Can AI entertain us? Yes, it can. Here's how
The advent of AI in media and entertainment will help uncover innovative ways of creating and sharing content.
Artificial intelligence has always been a part of pop culture due to numerous sci-fi movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Terminator, and I, Robot. But, what if artificial intelligence can be used in producing a movie? Artificial intelligence has already shown its potential in the music industry by creating beautiful compositions. Whereas, the world of art has also witnessed the creative mind of AI. Now, the advent of AI in media and entertainment will transform how audiences experience movies, TV shows, videos, games, and sports. Research suggests that media industry professionals believe that AI is the next industrial revolution. Media professionals have realized that AI will improve productivity by automating multiple repetitive tasks and offer a competitive advantage. AI-based automation can help entertainers and content creators spend more time on their craft and deliver engaging content. AI will also help production houses make informed decisions about marketing and advertising by analyzing critical data.
Utilizing AI in media and entertainment
The advent of AI in media and entertainment will give rise to the following applications:
Movie production
Movie production involves multiple procedures such as screenwriting, script-breakdown, location scouting, storyboarding, generating shot-lists, budgeting, scheduling, recording, and editing. These procedures are carried out by collaborating with many film industry professionals. Hence, movie production is a complicated and time-consuming process. The advent of AI in media and entertainment will help automate certain production procedures. AI can offer a platform that can automate tasks such as breaking down scripts, storyboarding, generating shot-lists, creating schedules, and managing movie budgets. AI-based software can also automatically sync and group recorded clips. With further developments, AI may soon be able to create content independently. The research team at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence have trained an AI model using over 25,000 videos of Flintstones. With this training, the AI model was capable of generating a fresh Flintstones video.
Automated subtitles
Creating and synchronizing subtitles with lip movements in videos and movies can be complex tasks. Even a slight delay in displaying the subtitles can result in audio and subtitles being out-of-sync. Also, in the case of big-budget films, subtitles have to be created in multiple languages for a global audience. By leveraging AI, filmmakers can simplify the entire process and reduce the odds of making errors. AI can generate automated subtitles with the help of natural language processing. To create subtitles, AI systems can synthesize speech and analyze the vocabulary used in the dialogues with the help of neural networks. After the analysis, AI can generate accurate subtitles in multiple languages. Besides, AI tools can help film industry professionals understand at which point in time should the subtitles be displayed and for how long. In this manner, the implementation of AI in media and entertainment can help in streamlining subtitles generation and synchronization.
Video games
AI is commonly used in games to control non-player characters (NPCs). NPCs react to a player’s movement and actions. For example, in a first-person shooter, NPCs will shoot after seeing a player and retreat after being attacked. In modern games, the involvement of AI has become even more crucial. AI can analyze a player’s actions to predict their future moves. AI models can also identify changes in a gamer’s behavior in specific scenarios. With this technology, NPCs in the game can adapt to any player’s behavior even in vast open-world games. Hence, AI has made video games more interesting and challenging.
Sports broadcast
Selecting entertaining shots and angles for sports activities during live broadcast can be a highly complicated task. Visuals included in the live broadcast should help build an engaging narrative in a match. Hence, sports broadcasters to carefully select which scenes and actions can be shown to deliver an interesting sports experience.
AI systems can be trained to identify objects and actions in sports events. AI can also use footage captured by drones to deliver broadcast that offers engaging content as well as deeper sports insights. For example, in a football match, live footage developed by AI can capture adrenaline-fueled action as well as players’ and fans’ reactions after every goal. Therefore, the utilization of AI in media and entertainment can help to deliver action-packed sports broadcasting.
Moderation
Every country and platform has certain regulations regarding which kind of content can be broadcasted. For instance, adult content cannot be shown on television, whereas streaming platforms such as Netflix allow adult content. Also, some specific countries may have different regulations for their content. For example, China has censored scenes in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ where Freddie Mercury’s homosexual lifestyle was portrayed. Hence, broadcasters and streaming services need to carefully moderate and select the content that will be displayed on their platform.
AI can perform sentiment recognition and image and object analysis in movies and TV shows to identify sensitive content. Besides, AI systems can also use natural language processing to detect offensive language in dialogues. With this technology, streaming services and broadcasters can moderate content on their platform and provide suitable ratings such as 7+, 13+, or 18+.
Content classification and categorization
Online streaming platforms have countless movies, TV shows, and songs. Streaming platforms have to optimize their search algorithms to help users find relevant content. AI can be increasingly helpful in optimizing search algorithms for streaming platforms. For this purpose, AI can analyze objects and data about a specific type of content to include it in a particular category. For instance, AI systems can identify and analyze different objects in various scenes of a movie and details about its genre, cast, and crew to decide which category would be the most suitable. Hence, the implementation of AI in media and entertainment can help automate classification and categorization of content.
Personalization
Research suggests that consumers are demanding personalized content that can cater to their preferences. To deliver personalized content, streaming services can recommend content that suits a consumer’s personal taste. AI models can be trained using each consumer’s content preferences and viewing patterns. By collecting consumer data, AI models can offer personalized content suggestions that are tailored to every viewer.
AI can also be used to optimize video quality according to internet speed. In many developing countries, internet speeds and bandwidth limits are comparatively lower than that of the US. To address this issue, AI can analyze internet connections of different viewers in various countries and compress videos without losing their quality to offer a buffering-free streaming experience.
Movie marketing
Production houses can use AI to deliver interesting content for marketing. AI systems can be trained using large volumes of data such as images, videos, and text to identify and analyze objects, language, and design concepts. With the help of acquired data, AI can help design posters and videos to promote a movie. For instance, IBM’s Watson had created a six-minute long trailer for a horror movie called ‘Morgan.’ To generate this trailer, the AI system was trained using visuals and audio from 100 different horror movies. Using this data, Watson created a trailer in just twenty-four hours. Hence, AI can help production companies in their marketing campaigns or create content independently.
The introduction of AI in media and entertainment will simplify various aspects of content creation. In this manner, artificial intelligence can help in supporting up-and-coming entertainers and content creators by delivering high-quality content and effective marketing tools. With further research and development, artificial intelligence may become advanced enough to independently develop feature films with a gripping plot, fascinating background score, and stunning cinematography.