Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504731
12 M PS E . O R G Jayson A.: (In regards to AI with the DGA) "The AI portion was ridiculous, vague, and pointless. They agreed not to use AI for anything a member would do. Well, you're already screwed then. Someone turned on Photoshop somewhere, buddy. And over at Weta and ILM? Yeah, AI's flooding in everywhere with assists. Young Luke didn't end up in Mando, and Indy's not de-aged using makeup. No one's going back to manual rotoscoping. Funny how very, very selectively fine folks are with these complaints and fears. Writers complain it's their death by AI and that it needs to be stopped, while showing off pitch decks they've made using generative AI artwork. And no one cares how many labor hours have been cut from VFX houses by the advancement of AI-assisted tools. In fact, gone from everyone's memory suddenly is all the noise over VFX houses getting treated so poorly because of a bad assumption that all this new tech makes it a simple matter to do whatever. There was all this talk of unionizing over the whole thing. Then the WGA were up for renegotiations, plucked AI up as a rally point and now no one cares about anything other than whether writers will be replaced by automated story printers. Not hearing anything about saving storyboard artists, art departments, or pre-viz careers. Meanwhile, folks like Calculated's production are ignoring everything and showing fascinating new directions. Change the angle of thought. There's a very exciting world to work in. And folks already are letting AI do the work of humans. They have been for years." Greg R.: (audio director at Radley Studios). "I'm not really worried at all. 1) What we do is entirely human, totally subjective, based on opinions, interpretation, and the human experience. Example: 'I need the backgrounds more blue with Ping Pong balls taped to the underside of a pigeon's wings.' 2) They can't get basic functions in DAWs to work right without crashing. AI is just more bad code that'll never work correctly. Let's take pretty basic examples that I've recently experienced. Backgrounds in one ocean scene. A basic drone shot on a kinda low/mid- level show. There's a Pacific Ocean sound in the sound edit which is where it was shot. During the review, the EP comments, 'That's the wrong ocean,' the BG was a recording of the Pacific Ocean. EP says, 'It needs to sound longing and painful. The wind needs to break your heart. The birds are in winter. It's in the wrong key.' I thought using musical terms to describe noise was a cool way to go. I redid all the backgrounds, mix, and effects of the backgrounds to reflect the imagination and creativity of what the EP was trying to convey. This is the human connection, interpretation, and imagination that has taken a lifetime to try and figure out. Here's another example. Scene in a feature, the alarm is going off in lockdown. Director doesn't like any of the alarms in the SFX library. I walk over to an analog modular synth and create the lockdown alarm that the director wants. Code cannot patch up and create on an analog modular with the director. Foley: 'That Foley is all wrong.' It's heels on wood, which is what was in the scene. 'We need new and different sounds then!' I then went on a journey down a timbral rabbit hole. Music examples: 'I need that kick to make you blind.' AI music mastering: sounds like garbage. Some of my music mastering friends have never been busier—tech backlash. I guess my two cents is this. Code can borrow but cannot replace experiences, imagination, and your expertise. It cannot replace interpretation and working together with other people; telling an elaborate sonic story or on a creative vision. Code cannot expertly mix 300 tracks so it sounds like it's making you blind. I am looking forward to new tools that are presented to us in the future. Especially some objective tools to speed things up. Maybe it'll make my life easier which I happily welcome! Most of what I do is entirely human, which I have spent a lifetime learning and experiencing (I've barely scratched the surface). My education, experiences, life, and imagination are unique and cannot be replicated by code." David P.: An editor who lives in New Zealand: (Responding to Greg R.) 'AI will never understand story, context' Sorry, got to completely disagree with you there, as it is already happening. 'A genius coder.' That's me. Prior to getting into sound mixing, I worked as a software developer. "AI has been a deep passion of mine since the 1990s that I've been following. The biggest event for me in 2016 wasn't a certain election result, but it was AlphaGo's shocking 4-1 victory. Arguably the biggest event in AI history! At least in this century. As all the news you read today about the wonders of generative AI is a knock on effects that have flowed of out what happened then. I've also gone back to university part time to do postgraduate engineering/computer science. It's been really tough juggling this on top of my film work, but it's been very enjoyable being on the cutting edge and studying this. And if work as a sound mixer ever disappears, that will DEAR DIALOGUE DETECTIVE