AI might soon enable us to create our own movies, render CGI teams obsolete, says Ashton Kutcher; Gets criticised

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has long fascinated us with its potential, but the rise of generative AI capable of producing stunning, lifelike videos has catapulted us into a new era of digital wizardry. These cutting-edge tools would soon be capable of bringing our wildest cinematic dreams to life, crafting intricate scenes and compelling narratives, all from scratch.

Among its biggest admirers is Hollywood actor and producer Ashton Kutcher, who recently shared his enthusiasm for OpenAI's generative video tool, Sora. In a discussion with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the Berggruen Salon in Los Angeles, US, the “That ’70s Show” star hailed Sora as a game-changer for the future of filmmaking.

During the conversation, Kutcher expressed his amazement with Sora, a tool still in beta testing but already delivering remarkable results.

“You can generate any footage that you want. You can create good 10, 15-second videos that look very real. … If you look at the generation of this that existed one year ago as compared to Sora, it’s leaps and bounds. In fact, there’s footage in it that I would say you could easily use in a major motion picture or a television show,” Kutcher was quoted as saying by variety.com.

Kutcher elaborated on how AI could dramatically cut filmmaking costs. Scenes that might require thousands of dollars to produce could be generated by AI for a fraction of the price. He added how his personal experimentation with Sora resulted in realistic footage of a runner fleeing a desert sandstorm — a creation that took him just five minutes, without the need for a full CGI department.

He further highlighted the potential of upcoming processors, which are said to be 30 times more powerful than current ones, suggesting that platforms like Sora will soon achieve even greater capabilities.

“You’ll be able to render a whole movie. You’ll just come up with an idea for a movie, then it will write the script, then you’ll input the script into the video generator and it will generate the movie. Instead of watching some movie that somebody else came up with, I can just generate and then watch my own movie,” he added.

The impact of Sora was already felt in February, when OpenAI showcased its preview footage. The demonstration caused a stir in Hollywood, leading to the halting of studio expansion projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars as the industry grappled with the potential takeover by AI technology.

Now, Kutcher’s recent remarks have reopened unhealed wounds. Many from the Hollywood industry took to social media to criticise the actor, branding him as “ignorant” and “self-centred”. Some also accused him of supporting technology that could lead to job losses for movie crew members.

What are your thoughts on Kutcher’s stance?