Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538125
FACING THE FUTURE EDITORS BRACE FOR IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON POST-PRODUCTION 26 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E By A.J. Catoline S ound editor Matt Klimek has been amazed to run indecipherable di- a l o g u e t h ro u g h t h e l a te s t a u d i o processing sof tware and have it come out clean. "It was like witchcraft," he marveled. But in post-production rooms all over the nation, that magic is sparking anxiety as well as awe for Local 700 members. Both peril and promise are seen as artificial intelligence (AI) — technology that allows "trained" machines to not only simulate human-oriented skills, but also generate creative content — charges its way into the post-production industry. Members of Local 700, from picture and sound editors to story analysts, are grappling with the profound ways AI could at best reshape, or at worst downsize, their jobs. And the union leadership is stepping up to help them navigate the changes. "AI is inevitable," said Spencer Koo- batian, an assistant editor and member o f t h e G u i l d 's E m e r g i n g Te c h n o l o g y Committee (ETC). "We have to not fear it, nor merely just adapt, but know how to u s e t h e s e e l e m e n t s o f t e c h n o l o g y t o further storytelling." Editors Guild National Executive Direc- tor Scott George notes that industry pros have weathered change before — like the leap from film to digital — and will again. "Twenty-five years ago, we made the transition from film to digital," George said. "The Guild is committed to helping guide our members to use the latest technolo- gies, including AI, to produce outstanding results in this very competitive and rapidly changing industry." A COMMITTEE EMERGES The ETC was formed in 2022 to study how AI could affect jobs, and the committee delivered its first in-depth report to a gener- al membership meeting in 2023. The task of presenting the findings fell to Asher Pink, a visual effects editor and ETC co-chair. "I saw there was a huge technological shift coming," said Pink. "I think a lot of people were understandably concerned about what will happen to our jobs." The report was titled "Exposure to Emerging Technology by Occupation," and it categorically listed the threats and opportunities for each classification repre- sented by the Editors Guild. In some cases the prognosis was dire, detailing job duties of loggers and transcribers that AI could replicate, though not with perfect accuracy. The workflows of dialogue editors were flagged as high risk because software al- ready exists that can substantially improve audio quality, remove background noise, and even change the pitch and style of an actor's voice. The same is true for music editors, who can already use AI to categorize, analyze, and alter music. For example, the latest versions of both DaVinci Resolve and Ado- be's Premiere Pro software boasts a music "Remix Tool" that uses a drag-and-drop fe at u re to e a s i ly ex te n d o r s h o r te n a s o n g i n s e co n d s. It works reasonably well for music with predictable rhythm and melody, but would it suc- ceed to auto-edit "Bohemian Rhapsody?" Conversely, the committee suggested that, for now, some job duties of postproduction classifications may be more secure from AI technology. Those that require highly in- terpersonal interactions with p r o d u c e r s , d i r e c t o r s , a n d studio executives may remain intact. Interpreting and ex-