Walt-Disney

Walt Disney has created a task force to understand artificial intelligence technology

Certain sectors within the entertainment industry have adopted artificial intelligence processes for almost as long as the technology has been available. It makes analyzing, synching, and editing easier and error-free using complex Algorithms. From providing astounding VFX, AI, and Talent analytics in the movies and games to the ease of streaming on platforms like Netflix, everything is just a touch away. According to Reuters, Walt Disney has created a task force to study artificial intelligence and how it can be applied across the entertainment conglomerate, even as Hollywood writers and actors battle to limit the industry's exploitation of the technology.

Launched earlier this year, before the Hollywood writers' strike, the gr Launched earlier this year, before the Hollywood writers' strike, the group is looking to develop AI applications in-house as well as form partnerships with startups, three sources told Reuters. As evidence of interest, Disney has 11 job openings seeking candidates with expertise in artificial intelligence or machine learning.

A Disney spokesperson declined to comment. However, one of the sources, an internal advocate who spoke anonymously because of the subject’s sensitivity, said legacy media companies like Disney must either figure out AI or risk obsolescence.

This supporter sees AI as one tool to help control the soaring costs of movie and television production, which can swell to US$300 million for a major film release like "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" or "The Little Mermaid." Such budgets require equally massive box office returns to break even. Cost savings would be realized over time, the person said.

Machine learning, the branch of AI that allows computers to learn without being programmed, informs its vision systems so it can recognize and navigate objects in its environment. Someday, Baby Groot will interact with guests, the former Imagineer said.

With its ability to simplify the process of lip-synching that of the actors with the appropriate subtitles and to reduce errors, Artificial Intelligence uses a series of complicated algorithms which understand the basic relationship of this database and makes the production of subtitles far easier, quicker, and readily accessible. It is beneficial when the subtitles have to be translated into many different languages, such as regional series and movies.

In Switzerland, Disney Research has been exploring AI, machine learning, and visual computing, according to its website. It has spent the last decade creating "digital humans" that it describes as "indistinguishable" from their corporeal counterparts or fantasy characters "puppeteered" by actors. According to a source familiar with the matter, this technology is used to augment digital effects, not replace human actors.

"AI research at Disney goes back a very long time and revolves around all the things you see being discussed today: Can we have something that helps us make movies, games, or conversational robots inside theme parks that people can talk to?" said one executive who has worked with Disney.

Hao Li, CEO and co-founder of Pinscreen, a Los Angeles-based company that creates AI-driven virtual avatars, said he worked on multiple research papers with Disney's lab while studying in Zurich from 2006 to 2010.

"They do research on anything based on performance capture of humans, creating digital faces," said Li, a former research lead at Disney-owned Industrial Light & Magic. "Disney entities will adopt some of these techniques."