Generative AI is infiltrating Hollywood

Marvel's latest comic book TV show, Secret Invasion, premiered on Disney+ yesterday. It features AI-generated motion graphics during its intro sequence, in one of the first examples of a major studio using generative AI in a show or movie.

For those unfamiliar, Secret Invasion is a Marvel series featuring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. The storyline centers on a faction of shapeshifting aliens, called "Skrulls," that have infiltrated Earth. The plot explores the tension and distrust caused by their shapeshifting abilities, which raises doubts about everyone's real identities, ArsTechnica reports.

• Secret Invasion Executive Producer Ali Selim revealed to Polygon that the show hired visual effects group Method Studios to create the intro.
• “We would talk to them about ideas and themes and words, and then the computer would go off and do something. And then we could change it a little bit by using words, and it would change.”

✋ Yes, but… While this sounds like a generative AI tool, Method Studios declined to comment on how exactly it designed the sequence. The show’s credits include producers, designers, and an AI technician.

📸 Big picture: Artists are becoming increasingly worried that AI creations will not only discredit their work, but threaten their livelihoods. A key sticking point in the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike is the addition of safeguards to prevent studios from using artificial intelligence to generate new scripts.