Before two of Hollywood’s largest unions went on strike, receiving $900,000 a year to supervise artificial intelligence projects for Netflix would have been a staggering salary.
Such a job advertisement, however, feels acutely indicative of where the entertainment business now sits — and where it’s headed — especially in light of the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA’s recent pickets outside Netflix’s offices in protest of low streaming compensation and rising automation.
The Intercept broke the news of the “Product Manager — Machine Learning Platform” position, which promises a salary range of $300,000 to $900,000 for duties centered on prioritizing and managing tasks associated with the streaming giant’s AI software.
And Netflix is hardly the only one. A senior vice president “on the cutting edge of technology developments, like artificial intelligence,” is needed by Disney Branded Television. In terms of hiring, Sony is focusing on AI ethics. And as the Hollywood Reporter recently revealed, both CBS and Amazon Prime Video are looking to fill AI-related positions at their respective organizations.
Aiming to reduce costs and boost productivity, stakeholders in the entertainment industry are aiming to integrate artificial intelligence into the production pipeline as technology advances and venture funding flows. Startups that promise to alter dialogue, make stunt work safer, “reanimate” deceased performers, and more have recently appeared.
According to the kind of pay being offered for them, the open roles “certainly seem to be high-level strategic positions,” according to Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and top negotiator for SAG-AFTRA. “We haven’t seen anything before in terms of a broader AI strategy or a focus on the use of generative AI,” the author says.
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The purpose of these roles, according to Crabtree-Ireland, is “to set up a post-strike dynamic around AI,” not to end the strike. “This is them trying to be strategic and looking to the future.”
Some of the most recent job postings are for positions that are pretty traditional in the IT industry, such software engineers (who create code) and product managers (who oversee the execution of projects). Additionally, many of them don’t seem to have any direct impact on the pipeline used for creating material, which worries striking writers and performers.
However, the variety of open positions and the top wages they advertise suggest that the film and television industries are adopting this technology more frequently.
Hollywood appears to be experiencing an AI boom, despite the creative class’s demands for restrictions on the use of this technology.
According to the kind of pay being offered for them, the open roles “certainly seem to be high-level strategic positions,” according to Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and top negotiator for SAG-AFTRA.
“We haven’t seen anything before in terms of a broader AI strategy or a focus on the use of generative AI,” the author says.
The Times found more than a dozen open positions at Netflix, for instance, where the Los Gatos-based streaming service was looking for AI experience. A technical director for AI research and development (proposed salary: $450,000 to $650,000), a machine learning scientist with a globalization focus (proposed salary: $150,000 to $750,000), and a machine learning software engineer (proposed salary: $100,000 to $700,000) were among those opportunities.
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According to the Intercept, the job description for the $900,000 machine learning product manager position once stated that AI aids Netflix in “creating great content.” But as of Monday, that phrasing was no longer present.
The purpose of these roles, according to Crabtree-Ireland, is “to set up a post-strike dynamic around AI,” not to end the strike. “This is them trying to be strategic and looking to the future.”
Some of the most recent job postings are for positions that are pretty traditional in the IT industry, such software engineers (who create code) and product managers (who oversee the execution of projects).
Additionally, many of them don’t seem to have any direct impact on the pipeline used for creating material, which worries striking writers and performers.
However, the variety of open positions and the top wages they advertise suggest that the film and television industries are adopting this technology more frequently.
In the meantime, Sony has been recruiting for a technical program manager and a research scientist for its AI ethical group. The Sony Group Corp., with offices in Tokyo and firms like Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and Sony Interactive Entertainment, is responsible for both of these positions.
According to the business website, Sony Group established AI ethical guidelines in 2018 and inaugurated an AI ethics office in 2021.
A crucial duty of an AI ethicist, according to Beena Ammanath, executive director of the Global Deloitte AI Institute, “would be to improve the engineering approach to AI by adding ethical, social, and political perspectives.”
Other important duties include providing guidance on moral AI behavior, guarding against unexpected effects of imprudent AI, and guaranteeing accountability for decisions and deeds using AI.
Another profession arising from the AI boom is prompt engineers, who focus on optimizing the directives issued to an AI system.
Actor and author Donald Glover revealed in April that his creative studio was seeking both a “AI Prompt Animator” and a “AI Prompt Engineer.“
“There has been a noticeable push by traditional Hollywood companies, as well as some of the more modern studios and streaming companies, looking to increase their AI capabilities,” said Josh Pendrick, CEO of Rypplzz, a startup that creates artificially intelligent celebrity holograms.
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Although it started before the Hollywood strikes, Pendrick said the pressure has gotten stronger since the commencement of the labor movements.
“AI roles in content creation and design are in high demand right now and show no signs of slowing down,” the author continued.
Scott Rowe, a spokesperson for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios in labor negotiations, was asked about Hollywood’s rising interest in AI, and he highlighted the organization’s previously released positions on the subject.
The AMPTP has stated that, in terms of screenwriting, “AI raises hard, important creative and legal questions for everyone” and that AI-generated prose is ineligible to receive a writing credit. In circumstances when actors are digitally recreated, the alliance has advocated for informed consent and fair compensation.
Hollywood has been hiring for AI posts since before the strikes started, according to many industry sources. A Lexus advertisement was created by AI in 2018, and the industry already utilizes AI to make performers look younger and match dubbed words to on-screen mouth movements. After all, AI has been available to creatives for years.
In other parts of the industry, such as Netflix’s recommendation engine, AI is used behind the scenes.
SAG-AFTRA member Leah Caruana recently revealed to The Times that she had already undergone two complete body scans in order to digitize her physique for use in background scenes.
For many SAG-AFTRA members, this kind of AI “cloning” has caused special alarm.
Because artificial intelligence is still in its infancy as a field of study, the Guilds’ reservations regarding its application are valid, according to Marc Simon, chair of Fox Rothschild’s entertainment and sports legal department.
In the 2019 Netflix movie “The Irishman,” which starred actor Joe Pesci, CGI was employed to make Pesci’s character appear younger. It was essential to Simon and Pecci that the studio contractually restrict the use of Pecci’s performance and the de-aging digital depiction, ensuring that it could never be used for any other purpose.
The surge in interest in these and other AI use-cases may serve as additional motivation for entertainment companies to enter the market now.
“There is a fear that if they don’t explore this, they’re going to be left behind in some way,” said Simon Pulman, a partner and co-chair of the entertainment practice at Pryor Cashman LLP. “Whether it’s through their competitors using technologies that they don’t yet understand, or whether it’s frankly complete upstarts.”
If you’re a cynic, there may be a small efficiency component to it, Pulman continued. I’ve noticed that some of these roles pay quite well. That may very well be worthwhile if it will help them save millions of dollars in future efficiency.
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