Hollywood’s Secret Profit Scheme: How AI Fakes Are Raking in Cash

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As a dedicated movie enthusiast, I’ve stumbled upon some intriguing trailers on YouTube recently. These trailers seem to be for films that, by all logic, should not even exist! They might feature actors who have passed away or a blend of footage from different movies, artfully edited with AI-generated scenes that are both eerie and fascinating.

For fans like me, these trailers offer an exciting glimpse into “what if” scenarios, but they might raise eyebrows among intellectual property owners worldwide, right? However, it appears that studios have found a way to profit from these trailers, as reported by Deadline.

Users claiming their videos boost popular films such as “Mission Impossible” and “The Fantastic Four” may think so, but talent unions like SAG-AFTRA have a contrasting perspective. As expressed to Deadline, the union stated their viewpoint directly.

In much the same way that SAG-AFTRA actively negotiates contract conditions and establishes laws to safeguard and uphold our members’ rights over their voices and likenesses, we anticipate our negotiation counterparts to equally vigilant in defending their Intellectual Property from any misuse by AI. The monetization of unauthorized, unwanted, or low-quality uses of human-centered IP sets off a competition that leads downward. This situation encourages technology companies to prioritize short-term profits over long-term human creativity.

On YouTube, channels with collectively massive view counts, often criticized as AI-generated content with little value, can generate significant ad revenue due to numerous clicks. However, this income source is minuscule compared to the profits made by large media corporations through ticket sales, streaming distribution, and licensing agreements. As a result, artists and unions are frustrated about the short-sighted profits, feeling that studios are prioritizing pennies over dollars, thereby undervaluing human talent. Despite promises from media executives, creators are already disgruntled due to inadequate copyright protection and selective indifference shown by companies.

The Great Outsourcing Of Imagination

Since the early days of the internet, it has been flooded with false movie trailers and deceitful images. From its beginning, the web has served as a platform for scams, fraud, swindles, and malicious software. Was it ever truly believable that you could obtain all of Led Zeppelin’s discography on Limewire in just a 32kb file? Today, instead of contracting a virus that harms the family computer, we are exposed to deceptive content which, more detrimentally, diminishes creativity and weakens our ability to recognize falsehoods and lies. As Hayao Miyazaki once said about AI, whose work is now often used for mindless regurgitation, “I firmly believe that this is an affront to life itself.

In the heart of Hollywood, a tension arises as intellectual property rights and artificial intelligence intersect, leaving creators in a spectator role while studios eagerly adopt tech that, ironically, undermines human efforts shaping entertainment into a distinctly humane experience. Deadline reached out to major studios for comment on this apparent disregard of copyright laws for ad revenue gains, but all remained silent on the matter.

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2025-03-30 02:03