Avengers director, Epic Games exec speak on AI transforming entertainment, blockchain’s potential
The director behind the Marvel Studios’ ‘Avengers: Endgame’ believes that movies generated by artificial intelligence (AI) could emerge within the next two years, according to an interview with Collider.
Joe Russo discussed the potential impact of AI in the entertainment sector —alongside Epic Games CCO Donald Mustard — during a panel session at the Sands International Film Festival.
What an AI-generated movie might look like
Speaking with Editor-in-Chief Steve Weintraub from Collider — an entertainment website focused on the film and television industry — Russo explained that AI has the potential to revolutionize and reshape storytelling across various mediums, including cinema, television, and gaming.
To illustrate his point, Russo spoke of an envisioned situation where an audience member could be watching an AI-generated romantic comedy starring a photorealistic avatar of themself — right next to the iconic actress Marilyn Monroe.
“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.”
AI-generated movies coming
Meanwhile, Mustard proposed a slightly different perspective to Russo. He said that AI-produced movies might be a reality even sooner than Russo’s two-year estimation.
“We’re very close to where you could be almost perfect photorealistic, real-time rendering, the real-time meaning you could render it at 60 frames a second.”
Democratizing storytelling with AI
Russo emphasized that the most significant benefit of AI is its capacity to democratize storytelling. He explained that by utilizing photoreal engines and AI tools, anyone would be able to develop a narrative, design a large-scale game, or even produce a full-length movie.
Russo also applied the subject matter to the gaming domain, where both Russo and Mustard predict AI will be employed for a variety of purposes.
“There’s always been a drive for photoreal in gaming. And gaming makes a lot of money, and you need money to develop technology.”
He also spoke on the “future of stories and how they’re going to be told.”
“People are going to look back and write a book about how it all came out of the gaming sector.”
To err is human: to AI-generate, divine
Mustard and Russo concluded the Collider interview on the subject of blockchain and how it might impact story creation.
Mustard said that he believes “it’s in its infancy” at this time but that he believes “there’s lots of interesting ideas there.”
Russo agreed with Mustard and took the discussion a step further:
“The Blockchain could exist as an internet free of corporate machinations, you know? […] It wouldn’t be driven by a corporate agenda.”
“You’ll be able to control your own money and control your existence, in a way, protect it. That’s the value of the Blockchain.”
Josh O’Sullivan
Josh has been writing for a decade and is passionate about mainstream crypto adoption, bringing positive financial change to the masses through crypto and decentralized finance as a whole.
