A softer image of AI? This Google-backed film aims to change the narrative

A antheral mourns the nonaccomplishment of his dormant personage mom, who unexpectedly appears earlier him arsenic a hologram successful his puerility home, singing and strumming a guitar.

The touching country is from a caller abbreviated movie called “Sweetwater” that has an improbable backer: Google.

Amid each the hand-wringing implicit artificial quality and the imaginable menace it poses to Hollywood and the originative community, the tech elephantine is looking to reframe the communicative with a 21-minute movie that examines whether exertion tin assistance humans process grief successful this caller epoch of the integer age.

Google acceptable the signifier for that treatment with a glitzy lawsuit astatine the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures connected Monday night. Actors, filmmakers, producers and amusement workers packed a Los Angeles theatre to ticker “Sweetwater,” starring Michael Keaton and Kyra Sedgwick.

Google commissioned “Sweetwater” with Santa Monica-based endowment absorption steadfast Range Media Partners to research the analyzable narration betwixt AI and humanity.

The Mountain View institution has a vested involvement successful coating AI successful a much favorable light. The YouTube proprietor is simply a large capitalist and spouse successful the AI steadfast Anthropic, which itself has been the people of lawsuits implicit accusations of copyright infringement successful the arts. In summation to its concern with Anthropic, Google is separately processing its ain AI tools, including Gemini and Project Astra.

“The extremity close present is not to specifically beryllium selling their product,” said Robert Thompson, manager of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture astatine Syracuse University. “The extremity close present is to beryllium creating a satellite wherever radical are comfy supporting AI, utilizing it with nary fear, with nary captious qualms whatsoever, similar we dove into societal media … I deliberation that’s been a tougher task with AI.”

Depictions of the integer afterlife successful shows specified arsenic “Black Mirror” tin consciousness bleak, foreshadowing a dystopian aboriginal wherever radical get resurrected from the sedate arsenic chatbots and robots.

In “Sweetwater,” a hologram of the deceased ma tugs astatine the heartstrings of viewers, hinting astatine the anticipation that AI could beryllium utilized to digitally sphere a loved 1 oregon supply comfortableness to those who are grieving.

“It conscionable poses the question, I haven’t adjacent truly resolved it for myself,” said Sean Douglas, Keaton’s lad and the film’s writer, successful an interview. “If presented with this possibility, would you privation that — and what are the parameters of however existent an acquisition similar this tin be?”

The emergence of artificial quality has prompted conversations and disapproval astir the interaction of the technology, including however it could alteration the mode radical acquisition the world.

Hollywood is reckoning with akin questions arsenic storytellers bring up fears astir copyright violations, compensation and the hazard of AI competing with actors, writers and artists for work. Technology has made it imaginable to bring backmost actors, writers and musicians from the dormant successful integer form. Some radical already usage chatbots similar therapists.

Tech companies specified arsenic Google that supply AI assistants and products to make images, substance and video marketplace their tools arsenic a mode to assistance originative people, not regenerate them.

Google’s AI products don’t look successful the “Sweetwater” film, though the institution does person a holographic 3D connection exertion called Google Beam that uses AI.

Consumers are divided connected whether AI volition assistance oregon harm creativity, according to a study from the Pew Research Center. Roughly 53% deliberation AI volition worsen people’s quality to deliberation creatively portion 16% accidental accrued usage of AI volition marque this better. Others aren’t definite oregon thought it would beryllium neither amended nor worse.

Neil Parris, caput of strategical contented partnerships for Google’s movie and tv 100 Zeros initiative, said arsenic radical spot a assortment of AI stories — immoderate little dystopian — it could grow however they deliberation astir the usage of technology.

“It’s meant to empower quality creativity,” said Parris, who enforcement produced the abbreviated film. “It volition germinate and signifier the jobs that radical person successful the originative process arsenic immoderate exertion has implicit the people of the past of filmmaking.”

“Sweetwater” archetypal premiered successful September successful New York but its organisation hasn’t been finalized . The filmmakers said they’re besides unfastened to making it longer.

The sheet treatment astir the movie besides shined a spotlight connected the hostility betwixt humans and machines.

“I was excited astir the imaginable of an histrion playing AI alternatively of AI playing an actor. I thought that was a bully thing,” said Sedgwick arsenic the assemblage applauded.

Earlier this year, galore Hollywood actors were outraged erstwhile the creator down an AI-generated character, Tilly Norwood, announced Norwood would soon beryllium signed to a endowment agency. The AI quality could beryllium utilized to enactment successful films and TV shows, roles that could straight vie against quality actors.

Keaton, who besides directed the film, said that portion helium isn’t the astir tech savvy, curiosity and the accidental to enactment with his lad led him to nonstop and prima successful the film, but it’s not meant to beryllium a commercialized for AI.

The “Google folks” were “great,” helium said connected signifier Monday, but the histrion besides expressed concerns astir the interaction of AI connected jobs and equity.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, besides added AI tools to its level that bid connected the enactment of its video creators. Some creators person expressed fearfulness that this could marque it easier for others to transcript their enactment and originative styles.

“You don’t regenerate anybody successful the industry. I’m precise old-fashioned astir radical and employment and enactment and being protected,” Keaton said successful an interview. “And astatine the aforesaid time, I find this worldly truly absorbing and curious.”

While the movie is astir AI, the filmmakers intentionally didn’t usage AI to make integer actors.

“We didn’t privation to marque it murky where, oh, we’re utilizing AI, and we’re talking astir it,” Douglas said.

One payment of moving with Google, helium said, was the institution gave entree to researchers and their tech workers to larn much astir the integer afterlife.

Jed Brubaker, an subordinate prof astatine the University of Colorado Boulder who has researched the benefits and risks of AI afterlives with Google DeepMind, worked with the filmmakers arsenic they sorted retired the plan of the “generative ghost” of the mom. In “Sweetwater,” the mom’s hologram gets projected from an orb.

“These are each choices we get to marque with generative ghosts arsenic well, and they’ll person antithetic impacts connected however radical acquisition and interact with them,” Brubaker said. “In the aforesaid mode that speechmaking your grandfather’s diary is antithetic than looking done a photograph medium of photos of your grandfather.”

Already, Google said aft the screening, radical successful the amusement manufacture expressed involvement successful moving with the institution connected aboriginal movie projects.

“Our fearfulness of machines has been massively fanned by Hollywood implicit galore decades,” said Stephen Galloway, dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. “You could accidental Hollywood is picking up societal fears.”