SAG-AFTRA And WGA Fears About AI Are Warranted After 15 Years Of Streaming Chaos, Says ‘Oppenheimer’ Director Christopher Nolan: Companies “Don’t Want To Take Responsibility For Whatever That Algorith
Christopher Nolan sees the insistence by striking SAG-AFTRA and WGA members that studios and streamers limit the use of artificial intelligence stems directly from the explosion of streaming over the past decade-plus.
Referring to the current “labor dispute” without getting more specific, the Oppenheimer writer-director drew a parallel between recent actions by Hollywood and Big Tech and his film’s protagonist grappling with the thorny ethical dilemmas of nuclear science.
“When you innovate through technology, you have to make sure there is accountability,” he said at a post-screening panel in New York. “A lot of companies for 15 years have bandied about terms like ‘algorithm,’ not knowing what they really mean in any meaningful, technical sense. These guys don’t really know what an algorithm is or what it does. People in my business talking about it, they just don’t want to take responsibility for whatever that algorithm does. Applied to AI, it has terrifying possibilities. Terrifying.”
He didn’t name specific companies, but the 15-year timeframe points directly to the initial direct-to-consumer streamers, Netflix and Amazon. (Apple, Facebook and others were well under way with their own algorithmic forays by that time as well.) Panel moderator Chuck Todd had also prompted Nolan’s digression into union strife by suggesting that Nolan screen the film for a Silicon Valley audience.
Traditional media companies have also jumped into the data-driven streaming race, of course. Nolan became the personification of that disruption in 2020, cutting ties with Warner Bros over its parent company’s decision to put its film slate on HBO Max at the same time they opened in theaters.
If any tech execs or entrepreneurs do watch the film, Nolan said, “I want them to take away the notion of accountability.”
Nolan made his comments after Oppenheimer was shown at the Whitby Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The panel discussion afterward was moderated by Todd, host of NBC’s Meet the Press. Joining Nolan on the panel were Kai Bird, who co-wrote the book on which the film is based; Thom Mason, current head of Los Alamos National Laboratory; and noted physicists Kip Thorne and Carlo Rovelli.
“When I talk to the leading researchers into AI, they literally refer to this as their ‘Oppenheimer moment,” Nolan said. “They’re looking to his story to say, ‘What are the responsibilities for scientists developing new technologies.” [Silicon Valley?] Oppenheimer’s story can at least serve as a cautionary tale. It at least can show where some of those responsibilities lie.”
Oppenheimer’s runup to its release on Friday has coincided with a dramatic escalation in labor tensions in Hollywood. The film’s world premiere in London on Thursday saw cast members walk out after word came of SAG-AFTRA brass making the strike official. The red carpet for Monday evening’s U.S. premiere in New York has been scrapped, though the event will proceed. After the London premiere, Nolan told the BBC he “absolutely” would not take on his next film project until the strikes are resolved.
Source: Deadline
