AI in Filmmaking Just Got A Big Supporter: Christopher Nolan Himself

In recent years artificial intelligence has advanced in leaps and bounds, leading to the creation of tools like ChatGPT. After the latter was released late last year and shown to be capable of creating sophisticated text content on complex subjects, it caused widespread panic and a sense of doom among many people employed in creative occupations.

Journalists, screenwriters, and filmmakers are increasingly concerned that AI may very soon take their jobs. In fact, one of the goals of the ongoing WGA strike is to limit and regulate the use of artificial intelligence in the industry. And yet, a prominent director has just come out in support of the use of AI to make movies.

In a recent interview with Wired, Christopher Nolan, the creative mind behind masterpieces like Dunkirk and Interstellar, spoke about AI's benefits for the filmmaking industry. He doesn't support the view that AI is powerful enough to destroy humanity. According to the famous director, it's not its power per se but its idolisation on our part that makes this technology dangerous.

'I feel that AI can still be a very powerful tool for us. I'm optimistic about that. I really am. But we have to view it as a tool. The person who wields it still has to maintain responsibility for wielding that tool. If we accord AI the status of a human being, the way at some point legally we did with corporations, then yes, we're going to have huge problems,' Nolan told Maria Streshinsky.

Moreover, the renowned director believes AI may be especially beneficial for filmmakers by helping them improve the quality and authenticity of movies, however ironic it may sound.

'The whole machine learning as applied to deepfake technology, that's an extraordinary step forward in visual effects and in what you could do with audio. There will be wonderful things that will come out, longer term, in terms of environments, in terms of building a doorway or a window, in terms of pooling the massive data of what things look like, and how light reacts to materials. Those things are going to be enormously powerful tools,' the Batman trilogy director said.

Nonetheless, Christopher Nolan has chosen not to employ AI in his own work. According to him, he's too much of a 'fusty filmmaker' for that. In fact, he still shoots his movies on film, and if he ever resorts to technology, he only uses it for 'what it's best for.'

Nolan's most recent film, Oppenheimer, is opening in theatres on 21 July.

Source: Wired.