Paramount Skydance CEO Says AI Could Be the Biggest Creative Unlock in Modern History
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison said on an earnings call that AI may affect the film industry more than CGI did. He stressed it is a tool for artists, not a replacement for them.
David Ellison, chief executive of the US media company Paramount Skydance, said during the company's latest earnings call that artificial intelligence has the potential to be "the biggest creative unlock in modern history." He said it is hard to imagine that AI will not have a larger impact on the film industry than computer-generated imagery (CGI). He was responding to a question about the company's outlook on AI.
Comparison with CGI
Ellison pointed out that the last comparable shift came in the early 1990s with the arrival of CGI and digital composites, which made films such as Jurassic Park and Terminator 2 possible. In his view, AI is likely to have an even greater effect.
As an example, he cited Terminator, which cost $4 million to make, whereas shooting it shot for shot today would cost $60 to 70 million. He suggested the new tools could make budgets more manageable, allowing studios to take the risk of backing more original storytelling.
Impact on the company
Ellison said AI will "significantly" reshape Paramount Skydance's business, and that the company is already developing its own AI tools. He claimed that content will be easier to produce, projects across the organization will speed up, and the way employees work will change. According to him, this makes premium intellectual property and live events more valuable, not less.
The CEO also said that in a world of low-quality AI-generated content, there will always be a premium for truly hand-crafted storytelling. He added that the company continues to see AI as a tool for artists that will never replace them.
