Elon Musk shared a lengthy article by DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg titled "The World is Changing: AI For Creativity" on the X platform. In the article, Katzenberg stated that AI is rapidly changing animation and film production, and "Hollywood needs to accept that AI is not going away"; the industry should shift from resistance to participating in the formulation of AI usage rules.

He reiterated his judgment from three years ago. In 2023, at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, he said that producing a world-class animated film used to require 500 artists working for five years, but in three years, the required manpower and time will be less than 10% of what was needed then, effectively compressing production time and costs by up to 90%. The three-year deadline for this prediction coincided with the publication of the article.

Regarding capabilities, he believes that AI is currently good at reasoning, evaluating, optimizing, and pattern recognition, but true creativity still depends on human taste, intuition, empathy, and desire for expression. The creation of a work by AI is different from a creator actively expressing a certain idea. He described Hollywood's opposition as "resistance from the outside, love from the inside."

He used the history of technology to support his position: sound films and computer animation have eliminated some old jobs but have also expanded artistic forms and creative space. He cited companies as examples: Kodak and Blockbuster were eliminated after resisting new technologies, while Apple and Netflix became winners by embracing new technologies, summarizing that "resisting technology comes with the risk of being marginalized."

He proposed conditions for collaboration between AI developers and creators: creators' works and ideas can only be used with authorization, credit, and reasonable compensation. He anticipates that as AI further lowers the costs and thresholds of film production, more movies will emerge, along with new narrative forms.

Weeks before the article was published, reports indicated that Katzenberg was establishing an AI video generation startup. Co-founders include former OpenAI Sora head Bill Peebles and former Dropbox CFO Sujay Jaswa, with products aimed at professional filmmakers and discussions ongoing with investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, for significant funding.

In terms of market mechanisms, this is a viewpoint output with no direct transactions, but the interest structure is clear. Beneficiaries include AI video tool companies and computing power providers, including Katzenberg's new company and Musk's xAI, which promotes Grok Imagine video generation. Endorsements from senior Hollywood figures can reduce the public resistance to studios procuring AI tools. The labor-intensive segments under pressure include animation in-between frames, special effects outsourcing, and post-production teams, which are the parts of the budget most easily replaced by AI. Unions and copyright holders will leverage the three conditions of "authorization, credit, and compensation" to secure their positions in the new revenue-sharing system.

Source: Public Information