But in the meantime, I wish the companies spearheading this disruption wouldn’t just point fingers, and be honest about what’s going on.

/rant

We know AI is coming in to eat a lot of people‘s livelihoods. We’re watching it happen every day. A lot of this is unstoppable at this point, and maybe someday, somehow, that will be for the best.

And if your cognitive dissonance is so severe you can’t get through one presentation without blatant hypocrisy, it’s hard to believe that the human collateral damage is of any real concern.

Perhaps AI shot generation will be an amazing tool for production some day, but don’t pretend it’s not kicking DP’s, camera ops, AC’s, gaffers and grips to the curb right now.

I listened to one CEO at NAB start by saying that they weren’t taking people’s jobs, then pivot to extolling the virtues of their AI shot generation platform.

What do they think the “less“ in that headline is referring to? Sure, less gear, less resources, less time - but most assuredly also less crew, less day rates, less people.

The disheartening thing is watching AI companies promote their business with the hackneyed “Do More with Less“ headline while claiming that they are not a part of the AI takeover of people’s livelihoods .

Friends who are in the ethical AI space acknowledge this, and are trying to carve out the best path forward.

As expected, this year at NAB everything has some AI component. It’s almost as if you’re not a player if you don’t have AI somewhere on your stand-ups. The concern over it taking jobs, and wreaking havoc on so many parts of the media landscape, is palpable everywhere.

What’s scary about the rise of AI is seeing the companies that are ushering it in talking out of both sides of their mouths.…
(a short 🧵)

I am here.
Wondering why I’m here.