A Canadian company seems to have found a way to use AI in Hollywood without getting anyone sued.
What happened: Toronto-based Moonvalley AI released its “ethical” video-generation model, Marey, to the public yesterday. The tool, which is strictly trained with licensed material, is already being used by major Hollywood studios to generate background footage for films.
- Marey only uses material that Moonvalley pays for through deals with Vimeo and YouTube creators, small production houses, and its in-house studio.
- The tool doesn’t generate entire videos from text prompts, but rather lets filmmakers edit and enhance their own footage and create new visuals based on source material.
Why it matters: Tools like Marey could be the middle ground that Hollywood needs to move forward in the AI age. Actors, writers, and directors have pushed back hard against the tech, but given its financial and creative upside, blackballing AI altogether isn’t a realistic option.
- A big promise of Moonvalley’s model is to slash production costs by over 50%, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for filmmakers to get their movies funded.
- Comedian Natasha Lyonne, who will use Marey to make her new movie, Uncanny Valley, can cut her original US$30 million budget by up to two-thirds with the tool, according to Moonvalley’s CEO.
Bottom line: If Moonvalley’s “hybrid” AI approach is a hit with studio heads and filmmakers alike, it could become the blueprint for how the industry can use the tech not as a replacement, but as an extra (very effective) set of hands.—LA