Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545089
8 SUMMER 2026 choose to use AI actors in the future, then just like the Seraphinne Vallora selling points, there is no need for real people on set, whether that's costumers, makeup and hair artists, grips, gaffers, camera ops, etc. Jobs will dry up in an already hyper-competitive industry, where jobs are already bleeding into other states and countries. These fears are already swirling around the industry with body-scanning technology, which has been around for years but has more prominently entered the picture. Lead and background actors, dancers, stunt people, have all been scanned in major productions for one reason or another, while the rights to these scans remain somewhat nebulous. The big question is of course, who owns this data? Do the actors retain rights to their likeness, or do the production companies own the rights to the scans? And if the production companies own the scans, what will they do with them? It's certainly possible with the data already collected that they can generate massive crowd scenes—all without hiring the 100, 200, 500 actors they would have needed to hire before, along with all the crew necessary to dress, organize, and feed the actors. We only need to look at the commercial world to see where this might be headed. Kartel.ai, a Beverly Hills-based startup company that specializes in making AI videos and campaigns, is now creating commercials, music videos, and ad campaigns in mere days with just a small brief collected by AI during an introductory phone call. Gone are the days of traditional filmmaking, with the bloated timelines, overheads, and crews needed to run a full operation. Now, the "human- powered AI" tools at Kartel take over, with each campaign run by an "AI artist" to keep the creativity alive, if one can call generative AI creative. After all, generative AI is trained on human work, whether it's books, paintings, drawings, architecture. Anything new it generates is a mere iteration of something that already exists. And yet, it is here, ravenously devouring everything we have to offer to one day take over our livelihoods. For Costumers, we don't have to look even that far to see where AI may be affecting, if not our jobs, then the way we create. There are already many technology companies creating software for AI image and video generation. Companies like OpenArt and NightCafe even have specific pages on their websites dedicated to costume generation where the user can input a text instruction and have an entire costume generated in seconds. Midjourney, a leading AI-image generator, has tons of easily searchable instructions and videos on how to create characters and dress them, down to fabrics, textures, and minute details. While these generators most immediately affect concept artists and Left: AI-generated Guess ad created by Seraphinne Vallora. Right: The world's first AI-generated actress, Tilly Norwood, created by Particle6. "For Costumers, we don't have to look even that far to see where AI may be affecting, if not our jobs, then the way we create."