AI can be as evil as man makes it to be: Keniley-Kumar law firm partner

Intentional training of AI to replace a certain writer is a fraud, not inspiration, says Scott Keniley, partner in Atlanta-based entertainment law firm Keniley-Kumar, in an e-mail interview with Vanita Kohli-Khandekar. As an entertainment attorney, he focuses primarily on emerging technologies in the music and entertainment industry. He is also legal counsel for Soundscape, a virtual reality entertainment platform that licenses content from top artists to create “musical metaverse” experiences. Edited excerpts:

What are ways in which AI is already being used in Hollywood?

Deep fakes, actor ageing (demonstrating actors at various ages based on prior imaging and predicting). For instance, Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones, body imaging (weight gain/loss of Matt Damon in The Martian), films with deceased actors, and so on. It is also being used for selecting actors for roles, and creating digital characters. Other uses include visual effects, creating scenes that otherwise would be too costly, sound effects, scoring, script writing, editing/post-production image-specific shots and speed/efficiency, and text-to-film/generative video-text prompts.

What are the challenges with AI?

Training workforce on the latest AI development, humanising where AI can’t display appropriate emotion or dexterity, etc. 

What are the ethical, creative or economic dilemmas?

AI can/will be used to manipulate audience biases, stereotypes, political stances, and levels of offensive content. Identifying what is truth or fact based on the input that is provided is a universal concern. However, I believe this is no different from the film industry creating a film based on their political beliefs or position on what is truth or fact. One problem is that the constant training on certain political positions allows the AI to train itself on the same thought process. AI can be as evil as man makes it to be.

The issues around writers and AI

I believe there is the opportunity to allow writers to edit/re-write their own scripts first as part of their copyright and/or brand interests so that their products are not bastardised or misrepresented. AI will train on everything, but intentional training to replace a certain writer is a fraud, not an inspiration. I also believe there is a place for writers to fix/write the inhumanity in AI creations as directed by the production houses. Also consider ownership, copyright, and theft. AI, machines or monkeys cannot own a copyright as determined by the current state of legal affairs. 

Does the Writers Guild of America’s strike and what is happening in Hollywood hold any lessons for creative industries elsewhere? 

America, for what faults many believe it to have, is the fairest country on the planet offering the most opportunities. America is also the most advanced entertainment mecca the world has ever known. What happens first in America will later be attempted elsewhere. That said, if AI tech is exploited in Bollywood with the same level of peaked interest and experimentation, will their writers have the same opportunity and leverage to fight back the way the Writers Guild of America has? Additionally, other nations’ entertainment industries most likely do not have the financial resources in comparison to Hollywood, thereby making it economically imperative to use AI to reduce human costs.