Amazon Drops OpenAI Biopic; Data Leak Halts Meta Employee Tracking
Amazon MGM Studios has halted production of a film about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, while Google DeepMind invests $75 million in a partnership with A24. Meanwhile, Meta pauses its employee monitoring program after an internal data leak, and workers refuse to build data centers.
This week's WIRED podcast "Uncanny Valley" covered several major tech industry stories. One key topic is Amazon MGM Studios' decision to drop director Luca Guadagnino's film "Artificial." The biographical drama focuses on OpenAI and the November 2023 incident when the board fired CEO Sam Altman, only to reinstate him after employee revolt. Although the film was nearly complete, Amazon stated it would be better suited for another studio. Critics suggest the decision may relate to Amazon's $50 billion investments in OpenAI and Altman's personal ties to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Concurrently, Google DeepMind announced a $75 million investment in indie studio A24 to develop AI tools for filmmaking. However, the deal does not include training AI on A24's catalog. Hollywood insiders note AI is currently used for specific tasks like storyboarding and rotoscoping, not full film creation.
The podcast also discussed growing opposition to data center construction. Electricians and other workers are refusing to build them, while Amazon employees advocating for stricter regulation report being investigated.
Meta has paused its employee monitoring program that tracked every keystroke and screen activity after an internal data leak exposed sensitive information.
Finally, Anthropic's talks with the government have improved since CEO Dario Amodei is no longer in the room.
