Lionsgate’s AI Deal Seems to Be an Attempt to

Replace VFX and Storyboard Artists

To save “millions and millions of dollars,” according to the studio, is the aim.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Lionsgate, the company behind popular franchises like “John Wick,” “The Hunger Games,” and cult favorites like “American Psycho,” is forming a significant alliance with the AI startup Runway.

The agreement, which was made public on Wednesday, gives Runway access to Lionsgate’s vast library of films and television series, which the startup will utilize to create a brand-new AI model just for the Hollywood production company.

According to Runway, the AI model will be able to produce “cinematic video.” In addition, vice chairman of Lionsgate Michael Burns claims the technology will save the company “millions and millions of dollars,” as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Burns’ comments imply that if the project succeeds, jobs may be lost. The tool will be used for tasks that have historically been performed by humans, such as storyboarding and the production of visual effects.

“We do a lot of action movies, so we blow a lot of things up and that is one of the things Runway does,” Burns stated to the newspaper.

Runway has never before inked a contract of this nature with a big Hollywood studio. Lionsgate, however, could have chosen a better time to release the trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s next science fiction epic “Megalopolis,” as it was only last month that the studio faced criticism for employing entirely made-up, AI-generated quotes that appeared to be the opinions of well-known film critics.

Runway brings some baggage into this partnership as well: it was sued by artists for violating their copyright by utilizing their work to train its AI models without authorization, along with a number of other generative AI startups like Midjourney.

In signing this deal with Lionsgate, Runway avoids those copyright hurdles, which could pave the way to a more legally scrupulous expansion of the technology into the industry down the road.

It’s this aspect of the deal that makes Runway’s unique among partnerships between other studios and AI companies, because they usually don’t involve allowing AI firms to access their film and TV libraries to train their models on, Jeff Katzin, a partner at the firm Bain & Co which worked with Lionsgate on its AI strategy, told the WSJ.

The film industry is at a crossroads with AI, as this deal’s significance demonstrates. Big studios are experimenting with technology more and more, despite the fact that creatives are still divided on the subject. This year’s huge strike by actors and screenwriters brought these tensions to a breaking point as they successfully pushed for historic AI protections among other concessions.

This week, California passed two new laws that strengthen existing AI protections by outlawing the use of AI to mimic an actor’s voice or likeness without the performer’s express consent.

According to the WSJ, Runway’s AI capabilities aren’t yet able to produce photographs that are good enough to be utilized in motion picture and television projects. However, now that Lionsgate’s vast library is available to the startup, maybe it eventually will.