Last week, The AI Agenda brought together Lewis Silkin's Cliff Fluet and Phil Hughes, along with Ben Field from Deep Fusion, for a compelling discussion on AI's transformative impact on creative storytelling. The session explored the commercial viability, ethical considerations, and future trends of AI-driven content and how AI is reshaping the cultural landscape and the future of media.
Cliff kicked off the session by asking us to step into a world of AI-generated talent, including digital film actors and synthetic influencers. In this world, Cliff posed some questions – what happens to identity if your face, voice, and even legacy can be replicated and monetised? How can authenticity – which is so key for audiences – be maintained? And how can we enable a world of creative co-existence and collaboration? He encouraged the audience to consider what should AI do rather than what can AI do.
These questions were probed further during the fireside chat between Phil and Ben.
Ben is the CEO and co-founder of Deep Fusion, a production company which blends technology and creativity to generate high-quality story-telling with a focus on the ethical use of AI. Indeed, Ben was careful to explain that ethics and transparency underpin all of Deep Fusion's work with AI, with one of his first tasks at the company being to establish an ethical framework for their use of AI. This was key when Deep Fusion were developing the documentary 'Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted' with a combination of archival footage and the use of deepfake technology where they were keen to show a fair, accurate and unbiased representation of Gerry Anderson as a person across his career. Ethics and transparency are particularly important as audiences become ever more savvy about the way in which generative AI tools are trained – often at the expense of creators. Therefore, in order to encourage audiences to embrace AI usage in the creative sector, transparency and ethics are key.
When asked about the impact of AI on jobs within the creative sector, Ben was overall positive. He emphasised the continued need for 'craft' in creativity. There are many tools at people's disposal, but the future of film is not a one-man band in their bedroom. It requires skill and training to utilise the tools in a creative manner. He envisages that creative job roles will evolve to meet new ways of working. Although, recognising that there is often a pain point in that cultural shift exacerbated by legislation being slow to catch up.
Phil and Ben explored the current status of AI policy making in the UK, particularly given Ben's recent work in this area. The discussion shone a spotlight on Ben's view that it is vastly unfair for AI developers to try to get away with the "fair use" of creative material when training their models. Instead, for the security of all markets, Ben suggested that there needs to be a line in the sand, after which developers need to work out what works their tools have been trained on and make appropriate remuneration to creatives.
Finally, Ben ended the session by passing on his key lessons for other creatives interested in the intersection between AI and creativity:
- Don't be afraid to try – but try responsibly, using the mindset: what can software do today or tomorrow that it couldn't do previously?
- Consider the potential for audience reaction and ensure that what you're doing has legitimate value before you do it.
As AI continues to transform the cultural landscape, one thing is clear: the future of media is collaborative, ethical, and full of possibility.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
