Will AI become a fixture in Hollywood?

"I guess a few years ago the SAG folks knew more about what was coming than the rest of us did. I have recently read that AI will put almost 50% of the current types of jobs out of business. Little did I think that actors might be one of those jobs. But hey - with or without real actors, the show must go on. And it will." 

I remember when the last strike was held by the SAG (Screen Actors Guild). One of the big sticking points (which I don't think ever got resolved) was how to keep AI out of their business. I found it somewhat laughable, as what type of future shock were they talking about? I could not imagine what a film, be it long or short, could look anywhere near real just using bits and bytes from some computer. I was wrong.

AI is not yet in Hollywood, but it sure is being tampered with by AI pros outside the movie industry. On YouTube recently, there is a plethora of different AI "shorts", some just okay, and others are jaw dropping good. So good, you need to pinch yourself to believe it is only AI, and not a real movie. But why go there? Don't we have enough entertainment coming out of Hollywood these days? Why add in some artificial stuff?

Recently I read about a movie which will soon be released on Netflix. It is called Catacombs, and up until recently, it was deemed to be "unmakeable". There the script sat, gathering dust. Then an AI developer came along and offered to take a stab at it. Using 3,300 AI generations and about 250 hours of labor, this one person made Catacombs into a movie. No actors. No sets to build. No special effects. Just a movie, with a plot, and fake actors that when they died, their AI avatars really died. 

Watching some of the short offerings on YouTube, I am amazed and fascinated by the amount of finite detail that AI will put into scenes. That is part of the reason that everything looks and acts so real. Even the movements of people, their facial movements, leave nothing to chance. Everything looks dead on real. Then I had this thought - if this is how AI looks in 2026, how will it look in 2030? Will this signal unemployment for thousands of actors? No more expensive screen sets? No more special effects? No more stunt doubles? 

I guess a few years ago the SAG folks knew more about what was coming than the rest of us did. I have recently read that AI will put almost 50% of the current types of jobs out of business. Little did I think that actors might be one of those jobs. But hey - with or without real actors, the show must go on. And it will.