Today's Edition
SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)
Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies VFX Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan Bronfman, spoke with Aletihad on the sidelines of the AI Everything Global summit 2025 about the influence of AI on filmmaking.
VFX, which worked on Hollywood blockbusters such as the Spider-Man and Dune series, has introduced two proprietary technologies into production: LipDub (an automated lip-syncing tool), as well as Vanity (2D cosmetic technology for ageing, de-ageing, and beautification). Vanity AI is also used to touch up wig seams, laugh lines and bags under the eyes.
"We discovered that generative AI is a really powerful tool to help enable our core business," Bronfman said.
He explained how AI was changing filmmaking and the industry: "I think AI is going to have a massive impact on every industry, specifically within film, or more broadly, video content creation. "I think video content is incredibly expensive and slow to produce, so we want to empower creators to create content at scale differently than before, this is with the highest level of quality."
He said AI allowed writers to write remarkable stories from pre-viz to post-prod.
Technology like the LipDub and text-to-video platforms offer "a spectacle to creators who in the past did not have the budget to create that spectacle."
In 2023, Hollywood actors and writers embarked on an unprecedented 148-day strike, after actors feared they would be replaced by technology, and writers were concerned that they would have to share credit or lose credit to AI.
There were also ethical concerns raised about the use of AI to manipulate authentic content.
Of the ethical considerations, Bronfman said: "My position is AI is inevitable, so there will be people that use it in bad faith. We can only control what we control, and we have standards and principles that guide our platform and our AI usage, and so we will control what we do, and other people will have to make that decision for themselves."
LipDub, for example, is used to sync actors' lips with dialogue in foreign language films to make it look more natural and engaging for viewers.
Bronfman said: "I think AI in the context of high-quality film and television is still in its infancy. Our solution works for quality creators, but I am really excited for when text-to-video platforms become more robust and effective. The impact on entertainment and video content creation will be massive.
"In Hollywood, our technology has been used in several projects. For instance, with Vanity, we worked on the Green Goblin in 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'. We have also contributed to Stranger Things and the Dune series. Our AI is becoming widely used in Hollywood. AI, indeed is the future."
