AI a threat to film industry? Dipankar Mukherjee admits artificial intelligence will cause 'reorientation': 'They have to adopt or face redundancy'

We live in the day and age of artificial intelligence. AI is clearly in almost everything, which makes life simpler, even for the most complicated things. Nowadays, you won't need to Google much. Drop a prompt, and you'll get the required information with photos and videos at your fingertips. Your imagination has got wings. You pen down your thoughts and AI translates into a photo, animation, GIFs, videos, poem, paragraphs and whatnot. AI has now become an essential tool in filmmaking as well. The dependency of artificial intelligence in cinema is increasing rapidly. Will AI become a threat to films and actors? Will AI change filmmaking, making it more efficient and less costly? Will technology take over humans in this creative field? 

Will AI reorient the film industry?

Dipankar Mukherjee, co-founder of Studio Blo, an AI-powered content studio, joins DNA India, discussing the pros and cons of the technology. Will AI become a threat to actors and technicians in filmmaking? Dipankar says, "There is no way to deny the fact that AI is going to cause a redefinition, reorientation of how we see a lot of industry operate. It's very easy to see that in the VFX industry, there will be a massive disruption. Things like compositors, rotoscopers, etc, will have to reequip themselves with different skills. The VFX industry overall will have to adopt AI in its workflow, otherwise face redundancy. I think the cinematographers will have a huge thing to gain with the advent of AI in cinema and filmmaking. We ourselves have been able to achieve great cinematic quality in our work because we have included production designers, cinematographers, lighting experts, VFX experts. So it's not that someone is sitting and prompting things. There is a team of professionals, human experts, who excel in their departments. So I think we should be ready to reinvent ourselves." 

For the unversed, Studio Blo collaborations are with Warner Music, YRF Studios. They even visualise, produce and create an AI music video, The Heartbreak Chhora, featuring Ayushmann Khurrana. Studio Blo has recently brought filmmaker Shekhar Kapur on board as Chairperson of AI Ethics & Creative Stewardship

Watch The Heartbreak Chhora video 

Just like Ayushmann's video, will AI ever bring a day when it poses a direct threat to actors? Will AI overpower actors? Dipankar says, "I don't think AI is ever a threat, if it's anything. As we speak, the film industry is benefiting from the use of AI. Be it reducing VFX bills, increasing the production value or production scale, speeding up things like dubbing, lip-synching, and translations. We were earlier suffering in this sector. Now with AI, more and more filmmakers are getting Hollywood, Marvel-grade visual effects, using artificial intelligence." 

Will AI replace actors? 

Speaking about the same, Dipankar adds, "As far as the actors are concerned, their roles are safe. What AI is doing is augmenting an actor's performance. So if an actor didn't give their best take, or you want to improve that take. That time is not far when they will use AI to brush up, and that can be done by the actor and the director themselves. During the outdoor shoot, if you miss the golden hour, you don't get that shot. You can use that footage, generated by AI, which will look exactly like the scene they shot." Dipankar says AI will also help actors in dubbing, where an actor's voice is cloned and translated into different languages, with correct lip-sync." He concluded that AI will also help actors to lend their facial expressions to animated, fantasy characters. "We are perfecting this technology where you will see a funny-looking chimpanzee, who will perform like, for eg Naseeruddin Shah, and Naseer sir will be emoting and acting on behalf of that chimpanzee."