Raphael Thys
Marvel / Futurism
"You can curate your story specifically to you."
Director's Cut
In a recent panel interview with Collider, Joe Russo, who has directed big Marvel movies like "Avengers: Endgame" alongside his brother, shared some of his thoughts on how AI might impact the film industry, giving it about two years before AI can create a fully-fledged movie.
"We're in a world where the entire generation has a facile expertise in [AI], and is also not afraid of it," Russo said. "So potentially, what you could do with it is obviously use it to engineer storytelling and change storytelling," allowing for "constantly evolving" stories.
"You could walk into your house and save the AI on your streaming platform," he added. "'Hey, I want a movie starring my photoreal avatar and Marilyn Monroe's photoreal avatar,'" Russo explained. "'I want it to be a rom-com because I've had a rough day,' and it renders a very competent story with dialogue that mimics your voice."
The director also said he believes modern TVs are not far off from having enough processing power to "render anything in real-time."
"You can curate your story specifically to you," he added.
These are bold and perhaps alarming claims to make by a deeply embedded figure of the industry, especially as Hollywood continues to deliberate over its future with AI. It seems dubious though, that an AI could measure up to flesh-and-blood filmmakers in just a few years.
AI is Inevitable
Russo is no stranger to the foreboding tides of AI. He says he's "on the board of a few AI companies" — the good ones, he claims, "that are developing AI to protect you from AI."
The director seems to view AI and its encroachment as an inevitability, adding that "unfortunately… you will need an AI in your life because whether we want to see it developed or not, people who are not friendly to us may develop it anyways."
Still, ominous plausibilities aside, Russo sounds pretty excited about AI's supposed potential to empower up-and-coming creators, though says little in the way of how it might harm them.
"The value of it is the democratization of storytelling. That's incredibly valuable," he said. "That means that anyone in this room could tell a story, or make a game at scale, with the help of a photoreal engine or an engine and AI tools."
"That, I think, is what excites me about it most," he added.