Avengers director says AI will be making complete movies in two years
AI is coming for cinema ‘whether we want it or not’, says Avengers director Joe Russo.
Joe Russo, the co-director of Marvel blockbusters such as Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War, has made a bold prediction: a fully AI-generated movie is only two years away.
As the entertainment industry continues to be disrupted by technological advancements, Russo, who serves on the boards of various AI companies, suggested that AI will get so advanced that it could be used to engineer and change storytelling in real-time.
“So you have a constantly evolving story, either in a game or in a movie or a TV show. You could walk into your house and save the AI on your streaming platform. ‘Hey, I want a movie starring my photoreal avatar and Marilyn Monroe’s photoreal avatar. I want it to be a rom-com because I’ve had a rough day,’ and it renders a very competent story with dialogue that mimics your voice,” Russo said in conversation with Collider’s Steve Weintraub and Epic Games’ Chief Creative Officer Donald Mustard.
“Suddenly, you have a rom-com starring you that’s 90 minutes long. So you can curate your story specifically to you.”
This democratisation of storytelling that AI could bring excites Russo, who said it will enable anyone to tell a story or make a game with the assistance of photoreal engines and AI tools.
When asked how long before AI will be able to “actually create” a movie, Russo predicted: “Two years.”
Mustard suggested that the processing power of TVs made by Samsung and other companies means that rendering content in real-time is not far off. “It’ll just be able to conk you in and swap it out in real-time, and just do it all right there,” he said.
While Russo is excited about this future, he acknowledged that it is also somewhat ominous. “We’re in that world, and you will need an AI in your life because whether we want to see it developed or not, people who are not friendly to us may develop it anyway,” he warned. “There are AI companies that are developing AI to protect you from AI.”
Last week, an AI-generated song went viral, featuring “fake” vocals by musicians Drake and The Weeknd.
The song was first released on TikTok via the account of an anonymous producer by the name of Ghostwriter. It then briefly made its way to platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music before Universal Music Group (UMG) — which publishes both artists through its Republic Records subsidiary — called for its removal, citing concerns over AI’s potential infringement on copyrighted music.
UMG called on streaming platforms to block AI companies from accessing the label’s songs, the Financial Times reported, claiming that certain technology had been trained on copyrighted music “without obtaining the required consents.”
“We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists.”
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