Should Hollywood studios license their content to train AI models?

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Why it matters: Next year, AI companies are expected to dish out a whopping $10 billion licensing content from media and entertainment companies to train their models. Hollywood could cash in on that spending spree, particularly at a time when so many media companies are struggling with their finances. But it could come at an existential cost to the business, with those same models putting traditional studios out of business.

The argument for: The big lesson from streaming was that if you don’t get ahead of the curve, Big Tech will. The same could go for AI: If you aren’t actively working with AI companies and licensing your titles to them, someone else will come around and figure out a way to profit in your place.

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The case against: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has suggested that his company likely will not need more training data before long and that individual titles are overvalued. That signals that AI companies may not pay studios what they believe their titles to be worth — and not enough to make the trade worth it. Plus, there could be massive labor issues, as below-the-line workers and talent will want to be compensated for their work being ingested by AI.

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This story is published in partnership with The Ankler, a paid subscription publication about the entertainment industry.