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Disney and Netflix are quietly using the same generative AI startup – here’s why the rest of Hollywood is circling
- Disney is reportedly using generative AI from the same startup as Netflix
- Lionsgate and AMC Networks have also inked deals with Runway AI
- An increasing number of studios are experimenting with the tech
Disney is reportedly the latest Hollywood studio to quietly use the same generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool as Netflix – and it’s easy to see why others have been attracted to the controversial tech as they cite time and cost saving benefits on production.
According to Bloomberg, The Walt Disney Company has been testing Runway AI’s tools, and has even gone as far as to talk to the startup about possibly using its generative AI tools in movies and TV shows. While a Disney spokesperson has confirmed there are no plans to integrate the software, it’s just another sign of how studios are becoming more comfortable with utilizing AI.
It’s no secret that Netflix is using AI, for instance. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos openly confessed as much – during the company’s earnings call last week – when he revealed AI was used to generate a VFX (visual effects) sequence in an original production for the first time in dystopian drama The Eternaut. At the time, it wasn’t disclosed which AI software was used, but a source has reportedly confirmed to Bloomberg that it was indeed Runway AI’s tech.
To be clear, The Eternaut was not the first time that Netflix had used AI. It unsuccessfully tried to fix 80s sitcom A Different World with AI upscaling and was caught up the AI Oscars controversy after Emilia Pérez was criticized for using voice enhancement tech. Still, it marks the first time that Netflix has used generative AI in one of its own original projects.
The reason why that’s notable is because generative AI has the potential to completely upend the entire industry. There’s a reason why the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes in 2023 were so heavily focused on putting in place safeguards to protect the livelihoods and creative integrity of VFX artists and animators.
It’s one thing to mess around with Runway’s AI to turn your home videos into Hollywood blockbusters, but for a billion dollar industry to start cutting corners is a slippery slope that many are rightfully concerned about.
Which other Hollywood studios are using Runway AI?
It’s not just Netflix and Disney that are reportedly working with Runway AI. Two years ago, Variety revealed that VFX artist Evan Halleck used the startup’s tools in Everything Everywhere All At Once to remove the background from certain scenes.
The same justifications were used then as they’re now, with Halleck claiming that it was cheaper and faster to use AI tools than more time consuming processes like rotoscoping. Sarandos recently echoed these sentiments when he said “that the VFX sequence [in The Eternaut] was completed 10 times faster than it could have been completed with visual, traditional VFX tools and workflows”.
At the time, it was also reported Runway was even working The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “They’re using it almost for on a daily basis to translate hours of work. The team is able to iterate their ideas faster, and it’s helping them augment their creative workflow,” Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela told Variety.
In the years since, Hollywood has begun to warm to AI even faster then some may have initially predicted. Indeed, it’s been reported that Runway AI inked a deal with Lionsgate in September 2024. Vice chairman of the studio Michael Burns says the tie-up will help it produce “movies and television shows we’d otherwise never make”.
Since then, more production companies have jumped on the bandwagon. The creator and co-showrunner of Amazon’s House of David , Jon Erwin, revealed to Variety that various AI tools were used to create a scene in the show, including Runway’s AI video generator.
Just last month, Runway AI also partnered with AMC Networks to use its tools to help visualize a TV show that hasn’t yet been produced as well as to generate marketing images, The Hollywood Reporter (THR) reported. “It’s kind of a natural transition for every entertainment and media company; they need to think through what AI means for them,” Valenzuela told THR when asked about the AMC partnership.
It seems inevitable that more studios will continue to work with Runway AI as more become comfortable making it publicly known, and it looks like the startup isn’t stopping at Hollywood. A new text-to-video game AI generator is on the way that will no doubt have a huge impact on the gaming industry once it’s further developed, according to The Verge. Could we see Runway AI make the same inroads in the gaming industry? I’d look to Hollywood as the blueprint.
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