on AI and content creation
Is AI "poison"?
New polling shows sympathy for Hollywood strikers whilst SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher called AI a “poison” in a ramp up of rhetoric.
A new gen-AI trailer for Genesis, a fictional movie, went viral, showcasing the potential of AI in film. Meanwhile, Flawless AI and Imperial’s collaboration could improve R&D and faster production of new tools.
In music, researchers used AI to manifest the music that’s in your head. In the future, just thinking of a new melody could turn it into a reality.
Explore these topics and more— from Japanese manga artists to indie artists adopting AI — in the CogX Must Reads.
CogX Must Reads of the week
Netflix backtracks on AI role
Following a backlash, Netflix pulled back over their $900,000 a year advertised AI role. With 87% of the guild’s performers earning less than $26,000 a year, the money being spent on AI replacements was a kick in the teeth. However, Netflix only updated the job description and didn’t remove the role - studios can’t afford not to recruit AI talent.
Flawless AI and Imperial’s new collaboration
Flawless’ platform gives users groundbreaking post-production tools to create films at a fraction of what they previously cost. Their new partnership will give them access to Imperial’s cutting-edge research facilities and world-leading academics to accelerate R&D efforts and bring new products to market even faster.
Hollywood
Americans understand rationale for Hollywood strikes
New polling shows almost two-thirds of Americans agreed with entertainment unions demanding safeguards over AI. 38% had sympathy for the striking actors and writers, compared to just 7% for the media corporations. The debate will soon shift to other industries, and workers are worried.
AI is a “deadly cocktail”
SAG-AFTRA President, Fran Drescher, called the misuse of AI a “poison” that needs to be strictly regulated. Many of the union’s members have been victims of deepfakes and she is adamant that both compensation and consent are needed. There can be no negotiation, she insisted.
Industry
Gen-AI trailer for Genesis
The movie trailer for sci-fi epic Genesis has been going viral online. It was created using AI tools: MidJourney for images; Runway for videos; and edited in CapCut. The film doesn’t actually exist — but given the interest in the trailer, maybe it should?
Japanese manga artists embrace AI
A project in Tokyo aims to create a new episode of “Black Jack” manga using generative AI, trained on the structure of past plots and characters. This could be the first step on a journey where the general public produce their own artwork and stories featuring their favourite characters.
Music
AI can recreate music that’s in your head
Google and Osaka University researchers developed an AI model to reconstruct music from brain scans. Neural patterns from a sample of participants were used to train a deep neural network which matched changes in brain activity with features of the music. Whilst the output today is crude, models might be able create music from your thoughts soon.
Indie artists adopt AI
Half of independent artists surveyed in a new poll had a positive perception of AI's benefits and opportunities; 27% had already used some form of AI in their work. However, despite willingness to adopt AI, three issues stood out: training should require artists’ permission, and offer them both compensation and credit.
Top Stories
In case you missed it
Check out the AI-generated trailer for Genesis, which has gone viral:
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this week’s Issue and what you’d like to see more of.