Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538125
27 F A L L Q 3 I S S U E F E A T U R E ecuting notes on cuts will likely remain a "predominantly human-driven field." "A c o m p u t e r i s n o t g o i n g t o k n o w what actor's performance my producer or director likes or hates," said Harry Miller, co-chair of the committee, a picture editor who has worked in the business for over 30 years and says he has seen drastic changes in workflows in his career. Editors are likely safe for now. "You're not going to be able to train a computer to know what we know," said Miller. Assistant editors may see their roles evolve as AI automates routine tasks like script syncing, creating stringouts, and preparing sound turnovers. While these innovation shifts could potentially free time for assistants to do more creative work in collaboration with their editor, they could also bring added responsibilities, such as managing vast amounts of metadata. If past is prologue, increased workload from technical innovations will alter the assistant's relationship with the editor. A similar trend began in the 1990s during the transition from film to digital, when production increased the amount of footage shot each day. As AI technology in postpro- duction advances, members may be pressured to complete work faster and without as many people. Some members are reporting significant loss of work, though the committee cautioned the work slowdown may not entirely be the fault of AI, but more due to industry consolidation in the post-streaming wars. "We're seeing a large reduction in the amount of time ADR (au- tomated dialogue replacement) mixers are getting booked," said Klimek, the sound editor, who also serves on the Guild's board of directors. Story analysts — long said to be the gatekeepers of Hollywood and the first audience to weigh in on a film's script — are among the smallest classifications repre- sented by Local 700. For decades, the studio development pipeline relied on storytelling insight that only experienced humans could provide. Today, AI can read a book or screenplay in seconds and write a synopsis, analysis of characters, and even a log line that describes the story in one sentence. THE TROUBLE WITH ROBOTS B u t A I c a n a l s o re s u l t i n e r ro r s o r "hallucinations," where the model au- thoritatively spits out information that is entirely incorrect. Human oversight – from, say, a story analyst – is still necessary, although AI could certainly be one tool in their kit. "My fellow story analysts and I were paying attention to the fact that AI was this coming tsunami," said committee member Alegre Rodriquez. "We've been sounding the alarm about automation done cheap and fast in our line of work." The ETC recently sponsored a study comparing human story analysts to AI programs. The result? Machines failed key aspects of judgment, advising the studio to greenlight every script. It might be part of a "positivity bias" commenters have noted in some AI models. "AI never passed on any thing," Ro- driquez said. "It loved everything it read. I t w a n t s y o u t o w i n . B u t s t o r y t e l l i n g requires nuance—subtext, emotion, what's left unsaid. That's something AI simply can't replicate." The Emerging Technology Committee came together in preparation for the con- tract talks in 2024. The board of directors wanted advice on what was coming and how to deal with it. "Our first year in the committee was figuring out what the giant changes were going to be. I think we did a pretty good job with our analysis," said Pink. "We continue to look outward years in advance, not just the current technology that's on the market right now. We're basing a lot of our research on tech that won't actually become com- mercialized for many years." The ETC was consulted during negoti- ations for the last Basic Agreement to help create verbiage around AI. One key victory was helping to get an indemnif ication clause in the contract that shields members going forward. "It protects us from being the fall guy for reckless use of emerging tech," Pink explained. "As long as we follow the policies set by the studios, we won't be held liable for things beyond our control." THERE'S THE VUB The arrival of new technology could create new positions. For example, a new post-production craft has been building momentum in the past couple of years: "vubbing," the effect of changing video to match additionally dubbed audio. In the past, picture editors needed to cut away from a character speaking in-sync on cam- era to cover a newly added line of dialogue. A n ew s o f twa re ca l l e d D e e p E d i to r, designed by the company Flawless, uses AI to alter the movements of a character's lips to match the new dialogue. Executives and software engineers have met with the ETC to explore how this technology would mesh into post workflows, mindful of the legal and ethical hurdles that arise. A new job description, like "vubbing editor," could be added to the existing sound editor classi- fication's job duties. Guild members working on the issue are ready to dive in and help companies under- stand the nature of post workflows — and also help members understand the tools' SEE PAGE 47