Walt Disney has created a task force to study artificial intelligence and how it could be applied across the entertainment conglomerate, despite efforts by Hollywood writers and actors to limit the industry’s use of the technology.
The group, formed earlier this year ahead of the Hollywood screenwriters’ strike, hopes to develop artificial intelligence applications internally and form partnerships with startups, three sources told Reuters.
As evidence of its interest, Disney currently has 11 job openings and is looking for candidates with expertise in artificial intelligence or machine learning.
The positions touch nearly every corner of the company — from Walt Disney Studios to Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s theme park and engineering group, to the Disney-branded television and advertising teams, which are looking to build “the next generation.” Artificial Intelligence – Based on job advertisement descriptions, powers the advertising system.
A Disney spokesman declined to comment.
One of the sources, an internal advocate who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, said traditional media companies like Disney must either figure out AI or risk being eliminated.
The proponent sees artificial intelligence as a tool to help rein in skyrocketing film and television production costs, which can skyrocket to as much as 300 million U.S. dollars (approximately 24.84 billion rupees). little mermaid. Such a budget would require an equally massive box-office return to break even. Cost savings will be realized over time, this person said.
For its parks business, artificial intelligence could enhance customer support or create novel interactions, the second source and a former Disney Imagineering engineer said. The source declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The former Imagine engineer mentioned Project Kiwi, which used machine learning to create Baby Groot, a small, free-roaming robot that mimics the movements and personalities of the Guardians of the Galaxy character.
Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that gives computers the ability to learn without being programmed to feed the vision system with the information it needs to recognize and navigate objects in its environment. One day, little Groot will interact with guests, said the former Imagineering engineer.
Artificial intelligence has become a powder keg in Hollywood, with writers and actors viewing it as an existential threat to jobs. It’s an issue at the heart of contract negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America, both of which are on strike.
Disney has been careful about how it discusses artificial intelligence in public. The visual effects supervisor of the latest “Raiders of the Lost Ark” film emphasized that more than 100 artists spent three years painstakingly working hard to “de-age” Harrison Ford, so that the actor in his octogenarians appeared in the early stage. The way he looked when he was young. minutes of the movie.
“Steamboat Willie”
Disney has invested in technological innovation since its inception. In 1928, it released Steamboat Willie, the first animated feature with a synchronized soundtrack. According to a search of USPTO records, the company currently holds more than 4,000 patents that apply to theme parks, movies and merchandise.
Bob Iger, now in his second term as Disney CEO, made embracing technology one of his three priorities when he was first named CEO in 2005.
Three years later, the company announced a major R&D program with top technical universities around the world, funding labs at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It closed its Pittsburgh lab in 2018.
Disney’s U.S. research team has developed a mixed reality technology called “Magic Bench” that allows people to share a space with on-screen virtual characters without the need for special glasses.
In Switzerland, Disney Research has been exploring artificial intelligence, machine learning and visual computing, according to its website. For the past decade, it has been creating “digital humans” it says are “indistinguishable” from physical people or fantasy characters “manipulated” by actors.
The technology is used to enhance digital effects, not replace human actors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Its Medusa performance capture system has been used to reconstruct actors’ faces without the use of traditional motion capture technology, which has been used in more than 40 films, including Marvel Entertainment’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”. “.
“Disney’s AI research goes back a long way and revolves around all the things you’re talking about today: Can we have something that helps us make movies or games or conversational robots in theme parks that people can talk to? said one executive who has worked with Disney.
Hao Li, CEO and co-founder of Pinscreen, a Los Angeles-based company that creates artificial intelligence-powered avatars, said he co-authored multiple books with Disney Labs while studying in Zurich from 2006 to 2010. research papers.
“They basically do research on anything based on human performance capture, creating digital faces,” said Lee, a former head of research at Disney’s Industrial Light and Magic. “Some of that technology will be adopted by Disney entities.”
Disney Imagineering last year unveiled the company’s first AI-driven character experience, the D3-09 cabin droid in the Star Cruiser Hotel in the Star Wars Galaxy, which answers questions on video screens and learns from conversations with guests and change.
Fantasy Engineering executive Scott Trowbridge said at the time: “Not only is she a great character to interact with, but she’s always on call in your cabin, which I think is really cool behind the scenes, And it’s a really cool piece of technology, too.”
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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