An AI manifesto (and a burning camper van)
What the film industry thinks about AI right now...
Since ChatGPT launched approximately 18 months ago, the film industry has been grappling with the transformative potential and threats posed by generative AI technologies.
Some people predict it’s imminent death by SORA and all the other emerging text-to-video tools while others take the position that everything AI creates is just a boring derivative. Some live in fear while others embrace the new technologies for creation with open arms and others again simply ignore what is going on. Most people think that AI will impact jobs in the industry, but just not them…
DAS KI MANIFEST - Taking a deeper look
We at DRIVE beta wanted to take a bit of a deeper look at how representatives from the film industry think about the impact of generative AI on the film industry and our shared responsibility in deploying these new ways of creation.
To do this we brought together an actress (Gizem Emre), a screenwriter (Christian Alvert), a director (Mira Thiel) and a producer (Guido Reinhardt) and gave them the task to write a manifesto on the use of generative AI in the film industry. They were helped along the way by 4 experts and an AI in the room. We covered their process in an experimental documentary called “Das KI Manifest” produced for ZDF - Das kleine Fernsehspiel:
(Full film in German here: https://www.zdf.de/filme/das-kleine-fernsehspiel/das-ki-manifest-100.html)
The results - Fundamentalist Humanism
The result of their discussion is an impulse for a manifesto available at www.ki-manifest.de. (An english translation of the full text can be found at the very end of this newsletter).
Right from the get-go it became obvious that our group had a rather critical stance on the use of AI in film production. For them the idea, that machines would take over the telling of stories is a scary proposition. They also felt that there really is not any good reason to replace jobs that humans enjoy with generative AI.
This is a summary of the outcomes of their discussion: The rapid progress of generative AI is creating significant concern in society, including fears about the replacement of human creativity by machines, threatening many jobs and cultural knowledge, especially in the film industry. The group calls for a collective effort to establish an AI Manifesto that protects human creativity, demands fair compensation for the use of cultural works in AI training, and insists on transparency and labeling for AI-generated content. It advocates for using AI as a tool to enhance rather than replace human creativity, emphasizing the need for a broader societal discussion on the future integration of AI.
Their stance reminded me a lot of the thoughts I read from American screenwriters during the Hollywood strike or in the letter signed by 200 musicians urging AI companies to stop deploying generative AI tools that have the potential to undermine human creativity.
What do I think?
Now some personal reflections: It was extremely interesting for me personally to follow their discussion and arguments. As readers of this newsletter know, I have spent the last 18 months experimenting and engaging with generative AI tools and using them for different types of productions.
So my stance is definitively not as black and white: I am extremely optimistic about the potential for enhanced creativity and completely new storytelling! But I do also share some of the concern about the impact of gen AI on the way we as humans tell stories to each other and generate and consume shared narratives.
Cheap means of production and distribution have already created a much more diverse but also fragmented media landscape than ever before. With generative AI, this trend will only be supercharged.
And while in the best case this will lead to an amazing time of freeflowing creativity and a breaking down of creative borders it might just as well be the last straw, that completes the media fragmentation and kills off the last broad shared narratives and with them ideas with all of the societal implications.
So if I were to write a manifesto it would hit two main points:
Let’s be as curious and experimental as we can! (I truly believe, that gen AI can usher in a new golden era of creativity and storytelling when used to supercharge human creativity)
Let’s be very aware of the the fact that it is US who decide what impact generative AI will have, not only on the film industry but on society as a whole! (I don’t really think we can stop the train anymore, but we can decide where it takes us)
What are your thoughts?
Something I loved this week
My son is about to turn three and one of his huge fascinations is fire. So we do spend quite some time on YouTube watching things burning. A couple of days ago he made a VERY specific request: He wanted to see a burning camper van with surfboards on top. I tried to tell him that I can’t just get a video of anything he imagines… until i remembered that… I could.
I opened Midjourney and created this image:
He was like: Cool - but where are the firefighters? So I added one:
He was like: Yeah cool, but why does it not move?. So I fired up Lumas new Dream Machine:
He said: Yeah that is awesome… but… why is there no sound… ? So I opened up Elevenlabs…
I have to say, that I really enjoyed my first AI co-creation with my son. And it made me realize, that to him the fact that a computer can just give you a video of anything you might imagine will never be anything special. THAT KIND OF BLEW MY MIND!
Who Are We?
The /promptcollective was founded by Jes Brandhøj (Denmark) and Hannes Jakobsen (Germany). We're on the lookout for like-minded enthusiasts. If you're passionate about the AI-creative nexus, reach out!
Translation of the manifesto
Translated with ChatGPT
/impulses for an AI Manifesto
Date: 12.03.24
The rapid developments in the field of generative AI are triggering fears and debates in society and also within our film industry.
The technical possibilities of AI make a near future increasingly likely where creative processes are wholly or partially replaced by AI, meaning art is taken away from humans and handed over to machines.
This could potentially push hundreds of thousands of people in Europe into impending unemployment due to global tech companies. As cultural creators, we must position ourselves on this matter.
Within the framework of this TV experiment, our small group has gathered today to develop initial impulses for an AI Manifesto.
/A Matter of Self-Understanding
Cultural creators engage with what it means to be human, reflect the human experience, and enter into dialogue with society. Creativity must not be dehumanized. For the first time in human history, we must confront this real danger.
In the 120 years of film history, people have acquired extensive competencies in the art of filmmaking. There are hundreds of professions that require great craftsmanship. If these qualities are lost, the irreversible loss of this human knowledge might be the consequence.
/A Matter of Fairness
Generative AI has been trained on the works of cultural creators – without human art, there would be no gen AI. Authorship was neither asked nor compensated in this process. It is too late to ask now; the demand for fair participation remains.
We need a collective management organization that is involved in the generative AI business model and distributes royalties to authors. We also demand transparency in all aspects: Which works were used to train the AI? How do these works influence the output of the algorithms? etc.
We need a clear and unambiguous labeling requirement for content that is (mainly) created with generative AI. Without an immediate labeling requirement for AI-generated image floods, not only is our creative work threatened, but so is our democracy. Additionally, we advocate for the creation of a “Human Made” label, which should only be used for content created (exclusively) by humans. We see broadcasters and public funders as having a special responsibility here.
/A Matter of Honor and Dignity
Work is not just a means of earning a living, but also provides identity and dignity. Therefore, a work environment that focuses on appreciation of our work and human interaction is not just a means to an end but also an end in itself!
Such a work environment must be protected and not lightly lost in a flood of images and data waste generated by AI models.
We want to use AI tools as long as they remain a tool and do not lead to external control over us but rather expand human scope and creativity!
/A Matter of Control
To meet the challenges of this new era, we as an industry must stand together and lead the discussion on the question “What do we actually want with (generative) AI?” and translate it into clear demands for politics, funding bodies, broadcasters and unions.
A slowdown in the development or application of generative AI can create the space needed to conduct this important discussion and formulate common goals.
Since AI affects all areas of our economy and society, it must not remain a discussion within the creative bubble, but we must use our voices to shape our collective future in a societal alliance!
We can only face the challenges and dangers of generative AI together. Therefore, as a first step, we wish to further develop this paper in a large, industry-wide debate.
Join us!
Written by: Christian Alvart, Mira Thiel, Gizem Emre, Guido Reinhardt.
As part of the documentary experiment “The AI Manifesto”.
Good article and interesting manifesto, I agree with most of it but dont believe a slowdown is realistic with all the resources and money being pumped in. I rather think we creatives have to learn and master this tool with with haste so we can set the agenda. Anyway I clearly have to learn how how to ”fire up” lumas new dream machine!
keep up the good work
M