A different approach to AI in Hollywood

Hi folks, it’s Brad reporting from Los Angeles. Amid fear and anxiety around the use of AI in Hollywood, an anonymous figure wearing a ski m [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi folks, it’s Brad reporting from Los Angeles. Amid fear and anxiety around the use of AI in Hollywood, an anonymous figure wearing a ski mask and goggles proposed a way forward. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Microsoft completed its [deal to buy Activision]( • Verizon’s new CEO [faces a difficult path]( • Morpheme AI gives [voice to video games]( Ghostwritten There’s been plenty of handwringing recently about artificial intelligence in Hollywood. In just the last week there were separate kerfuffles over the use of AI [to create a promotional poster]( for the Disney+ show Loki and to [generate zombie-like extras]( in a school gymnasium scene in the Disney Channel film Prom Pact. This follows celebrities including CBS News anchor Gayle King [warning her Instagram followers]( of videos purporting to show her selling a weight loss product (“Please don’t be fooled by these AI videos,” King wrote) and actor Tom Hanks instructing his Instagram fans to avoid a similar scam [where his younger incarnation]( hawks a dental plan (“I have nothing to do with it”). The actress and music label owner Issa Rae summed up the overall sentiment around AI at the first annual Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, calling it “terrifying … like a Black Mirror episode. There has to be consent for your likeness.” On the same day, four US senators introduced a bipartisan bill [called the No Fakes Act](. It would make people and companies that create and distribute AI audio and video copies of people without their explicit consent liable for financial penalties — with some First Amendment carveouts for news, satire and criticism. But the current US Congress is unlikely to agree to put the AI genie back into the bottle anytime soon. “This is probably something that will be handled in the market before it’s handled by policy,” said another Screentime speaker, the anonymous songwriter and producer who calls himself Ghostwriter and who took the stage wearing all-white clothes, white gloves, a white ski mask and black goggles. Last April, Ghostwriter [released a song online]( called “Heart on my Sleeve.” Ghostwriter and his team wrote and performed the song, then added the creepily convincing voices of the megastars Drake and The Weeknd using a specially trained AI filter. Since then, Ghostwriter has released [another AI-augmented song]( using the voices of Travis Scott and 21 Savage, campaigned for a [Grammy](, appeared on [the cover of Billboard magazine]( (in what appears to be a white bedsheet and sunglasses) and offered something of a reasonable counterpoint to the AI hysteria emanating from others in Silicon Valley and Hollywood. “The industry isn’t necessarily against AI in music,” he told me onstage Thursday, looking a bit like [Kanye West]( out for a weekend stroll. “They learned their lesson with Napster. They realize you can’t fight these things. You have to step up and meet the moment. Where the attention goes, the money goes.” Ghostwriter at the Bloomberg Screentime conference. Source: Bloomberg He also compared the use of AI to music sampling by early hip-hop artists like De La Soul who were originally [accused]( of theft for taking snippets from groups like the ’60s rock band The Turtles and adding them to their songs without permission. The industry, Ghostwriter said, should set up a clearinghouse where artists and labels set their own terms for AI knockoffs. “There will be an ecosystem where talent can license their voices with agreements around monetary splits as well as agreements around permissions,” he said. “For example, artist X says, ‘I will license my voice, but I want 50% of the money… and it can’t be used around political speech or hate speech.’” That’s an arrangement similar to the one proposed [by the AI-friendly artist Grimes](. But Ghostwriter may be overestimating the willingness of the three major labels, which still control more than two-thirds of the music business, to embrace disruptive technologies like AI. Despite the current acceptance of remixing, artists must still pass through a legal gauntlet to take a snippet from a hit song. For example, the Beastie Boys went through a long legal ordeal to make their second studio album, Paul’s Boutique, available for streaming. And only this year could De La Soul [release a digital version of their seminal album](, 3 Feet High and Rising, because of rights issues. Like sampling, the music labels are likely to strictly limit which artists and songs can be licensed for AI. And underground songwriters will probably keep experimenting with the technology without authorization. Ghostwriter himself will be their role model. When he created “Heart on my Sleeve,” Ghostwriter didn’t ask Drake for permission to use his voice, explaining onstage, “Well, I don’t have Drake’s phone number.” He said he’s done releasing unauthorized songs and will only collaborate with artists from now on. “Everything has to start somewhere,” he said. “It’s always rough when you kick it off.” —[Brad Stone](mailto:bstone12@bloomberg.net) The big story Current and former employees of the venture-backed fertility clinic Kindbody described [embryo mix-ups, understaffed clinics and inconsistent safety protocols](. One to watch [Watch the Bloomberg Technology TV interview]( with Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. Get fully charged Computer networking company Sandvine scrapped plans to [sell surveillance technology]( to law enforcement that can read encrypted messages. The former CEO of the defunct crypto lender BlockFI [took the stand in the Sam Bankman-Fried trial]( to discuss the firm’s relationship with Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund Alameda Research. Elon Musk’s X Corp. illegally fired an employee over [posts about the company’s return-to-office policy](, the US National Labor Relations Board claimed. More from Bloomberg Live event: The Bloomberg Technology Summit in London will host top technology leaders, business executives, innovators and entrepreneurs on Oct. 24. The event will explore the rapid advance of AI, green technology, the escalation of cyber warfare and more. [Register here](. 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