hollywood Studio Bets on Legally-Sourced AI to Quell Industry Fears
LOS ANGELES, CA – As anxieties surrounding artificial intelligence grip hollywood, one studio is positioning itself as a potential solution to the escalating copyright concerns. Asteria, an artist-led generative-AI film studio founded by Bryn Mooser, is rolling out Marey, a new AI model built exclusively on legally licensed material, in a bid to offer filmmakers a safe and ethical pathway to utilizing the technology.
Mooser argues that AI’s potential in Hollywood remains untapped until the critical issue of intellectual property rights is resolved. “Basically, AI is a dead end in Hollywood until you solve the copyright issue,” he stated. Asteria partnered with tech start-up Moonvalley to develop Marey, named after cinematography pioneer Étienne-Jules Marey, which became available via direct subscription in July and is also being integrated into Adobe’s Firefly and Premiere Pro. This move comes amidst growing unease within the industry fueled by incidents like the controversy surrounding AI “actor” tilly Norwood and the unauthorized use of likenesses of actors like Robin Williams and Bryan Cranston in AI-generated videos.
The recent emergence of OpenAI’s Sora 2, capable of generating video clips featuring actors who opt-in, has further heightened concerns. Zelda Williams publicly pleaded for an end to AI-generated videos of her late father, Robin Williams, while Bryan Cranston, alongside SAG-AFTRA and OpenAI, released a statement expressing deep concern over the potential misuse of performers’ work and identities. openai has as pledged to strengthen safeguards, but the underlying fear of unauthorized exploitation persists. Mooser’s approach with Marey aims to circumvent these issues by prioritizing legal compliance from the outset, offering a possibly viable path forward for AI integration in filmmaking.
