Sky-high AI salaries irk actors and screenwriters

The demons of AI possibilities are giving sleepless nights to the creative communities of all screens – silver, small, and mobile. No wonder, many Hollywood actors have joined screenwriters in their ongoing protest against the AI encroachment in script development and actors’ digitally manipulated recreations.

Amid such an incensed environment, Netflix is offering six-figure salaries for a host of AI-specific job roles, joining biggies including Disney+ Hotstar , 亚马逊 , 苹果 , and 索尼 who are placing big faith in AI for all their entertainment forays. Reportedly, Netflix has at least five open positions having “AI” or “machine learning” in the job title. Among other players, Amazon Prime Video is looking for AI wizards to redefine localized content using state-of-the-art Generative AI and Computer Vision tech. The base salary offered is a whopping $300,000 a year. Disney is willing to shell out $180,000 plus bonuses for a “R&D Imagineer” while Sony Pictures Entertainment is scouting?for an “AI ethics engineer” for $160,000.

Worse, the layoff spree is alarming at most shops. Disney has laid off 7,000 employees since late March while Amazon has also scrapped thousands of jobs this year. Many protesting screenwriters opine that the same money can be used to compensate competent and hardworking writers and actors. According to them, the AI focus is a sad case of misplaced priorities.

It is indeed a scary situation as AI can do a lot in the coming time like rewriting literary material and use actors’ digital likenesses without casting them or compensating them. Recently, renowned writer and filmmaker Christopher Nolan also acknowledged the fact that AI has “terrifying possibilities” in entertainment.

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