The media & entertainment industry can learn about its AI future from its Napster-ized past
Stoicism, proactivity and action in the face of generative AI's daunting future are essential. We learned that the hard way during the last massive tech-tonic shift that rocked M&E.
Grab your coffee and let’s go with your Monday morning AI media and entertainment brAIn dump! It’s all about the promise and perils of generative AI in the world of media and entertainment. Here’s what’s on today’s menu:
First, “the trAIler” - the top 10 AI headlines from last week that preview what to expect this week. Next, “the mAIn event” - my feature story. Then, “the cocktAIl” - my curated mixology of AI events and helpful resources. Finally, “the AI legal case tracker” (at the very bottom) - updates on the most important generative AI-related copyright infringement cases (and my predictions for how they will end).
I. the trAIler - 10 AI “quick hit” headlines and previews for the week (you know, like a movie trailer!)
(1) Are you an AI “doomer” or “boomer”? Check out the competing schools of thought by the leading minds that unleashed generative AI into an unsuspecting world (here’s the story in Axios). And cast your personal vote here:
(2) Elon Musk sues OpenAI for breaching the ChatGPT creator’s core mission of developing generative AI for humanity’s sake (because, of course he cares!). Read more about Musk’s lawsuit here.
(3) Apple CEO Tim Cook locks the door on his Apple car ambitions and takes a ride on generative AI instead. Yes, even mighty Apple has resource limits and can’t do it all. Cook promises to break new AI ground. But is he too far behind at this point?
(4) Google is on an AI redemption tour after its Gemini AI image generator failed miserably - rocked by generating racially diverse Nazis, for example. Read more about it here from The Verge. Welcome to the new AI culture wars! (where those who look to stoke conflict anywhere they can now accuse Gemini and other generative AI models as being too “woke”). Here’s an interesting article from Wired.
(5) We all know Nvidia “killed it” in Q4 2023, so now Intel and everyone else wants a piece of its accelerating chipmaking market. Read more here from Axios.
(6) Meanwhile, Microsoft wants to rain on Nvidia’s parade. The giant is reportedly developing AI server gear to cut Nvidia dependence. Read more about it here.
(7) Universal Music Group, the godfather of music labels, wants some respect! But so far, TikTok isn’t giving it, as the social media giant ignored UMG’s February 29th deadline to strike a new licensing deal. The two behemoths continue to battle about generative AI music, among other things, as UMG takes down more and more music videos. Read about it all here.
(8) Generative AI isn’t just for Silicon Valley Big Tech behemoths! In fact, one of the most well-funded startups, Mistral AI, hails from France. Are they a company to watch? Oui oui! Read more about its new “Le Chat” bot (yes, that’s its name) that seeks to rival ChatGPT’s performance via TechCrunch.
(9) Meanwhile, Disney activist investors want CEO Bob Iger’s Magic Kingdom to generate even bigger cheese via AI. Read more about Iger’s latest thorn in his side via The Hollywood Reporter.
(10) “Ask not what your country can do for you (about AI), but what YOU can do for your country!” Actually, it’s the reverse in Singapore, where the government just announced that it will pay its 40+ year old citizens to go back to school to freshen up their eduction because so much of it is being rendered obsolete by AI. Sounds incredibly smart to me (although just a bit more complicated to implement in the U.S.). Read more about this fascinating new program here.
II. the mAIn event - the entertainment industry can learn about its AI future from its Napster-ized past
A few months back, Google’s AI chatbot formerly known as Bard (now re-christened, Gemini) was asked what it thinks generative AI is good at. Its answer – “tasks that require creativity” – an answer that isn’t particularly music to the ears for artists and the entertainment industry. Bard specifically self-identified its top skillsets to be “creating art and music, writing stories and poetry, designing products and services, generating new ideas.”
In other words, AI has its sights directly on our creative community across all of its sectors - and directly threatens demand for our works and our jobs. Case in point writers and authors. ChatGPT’s OpenAI published a study last year that concludes that the livelihoods of writers are 100% exposed to AI.
AI already pumps out millions of new songs, writes articles, scripts and novels (LinkedIn founder Reid Smith published his book “Impromptu” solely using GPT-4), churns out endless graphics and art (Midjourney and Stability AI are leaders), and now even creates cinematic quality video based on just a few words of text (via OpenAI’s recently announced “Sora” that I featured in last week’s newsletter). And we’re only 15 months since OpenAI unleashed ChatGPT into a largely naïve and unsuspecting world. So just imagine how the media and entertainment world will be one year from now. Five? Ten?
The truth is we can’t.
Keeping humanity front and center in creativity … and taking action!
But we gotta try. We, the entertainment industry, must find ways to keep humanity front and center in the art of creativity. Our art, our audiences, and our jobs depend on it. This isn’t some anti-tech rant or form of charity. It’s a fundamental belief that our creative souls cannot be matched by code-churning machines. There is an idiosyncratic and artisan “craft” to the Arts. Will an AI really know exactly what I write next? After all, AI art, by definition, is artificial (I wrote a full column about this last year titled “To Err Is Human - and That’s What Makes Human Creativity In the Age of AI Divine”). At a very simple level, it’s impossible for AI to communicate human experiences, because it can’t - by definition - experience them.
Knowledge is power, of course, and prioritizing humanity takes proactivity, education and work. Part of the solution is simply to accept our daunting new AI reality – to learn the language of AI, experiment with it, and leverage its immense power to our advantage. For example, AI may help breakdown writer’s block without overtaking the art (and personality) of writing itself.
Equally important is activism. To that end, over 150 media and entertainment organizations created the Human Artistry Campaign “to ensure artificial intelligence technologies are developed and used in ways that support human culture and artistry – and not ways that replace or erode it.” Notably, just like it did during the last massive technological threat 20+ years ago when rampant Napster-enabled Internet piracy decimated the music industry, the RIAA takes center stage now with AI. It’s a founding member of the Human Artistry Campaign.
The entertainment industry has learned from its Napster past and is doing things differently this time
But this time the RIAA openly acknowledges and accepts the AI tech revolution and seeks solutions - an approach that is fundamentally different than its reactive “shoot first and ask questions later” mass litigation strategy against peer-to-peer networks and their users. Its failed strategy during the Napster days somehow made the music industry the bad guys. Remember the backlash against metal band Metallica for simply condemning the theft of its music? Collective industry activism and education were needed, but few came to the band’s defense. There’s a lesson to be learned here for these AI times.
Yes, serious copyright infringement issues arise as AI “trains” by scraping the vast Internet (you can track the most important legal cases in this newsletter). But that doesn’t mean that we can simply litigate AI out of existence. We can’t. While selective litigation certainly can play its part, it was proactive human innovation that ultimately began to show a way out for the music industry. Pioneering companies like Musicmatch (where I served as President & COO) developed better consumer experiences - specifically, easy-to-use on demand streaming - that technology alone couldn’t match and paid the artists and rights-holders to do it.
Steve Jobs and Apple, of course, took the promise of better consumer experiences to entirely new heights with the iPod/iTunes combo pack. Although Apple was the primary beneficiary (as I wrote previously in TheWrap), at least the giant demonstrated that consumers will pay even when they can get things for free. And now 20+ years later, while music piracy certainly hasn’t been eradicated, the industry just announced its 8th consecutive year of growth (9% year over year this time).
Examples that point the way
Some examples that point the way include Lore Machine (I’ve frequently featured the company). It uses its AI to create entirely new StoryScapes (think graphic novels) from creative projects that had been essentially abandoned, paying participating artists in the process. Another is Adobe with Firefly, a non-infringing tool that trains its AI only with its licensed stock images and public domain works. Meanwhile, Flawless’ generative AI flawlessly converts dialog into myriad languages - and with perfect mouth synching - opening up new global audiences for international filmmakers by making subtitles a thing of the past.
On the music side, despite flooding the market with millions of artificially created songs, AI can also expand demand for songs by actual humans. That’s how new music players should think. Yes, integrate AI. But create entirely new experiences that delight consumers and also pay the artists when you do! Adaptive music is one intriguing concept (assuming an artist is on board). Let’s say you’re a runner. Now you can take your favorite playlist and use AI to re-imagine its tempo to match your running pace. More listening means more royalty payments.
And let’s not forget the obvious opportunities of live music and entertainment, as well as the often overlooked concept of fandom – things still beyond AI’s reach (for now at least), no matter how hard it tries. In the Arts, it’s frequently not just about the creative work itself. Value flows from IRL experiences, real-world access to artists, and the communities created by, and supporting, the artists themselves. Art is about the persona after all.
But guardrails are needed
Finally, proactivity means immediate calls for basic guardrails - because we certainly can’t bank on the tech industry to regulate itself during this AI arms race where few corporations are rewarded for thoughtfulness, social good, and simple humanity.
The entertainment industry and creative community can thrive in our world of accelerating AI. We gotta believe, and we gotta try. After all, optimism in the face of daunting challenges is a human trait that AI cannot match.
What do you think? Send me your feedback and reach out to me at peter@creativemedia.biz.
III. the cocktAIl - your AI mix (cool “must attend” AI events, curated guest essays, additional resources)
After all, it’s always happy hour somewhere!
Today’s cocktAIl from your resident mix-AI-logist (yours truly) features several “must attend” events, including my very special AI partnership with Digital Hollywood.
(1) “MUST ATTEND” events - save the dates!
(i) Digital Hollywood recently announced its first exclusively generative AI-focused virtual summit, “The Digital Hollywood AI Summer Summit,” on four days in July (July 22nd - 25th). The depth and breadth of the sessions are outstanding, and they’re all virtual (so all of you can and should attend). Learn more here via this link.
My firm Creative Media has joined forces with Digital Hollywood to host a series of free monthly generative AI-focused webinars leading up to the event, to both prep you for (and preview) the Summit. The first kicks off on March 25th and will feature my interviews with Stewart Copeland (drummer of the great band The Police) and Alex Ebert (lead singer of classic indie band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros). Those artists will give their very candid and personal thoughts about generative AI and its impact on musicians and art.
(ii) AI LA “Policy Happy Hour” March 14th, 2024, downtown LA. A good opportunity to mix with others in the AI “in” crowd. It’s entirely free. Register here via this link. AI LA is one of the best AI-focused organizations in LA - deeply connected.
(iii) AI LA’s “A.I. on the Lot” May 16th, 2024 event. This is also a “must attend” event. Check it out and sign up here. I attended last year. It’s where all the LA-based media and generative AI “movers and shakers” meet, learn, and collaborate.
(2) Use the generative AI tools and experiment with them
Most importantly, learn how to use generative AI! Experiment with chatGPT 4 and Midjourney to stay current and fully understand how generative AI “works.”
Reach out to me at peter@creativemedia.biz with your feedback & submissions. I may feature them.
P.S. check out my firm Creative Media and our AI-focused services
Reach out to me at peter@creativemedia.biz to learn more.
IV. the AI legal case tracker - updates on key AI litigation
Rather than lay out the facts of each case - and the latest developments - here in every newsletter, click on this “AI case tracker” tab on “the brAIn” website. You’ll get all the up-to-date information you need. These are the cases I track.
(1) The New York Times v. Microsoft & OpenAI
(2) Sarah Silverman, et al. v. Meta
(3) Sarah Silverman v. OpenAI
(4) Universal Music Group, et al. v. Anthropic
(5) Getty Images v. Stability AI and Midjourney