It's just a matter of time/rev II

 Illustration Ben Wiseman

Beginning in 2007, yours truly penned several blurbs regarding the emergence of digital actors and what it will mean to Hollywood and the art of film. Fast forward to 2023 and the path to synthetic video, complete with AI driven scripts and CG environments, including digital actors, is taking shape as we speak. IMHO, it doesn't matter who the star is if the script and film work as a viable entertainment medium, what does matter is how a movie is produced because if you can do it cheaper with the same results, the move to AI generated video becomes inevitable and ... there's no egos involved unless the AI entities in said films become self aware, complete with all the baggage us humans possess in great abundance. :)

SAY HELLO TO IRA. HIS HEAD IS VISIBLE ON A SCREEN AS though he’s in a videoconference. He seems to be in his early 30s, with a shaved head, a pronounced nose, and thin eyebrows. Ira seems a little goofy and maybe just a wee bit strange. But unless you knew his full name—it’s “Digital Ira”—you probably wouldn’t guess that he’s nothing but bits.

In the background, a graphics processor churns through the calculations that determine every roll of his eyes, every crease or bulge of his skin, and every little arch of his eyebrow. Digital Ira can assume almost any expression—joy, befuddlement, annoyance, surprise, concern, boredom, or pleasure—in about the same amount of time it takes a human to do so.

As Digital Ira affirms, graphics specialists are closing in on one of their field’s longest-standing and most sought-after prizes: an interactive and photo-realistically lifelike digital human. Such a digital double will change the way we think about actors, acting, entertainment, and computer games. In movies, digital doubles already replace human actors on occasion, sometimes just for moments, sometimes for most of a feature film. Within a decade or so, computer-game characters will be as indistinguishable from filmed humans as their movie counterparts. And in time, this capability will help bring movies and games together, and out of the union will come entirely new forms of entertainment.

Bad timing as Joan is Awful applies.

Hollywood actors have officially gone on strike, joining the Writers Guild of America on the picket lines for the first time in over 60 years — a reality that Netflix, a major force in the industry the actors are striking against, predicted almost exactly a month ago in its hit show "Black Mirror."

In the debut episode, titled "Joan Is Awful" and starring Annie Murphy, a woman's worst traits are exaggerated in a biographical drama starring Salma Hayek, who plays herself. But as it turns out, Hayek isn't her real self either, but an AI-generated likeness commissioned by an evil streaming corporation.

In other words, the Charlie Brooker-created Netflix show pretty much nailed the current discussion over a background actor's right over their digital likeness.

"Netflix really fucked up dropping that AI episode of 'Black Mirror' in the middle of the SAG negotiations, huh," movie reviewer Joe Russo tweeted earlier this week.

In some ways, it's an escalation of the existing conversation surrounding the threat of having AI replace writers.

It's just a matter of time.