of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA went on strike to protect against AI for months? Well, not yet they got some conditions thereanyway, it doesn’t stop AI from coming to Hollywood. Lionsgate, the studio behind it John Wick and The Hunger Games franchise, has signed an agreement with AI startup Runway, the The Wall Street Journal reported first and Runway confirmed in a press release. The arrangement will give Runway access to Lionsgate’s content library in exchange for a new, custom AI model that the studio can use in production and editing.
The deal is similar to the last (and equally disgusting feeling) with publishers like TIME and Dotdash Meredithbut it is the first of its kind for the film and television industry. Lionsgate Studio Vice Chairman Michael Burns said in recent months that he was afraid of falling behind rivals without making such a move. “Runway is a visionary, best-in-class partner that will help us leverage artificial intelligence to develop advanced, capital-efficient content creation capabilities,” said Burns. He further claimed, “Several of our directors are already excited about its potential applications in their pre-production and post-production processes.”
There’s also the small matter that he expects the company to save “millions and millions of dollars” through the deal. Whether that money will come out of creative salaries is something we can only speculate at this point, but it’s not surprising.
As for Lionsgate’s new bedmate, like many AI companies, Runway has faced accusations stealing content to teach the system. A former employee came forward in July with alleged internal charts showing that Disney, Netflix and popular media outlets used YouTube videos to train Runway’s Gen-3 model. A group of artists are also suing other players such as Runway and Stability AI for copyright infringement. reports Artnet. The plaintiffs won in August, when California District Judge William Orrick found that the companies had reasonable grounds to infringe the artists’ rights.
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