Hollywood's AI Secret Is Out, According to Janice Min

Janice Min has spent decades at the center of the entertainment industry, running The Hollywood Reporter, now leading The Ankler, the newsletter that Hollywood C-suites quietly pass around.

She recently appeared on the podc ast __Channels with host Peter Kafka, and her outlook on the industry and Los Angeles at large was not a great one.

"There is definitely a Detroit vibe underway if things don't course correct," she said at one point (via Business Insider).

The conversation ranged from the impending Warner Bros. sale to attitudes about Paramount, but she also brought up artificial intelligence and its prevalence in the industry.

She said there are some "don't ask, don't tell" attitudes in entertainment regarding AI. The public conversation and the private reality, she argued, aren't close.

"Studios are lying about how much they're using it," she said. They're using it more than they let on, she said.

She added, "Companies are lying about the capability of their products. And for creative people, they're lying about the fact that they're not using it."

She has a direct challenge for screenwriters.

"I dare you to find a screenwriter who is staring at a blank page and not talking to Claude or ChatGPT at the same time," she said.

That might be true, but it doesn't change the public's outlook much on the possibility. Just take the recent hubbub about the Duffer brothers apparently getting caught with ChatGPT open on their computers during the making of the last season of __Stranger Things.

This, fans thought, must be why the finale was written the way it was! (Audiences largely weren't happy, if you can't tell.) AI was actually at fault!

All that to say, people didn't seem to like the idea of screenwriters using AI.

Looking at another arm of the industry, Min shared that things were even worse for VFX workers as AI intercedes.

She describes people in her own network sharing posts from professionals who are weeks away from losing their homes. These aren't people being dramatic. The work has dried up, and it's not coming back the same way.

She pointed out how quiet some of these conversations have gotten. A year ago, AI's role in The Brutalist sparked a real debate. Now, even the Academy has largely gone silent on the issue.

"I would say with some certainty that every single best picture nominee this year has used AI in its production process," she said.

You can listen to the whole conversation at this link.