Can artificial intelligence replace screenwriters and actors? This is the fear of the employees of major studios. Faced with this real or imagined threat, Hollywood’s small hands and some stars have decided to go on strike. And this is not cinema. Infuriated by the power of computer programs, the masterminds of the dream factories have decided to engage in confrontation not directly with ChatGPT, but with their own masters. Incidentally, it appears that behind the glamorous varnish, life is not all rosy for the trimmers of movies. Underpaid, under-considered, victims of competition between the “chiefs” and streaming platforms, the obscure guys of the 7th art are at the mercy of the Raptors. A cliché? Perhaps. However, the dictator has changed. This is no longer a fat man sweating and pulling a tan, but a bunch of talented accountants behind graphs and pie charts.
But Hollywood remains Hollywood: a fictitious business that occasionally produces masterpieces. And like all industries, the emergence of intelligent machines has the potential to change the game. Rejuvenating Harrison Ford for the duration of a scene is only the beginning: green screens and algorithms allow for all kinds of audacity and warping of space-time. Has Bogart Played With Jennifer Lawrence? Arleti replying to Omar Sy? Tomorrow, it will no doubt be possible. Is it guaranteed to be a box office hit? It is less secure. Let ChatGPT come up with a crappy script, let Google Bard screw up the casting and let Chinchilla miss its staging and Hollywood will know how to respond… by closing all these shows with a bang! In a way, it’s reassuring, this behavior being so predictable thanks to good old human intelligence. That’s Entertainment Coco!