AI is exceptionally effective for automating text-based work like deep research, data synthesis, and writing first drafts. However, fully automating creative asset generation, especially AI video, is currently ill-advised. The output quality is often poor and can negatively reflect on a brand, making human oversight essential.

Netflix has deployed generative AI in about 300 productions, primarily in post-production. The company carefully positions the technology not as a replacement for writers or directors, but as a practical tool to reduce costs and enable shots that were previously cost-prohibitive, thus avoiding conflict with creative unions while still scaling its use.

The immediate impact of generative AI in filmmaking isn't replacing final production but revolutionizing pre-production. Tools like ComfyUI enable rapid visualization of complex scenes, allowing creative teams to iterate and make on-set decisions in minutes rather than weeks.

Major studios like Netflix and Amazon are integrating AI into traditional pipelines for tasks like generating backgrounds, special effects, and animations. This lowers production costs and boosts efficiency without the PR risk associated with replacing human actors.

While generative video gets the hype, producer Tim McLear finds AI's most practical use is automating tedious post-production tasks like data management and metadata logging. This frees up researchers and editors to focus on higher-value creative work, like finding more archival material, rather than being bogged down by manual data entry.

Contrary to hype, Hollywood's current AI adoption is focused on back-end processes where labor unions have fewer protections, like automating animation and storyboarding to cut costs. Studios are treading cautiously and are not greenlighting AI-written scripts or replacing human actors, which are protected by guild agreements.

ElevenLabs' CEO predicts AI won't enable a single prompt-to-movie process soon. Instead, it will create a collaborative "middle-to-middle" workflow, where AI assists with specific stages like drafting scripts or generating voice options, which humans then refine in an iterative loop.

The production of "Gods Don't Give Gifts," the first theatrical AI-visuals film, debunks the myth of near-zero costs. The director clarifies the primary budget expense was not AI model usage but the large human team of designers, animators, editors, and voice actors.

Professionals in Hollywood aren't interested in unpredictable generation. They adopt AI video for tools that offer precise, deterministic control over camera angles (via JSON), lighting, lip-sync, and character motion. The value is in augmenting and accelerating existing workflows, not replacing them with a black box.