\n\t\u201cYou can call it slop all you want, it\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSean Atkins, CEO of creator-led video production company Dhar Mann Studios<\/a>, was talking on MIPCOM<\/a> Cannes\u2019 main stage on Tuesday about the release of Sora 2. The latest piece of futuristic tech from Sam Altman\u2019s OpenAI, Sora 2 is a TikTok-style text-to-video app that allows users to conjure up whatever they want, and will even let people scan their face to place themselves in hyperrealistic clips. The product\u2019s release immediately panicked Hollywood<\/a>, but at MIPCOM, the 41-year-old TV market held annually in Cannes, it was cause for celebration.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m an optimist,\u201d Atkins added at his headliner session, \u201cso I\u2019m not necessarily worried about [AI] long-term, but I think there\u2019s some near-term pain we\u2019re all gonna have to put up with.\u201d The former MTV president said Dhar Mann Studios \u2014 featured in The Hollywood Reporter\u2018s latest cover story on YouTube\u2019s world domination<\/a> \u2014\u00a0uses artificial intelligence in their production flow.<\/p>\n \n\tIt was a MIPCOM entirely dedicated to the creator economy, with YouTube stealing the spotlight<\/a> from day one. In between all the keynote sessions, panels and showcases on creator content, however, was the next big disruptor for the film and TV industry, flying ever-so-slightly under the radar: \u201cMonetizing Content in the Age of AI,\u201d \u201cNext in AI\u201d and \u201cNurturing Future Creative Leaders with AI\u201d were among the events on the lineup this year, as well as sessions with full-time AI artists on how to integrate the tech into your content.<\/p>\n \n\tThe general consensus among industry execs is that any hopes of fending off the AI boom are long dead \u2014 and the work to accommodate it has already been done. \u201cBefore doing AI, we had to fix the plumbing and build the right tech infrastructure,\u201d Damien Viel, Banijay<\/a>\u2018s chief digital & innovation officer, tells THR on the ground in Cannes. \u201cBecause if you want to get AI empowered in your company, you need to get data, you need to get your infrastructure organized and you need to build AI platform.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tViel explains that any \u201cplumbing\u201d work extends to the legal framework at Banijay too, with 130+ production companies in need of a code of conduct over the tech and a whole lot of transparency. It\u2019s taken the content powerhouse two years to get the infrastructure in place. Now come the team-ups: \u201cWe are super optimistic for this MIP because we\u2019ve done the plumbing, and now we can come and talk to platforms like YouTube and say, \u2018We are ready to start collaborating with you.’\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOne of the most visible uses of AI for a company like Banijay is clipping tools \u2014 applications that use artificial intelligence to automatically identify and extract compelling moments from longer videos, transforming them into short clips that can be easily shared. \u201cWe\u2019ve put 200,000 hours of content on the cloud,\u201d says Viel, \u201cand we have indexed this content to make it searchable, clippable and with the right languages.\u201d The tool will even allow searches based on the emotions AI has detected in the videos.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s not long before the Frenchman also brings Sora 2 into the conversation, a platform he believes will help his company wade through the most pressing problem in TV right now: consumer centricity. \u201cSora 2 is an opportunity because now, finally, we can get videos that are longer than two, three, four minutes \u2014 we can now go to five, seven and eight, and that\u2019s going to be changing the way we operate. But more importantly,\u201d says Viel, \u201cwhat Sora 2 is [doing] is bringing a new way of consuming content with an app or social media.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFor the Banijay exec, it\u2019s not so much about what the final result is, but what Sora 2 will demonstrate about the wants of audiences. He discusses Banijay\u2019s newly-launched partnership with YouTube, the Creators Lab, where selected YouTube stars are to be given \u20ac50,000 ($58,000) to inject new life into the company\u2019s dormant TV formats. \u201cThe principle of this lab with YouTube is we are not only finding a way to finally collaborate with creators, we\u2019re also trying to learn from them,\u201d says Viel. \u201cWhat they\u2019re using, how they\u2019re so effective, and how we can build together the entertainment that\u2019s [put] on in the living room in the next one or two years.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThis kind of exploration into consumer appetite is what AI is now permitting at big studios, adds the Banijay chief. \u201cHaving a full movie generated by AI? It\u2019s already done\u2026 But this is not the way we can be more creative. We will be more creative the day we perfectly understand what these users want to watch and how we can bring them into this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCan Viel imagine a world in which one of Banijay\u2019s 130 or so production companies would hire an AI \u201cactress\u201d like Tilly Norwood in a lead role in a TV show? \u201cI don\u2019t think the machine is, right now, the best-equipped in terms of sentiment,\u201d he responds. \u201cI think that the challenge we have is to keep creativity and human sentiments in everything we do. But,\u201d he adds, \u201cwe\u2019ve got tools that help us detect new sentiments. We can [use AI] to extract content that we\u2019ve already made and produced.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFrenzy around the news that talent agencies were looking to sign Norwood has now seemingly died down. \u201cIt has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we\u2019ve seen, audiences aren\u2019t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience,\u201d read a scathing statement from SAG-AFTRA about Norwood and its creator, Eline Van der Velden\u2019s Particle 6 Productions. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t solve any \u2018problem\u2019 \u2014 it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe widespread outrage from actors, filmmakers and labor unions over computer-generated talent hasn\u2019t stopped the jokes rolling in on social media and beyond. \u201cI remember watching [Saturday Night Live] in the \u201970s,\u201d said Amy Poehler during her Oct. 11 SNL hosting gig<\/a>. \u201cSitting in my house in Burlington, Massachusetts, thinking, \u2018I wanna be an actress someday, at least until they invent an\u00a0AI\u00a0actress who\u2019s funnier and willing to do full frontal.’\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThough Tilly Norwood has, as an emblem of what the future could hold, been met with fury across the board, AI talent was actually up for grabs at MIPCOM. One session titled \u201cFreedom Reimagined: AI, Vertical Drama & the Turkish Wave\u201d debuted a trailer for what Vitpepper Studios has dubbed the world\u2019s first series entirely generated by artificial intelligence. Tesseract, following a woman named Laila who embarks on a search through alternate realities for her missing child, boasts six episodes.<\/p>\n