‘The Comeback’ creator Michael Patrick King warns AI may be creativity’s extinction event
The veteran writer and producer talks about AI’s uneasy arrival in Hollywood and the enduring appeal of the sitcom format.
The New York Times AI·
Low-budget, vertical and short, microdramas have exploded into a billion-dollar U.S. market, and are becoming a lifeline for Hollywood’s creative force. We take a behind-the-scenes look on set and at the industry’s first red carpet award show.
Read full articleThe veteran writer and producer talks about AI’s uneasy arrival in Hollywood and the enduring appeal of the sitcom format.
Defying criticisms of ‘slop’ and ‘theft’, the growing culture of AI-powered creativity is attracting interest from Hollywood In a former hemstitching workshop where artisans sewed pleats for Stockholm’s 19th-century bourgeoisie, a distinctly 21st-century craft is taking root: AI film-making. One day last week, an actor, director and composer squeezed into a tiny studio booth to record a voiceover for their next AI release. Critics disparage AI movies as “automated slop” or cheating, and fume at what they claim to be industrial-scale copyright theft. But this had a distinctly homespun feel, the little team fussing over a monologue by a poetic Scottish gorilla inhabiting a transhumanist cyberpunk universe. It was a bit like recording the Archers, one of them joked. Continue reading...
Peter Jackson says Hollywood’s fears around AI could hurt recognition for motion-capture acting, as debates about how the technology will reshape the movie industry grow.
Hollywood actors and producers are standing behind a new AI licensing standard that will tell AI systems whether they'll need to pay to use a person's likeness, creative work, characters, and designs. With the Human Consent Standard, people can set terms for the use of their work or likeness, including giving AI systems full permission to use their content, allowing access with certain requirements, or restricting access entirely. The Human Consent Standard builds upon the Really Simple Licensing (RSL) Standard, which launched last year as a way for websites to signal how AI systems use their work. RSL Media, a nonprofit cofounded by Cate B … Read the full story at The Verge.
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival opens Tuesday with 22 films vying for the prestigious Palme d'Or. The off-screen discourse this year is dominated by a dispute over AI, with festival director Thierry Frémaux and thousands of French actors and filmmakers warning about its effects on the industry. Despite the absence of Hollywood studio giants such as Disney or Warner, there will be no shortage of celeb A-listers on the Croisette this year.
For screenwriters like me—and job seekers all over—AI gig work is the new waiting tables. In eight months, I’ve done 20 of these soul-crushing contracts for five different platforms. It’s bad.
A.I.-generated microdramas have taken off. Celebrities have threatened legal action against the use of their likeness, while actors say jobs have dried up.
Now actors and writers are supposed to be human. As the Academy released its rules for the 99th Academy Awards, the organization declared that any movies with “AI generated actors” or “AI written screenplays” would be ineligible for acting or writing prizes (but otherwise still eligible). So what do you do, exactly, in a time when we can no longer be sure if AI is a tool or a threat? Hollywood is going to have to make that call soon. The Academy released its latest statement on what’s eligible for an Oscar, including how they’re going to approach AI actors […]