AI And The Future Of Media Production

The US Government has recently announced an investment of 500 billion dollars toward the development of AI technologies. Flanked by some of techs top shakers and movers including Sam Altman of OpenAI and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump announced it to the press in early 2025. Investment on this scale will inevitably provide fertile ground for advancing AI and some scientists believe that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is achievable within the next 10 years. So how could this impact the creative professions? This article provides a brief overview of AI development in early 2025 and provides a few thoughts on how this may affect creative communities in the near future.

What Is Artificial General Intelligence?

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) describes a machine that can learn, understand and complete any intellectual task on a similar level to a human. The Singularity is the moment when AI surpasses human intelligence and, in theory, these machines become capable of building even more effective and efficient machines. When The Singularity is achieved AI is considered to be self aware and capable of independent ‘thought’. I discussed The Singularity a couple of years ago in my article Artificial Intelligence And The Singularity.

Some scientists such as Ray Kurtzweil believe that AGI is inevitable and we are only a few years away from The Singularity. Others are more sceptical as to whether computers are capable of becoming self aware – AI will effectively become a sophisticated emulation of human behaviour to the point that it is indistinguishable from human beings. However, sceptics believe on close examination AI will remain clearly identifiable. A film reference that comes to mind is the Voight-Kampf Test conducted by Deckard (Harrison Ford) on Rachel (Sean Young) in Ridley Scott’s masterpiece Blade Runner (based upon the Philip K Dick book ‘Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep’). The test is designed to indicate whether the test subject is human or android. Deckard is impressed with the level of examination required to confirm that Rachel is an android…perhaps intentionally a nod to the Turing Test developed in the 1950’s designed to establish the theoretical point at which a machine becomes self aware.

How Might AI Affect Creative Industries?

Creative industries rely on the skills and experience of people from a variety of backgrounds, including graphic design, video production, 3D VFX, and film production, among others. Some content creators have been exploring AI technologies to streamline their workflows and gain a creative edge over their competition. AI has already started reshaping these fields, offering new ways to generate, edit, and enhance content with unprecedented speed and efficiency.

One of the most immediate impacts has been on image generation and digital art. Platforms like Midjourney, Magnific AI, and Adobe Firefly have provided artists with tools that can generate highly detailed illustrations, concept art, and even photorealistic imagery in seconds. Traditional methods that once took hours or even days—such as sketching, refining, and coloring—can now be automated, allowing artists to iterate rapidly. Photoshop’s Generative Fill, introduced in 2023, further revolutionized workflows by enabling users to manipulate images with simple text prompts. This has led to a democratisation of creative tools, allowing individuals with little to no formal training to create professional-looking visuals. However, it has also raised concerns about originality and the potential devaluation of artistic skills.

In video production, AI-assisted tools like Runway, Kaiber, and Luma Labs’ Dream Machine have begun blurring the lines between live-action footage and AI-generated sequences. Filmmakers and content creators can now generate complex animations, enhance video footage, and even automate tedious editing processes. For instance, Runway’s text-to-video feature allows users to create short film sequences without the need for expensive equipment or extensive VFX expertise. While this is a boon for indie filmmakers and small production teams, some professionals fear it could reduce demand for traditional post-production roles.

AI’s role in music production has also seen growth. Suno and Udio are among the leading AI-driven music generators that can create fully composed tracks from simple prompts. These tools can generate music that mimics various genres, from orchestral scores to Electronic Dance Music (EDM). This has opened doors for independent creators who lack access to professional musicians or studio space. It has also sparked debates around copyright, authenticity, and the ethical implications of AI-generated music competing with human composers.

Hollywood Is Dead?

Popular YouTube channels such as Matt Wolfe and Curious Refuge frequently discuss how generative AI video could signal the end of traditional filmmaking. Some argue that AI-generated content will make professional studios and production crews obsolete because film producers can now create high-quality clips from a simple text prompt. However, I’m not convinced Hollywood level production is a risk. AI video tools like Runway Gen-3 have made impressive strides in generating short clips with minimal effort. However, generative AI still struggles with consistency, coherence, and the ability to tell complex stories. While AI-generated content may prove disruptive in areas like advertising, social media content, or even indie filmmaking, the idea that AI alone could replace blockbuster films, nuanced performances, and the artistry of cinematography seems far-fetched—at least for now.

This situation mirrors the evolution of gaming and computer-generated imagery (CGI). As a design and technology student, I remember discussions about how gaming would be indistinguishable from reality around the year 2030. While modern graphics engines like Unreal Engine 5 have brought us photorealistic visuals, the human eye can still detect the difference between computer-generated environments and footage shot in the real world. The same applies to AI-generated video—despite its rapid improvements, it remains fundamentally different from real-world cinematography. Take the early days of CGI in Hollywood as a case in point. When Tron (1982) experimented with computer graphics, it was groundbreaking, but clearly recognisable as artificially generated. Over time, computer generated imagery evolved into a powerful filmmaking tool, enhancing films rather than replacing traditional production. AI-generated video is likely to follow a similar path: not as a complete replacement for Hollywood, but as a tool for filmmakers to augment their craft, streamline workflows, and explore new creative possibilities.

The real question is not whether AI will kill Hollywood, but how filmmakers will adapt. Just as green screens, motion capture, and CGI didn’t erase practical effects but reshaped them, AI will challenge traditional production methods while offering exciting new possibilities. The future of film will likely be a hybrid—where AI tools assist in everything from pre-visualisation to special effects, but the heart of storytelling remains human.

AI Slop

You may have heard the derogatory term AI Slop. AI Slop is the content creators equivelant to spam email from automated bots and refers to low quality, low effort, unwanted content that is appearing online including images on social media, AI generated video content on YouTube and even entire websites. In a recent video YouTuber PenguinZ0 / Charlie (reknowned on the web for his sharp, insightful commentary) described the demise of a YouTuber known by the name Kwebbelkop as a result of using AI platforms designed to automatically generate content. The problem was that this content was perceived by his audience as lazily produced and lower quality…essentially AI Slop. As a result his audience began to lose interest, his reputation and brand permanently damaged with negative consequences in terms of income and reach. Content producers be warned.