Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced a collaboration with Hollywood's renowned horror film production company Blumhouse Productions to test its latest generative AI video model, Movie Gen. Blumhouse Productions is behind popular films such as "Insidious" and "Get Out." This partnership is a significant move by Meta following the launch of Movie Gen earlier this month, a tool claimed to create realistic video and audio clips based on user prompts. Meta aims to compete with leading media generation startups like OpenAI and ElevenLabs through this initiative.
In a blog post, the social media company stated that Blumhouse has selected filmmakers Aneesh Chaganty, The Spurlock Sisters, and Casey Affleck to experiment with Movie Gen and incorporate segments generated by the tool into their short films. Chaganty's film will be featured on Meta's Movie Gen website, with Affleck and The Spurlock Sisters' films set to follow.
Jason Blum, CEO of Blumhouse, stated in a press release that artists remain the lifeblood of the industry, and innovative technology can assist in their storytelling. He said, "We welcome some of them to test this cutting-edge technology and provide feedback on its strengths and weaknesses during the development process. These will become powerful tools for directors, and it's crucial to involve the creative industry in their development to ensure they are best suited for the task."
Through this collaboration, Meta has demonstrated its intent to work with the creative industry. Members of the creative sector are generally uneasy about the advent of generative AI technology, concerned about issues of copyright and consent. Some major tech companies, including Meta, have been sued by copyright owner groups for unauthorized use of their works to train generative AI systems. Meta argues that its AI training is protected under the fair use doctrine of copyright law.
However, Meta and other tech companies have indicated their willingness to pay for certain types of AI-generated content. In addition to the Movie Gen collaboration, Meta announced last month that it has reached agreements with actors including Judi Dench, Kristen Bell, and John Cena to voice Meta AI chatbots.
Similarly, OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, has been meeting with Hollywood executives and agents this year to discuss potential collaborations involving its video generation tool Sora, which debuted in February. Although these discussions have not yet resulted in reported agreements, Lions Gate Entertainment stated in September that it has reached a deal with another AI startup, Runway.
