Peter Chan Rules Out AI-Generated Films, But Not AI as a Tool
Filmmaker Peter Chan Ho-sun says he will probably use artificial intelligence in his own films, but he will not make AI-generated content. Variety reported his comments from an In Conversation event at the Singapore International Film Festival.
Chan drew a clear line between the two ideas. AI-generated content, or AIGC, is material a machine makes with little human shaping. He said he would use AI the way the industry already uses computer-generated imagery, or CGI, and special effects, as one technique among many. He noted that CGI has relied on AI for years without anyone calling it that.
The human side of the argument came next. Movies are still made by people, he said, and AI won't know art. He also said the two-hour feature film will hold its ground against short-form video and vertical dramas, the short episodic series watched on phones. He said he believes movies will be around for a long, long time.
Chan has spoken about AI in a different tone before. At a co-production panel during the Hong Kong FilMart in March, he said AI could replace any blockbuster or commercial film within three years, according to Variety. That panel was moderated by the Asian Film Alliance Network. The market was marking its 30th edition that year, as Screen Daily reported.
Chan's latest film, The Road Not Taken, premiered in Toronto. The festival is one of the main places where films are shown to buyers and sales agents before they reach cinemas, often a year or more later.
For readers who want to follow this debate, the key distinction is the one Chan drew: AI as a tool inside a human-led production, versus content generated with little human hand on it. Both sides of the argument use the same word for very different things.
