Disney is Reportedly Announcing a “Massive AI Initiative”
According to Sharon Waxman, the creator of The Wrap, “The Walt Disney Co. is poised to announce a major AI initiative that will transform its creative output.”
Let’s discuss what’s happening at Disney and how it will impact your favorite content.
About the Report
Image: The Wrap
Sharon Waxman, formerly of The New York Times and Washington Post, started her own industry website, The Wrap, in 2009.
Waxman is one of the most accredited reporters in the world. So, when she publishes a scoop like this, it’s typically a big deal.
Photo: Disney
According to the reporter’s article, “The initiative is said to involve “hundreds” of people at the company and will primarily focus on post-production and visual effects.”
So, that’s a lot of what we should unpack right there, as it ties into other Disney stories from the past few years.
Photo: Disney
In August 2023, Disney created a task force to explore how AI could benefit the company, which wasn’t an unusual move.
While no Hollywood studio will admit the impetus, Disney did this during the Hollywood strikes.
Photo: Robert Hanashiro/USA Today
At the time, some perceived Disney’s actions as a brazen threat to Hollywood’s writers, actors, and other creatives.
I cannot speak to anyone at Disney’s intentions at the time, but I always suspected that the truth involved a different matter.
Photo: Marvel
Earlier in 2023, Disney’s Marvel division had faced an outcry over its treatment of virtual effects (VFX) workers.
Veteran Marvel executive Victoria Alonso lost her job after Vulture posted a devastating account of VFX employee mistreatment.
I strongly suspect that what Disney is about to announce ties back to that scenario. There’s a term in the tech industry: crunch.
Programmers and VFX workers use this term to describe the final weeks and sometimes even months before a project’s release.
Photo: Marvel
During crunch, people work longer hours, sometimes seven days a week, and frankly aren’t always at their best. Who could possibly be in that setting?
Disney’s AI Considerations
Photo: Marvel
The possibility and arguably the dishonest lure of Artificial Intelligence, aka AI, is that computers never sleep.
A program can feasibly perform countless tasks in the time a person does only one.
Photo: Marvel
Also, AI comes with a secondary benefit. You pay for the product once. Then, as soon as you earn back that investment, everything else is profit.
Humans expect to be paid each day and also need other things like vacation days and healthcare.
Casey’s Corner Cast Members
When you hear companies like Disney say that they’re contemplating AI for its cost-cutting benefits, that’s what they really mean: fewer human workers.
Hollywood creatives saw this problem coming a mile away, which explains the Hollywood strikes.
Photo: Le Monde
While writers and actors banded together like never before in the industry’s history, their gains proved modest relative to the oncoming AI threat.
You’ll find countless media reports about creatives who were formerly easily employable but now struggle to find work.
Photo: History.com
That’s why many corporations have hidden their AI intentions everywhere but during Wall Street discussions.
Investors recognize the lucrative financial potential of AI, which some consider an explosive growth industry.
Disney Turns to AI
Photo: Marvel
From Disney’s perspective, AI could reduce the time and overhead for post-production and VFX, thereby finishing films faster.
You may recall that Marvel previously dipped its toe into this field when Secret Invasion used AI for its (lackluster) opening credits.
Photo: Marvel
Soon afterward, Reuters noted that Disney listed “11 current job openings seeking candidates with expertise in artificial intelligence or machine learning.”
In other words, the writing has been on the wall for more than a year now. Disney was always doing this. The only question was when.
Analyst Rich Greenfield explains the company’s thinking as:
“Disney has always leaned into technology partnerships. It makes a tremendous amount of sense that Disney is heavily focused on this, but also putting substantial resources behind it.”
Image: The Wall Street Journal
As Waxman and the article’s co-writer, Adam Chitwood point out, Disney CEO Bob Iger proactively defended this move months ago.
Iger stated: “Walt Disney himself was a big believer in using technology in the early days to tell better stories. And he thought that technology in the hands of a great storyteller was unbelievably powerful.”
Will an AI Commitment Influence the Parks?
Photo: Disney
Realistically, none of us is that concerned about AI when it comes to film and television production.
However, you may recall the controversy when Disney replaced some of its Cast Members as photographers at certain character greetings.
Photo: Disney
Disney started using automated cameras instead, and some fans REALLY didn’t like it.
The Wrap’s report mentions, “A second individual said it would also involve parks and experiences, but not customer-facing.”
Serena Williams’ daughter Olympia with Princess Tiana (Steven Diaz, photographer)
So, there will be at least a minimal amount of AI integration behind the scenes at Disney theme parks.
We likely won’t know the form it takes until the systems are already in place.
Serena Williams with Mickey and Minnie Mouse (Steven Diaz, photographer)
However, I think the signs are already clear that Disney will use automation whenever possible to streamline our theme park experiences.
If the company can cut costs along the way, that’s a happy bonus. At the moment, I don’t believe it’s the driving force in Disney’s considerations, though.
Photopass Photographer
Right now, the potential cost savings from AI is more of a happy bonus.
Iger’s not foolish enough to do anything that unite theme park fans against him, especially not with Universal Epic Universe opening soon.
Bob Iger – 2024 Annual Shareholder Meeting
Then again, we all know that Universal Studios is performing similar AI research as we speak.
This is the future of Hollywood and theme parks alike. Apparently, we’re entering this future as soon as Disney announces its AI initiative.
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