Indie studio A24 has defended its $75m deal with Google DeepMind, arguing that it wants \u201ca seat at the table\u201d when it comes to AI.<\/p>\n
Seemingly inspired by Martin Scorsese<\/a>, A24 recently decided to torch its years of audience goodwill (and trendy reputation) by announcing a multi-million dollar deal with an AI tech company<\/a>.<\/p>\n Facing a vociferous response over the past few days, the indie studio behind the likes of Backrooms and Civil War has come forward with a statement.<\/p>\n Speaking to Wired<\/a>, company representative Sophia Shin argued that its work with Google DeepMind is a \u201cresearch partnership\u201d in which both entities will \u201clearn, iterate, and build, having an active hand in shaping new tools and workflows.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur relationship with our audience is something we don\u2019t take for granted,\u201d Shin said. \u201cThis partnership exists because we want to dictate what tools get built for artists, and so they have a voice in shaping them rather than having tools handed to them. We\u2019d rather have a seat at the table than on the sidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n That last sentence is particularly telling. A24\u2019s stance on AI, it seems, is similar to Lyndon B Johnson\u2019s attitude to J Edgar Hoover: when asked why he kept Hoover in post as director of the FBI, the President famously said, \u201cBetter to have your enemies inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.\u201d<\/p>\n The problem, in this scenario, is that it\u2019s artists and filmmakers who end up covered in piss, whether they\u2019re the ones whose work has been scraped without compensation or consent, or those whose jobs have been replaced by an app. Last week, A24 Labs boss Scott Belsky suggested that the tools his part of the company are working on with Google\u2019s researchers are working on are connected to storyboarding and pre-production. <\/p>\n Read more: The growing filmmaking showdown: AI vs storyboard artists<\/a><\/p>\n In other words, there are plans to automate the parts of the filmmaking process that are already fairly cheap. There\u2019s a reason why illustrators and storyboard artists don\u2019t own yachts and private islands.<\/p>\n A24\u2019s table-based attempt to defend its new deal hasn\u2019t, it\u2019s fair to say, calmed the situation down. A Reddit page<\/a> dedicated to A24 makes for grim reading, at least if you\u2019re an executive at A24. \u201cHuge sell out, and a giant FU to artists who they\u2019ve supported for years,\u201d one succinct post reads.<\/p>\n