In February, executives from OpenAI visited Los Angeles, hoping to strike offers with main Hollywood studios. They left empty handed. The studios declined partnerships to make use of Sora, the corporate’s AI–powered video era software, Bloomberg reported, citing considerations over how OpenAI would use their knowledge and potential backlash from unions frightened about job losses following the 2023 Hollywood strikes.
OpenAI’s failure to win over Hollywood exposes a deeper difficulty for the corporate: It appears unwilling to show it could actually work inside the contracts, licensing agreements, and labor protections which have ruled the leisure enterprise for greater than a century. OpenAI isn’t simply alienating the $100 billion-plus leisure enterprise—it’s lacking a chance to point out different industries that it’s able to constructing viable, long-term partnerships.
OpenAI’s Hollywood misadventure is paying homage to an earlier dispute between the media trade and Silicon Valley. Within the early 2000s, Napster appeared poised to upend the music trade by providing customers an unprecedented digital catalog of songs. The service turned a cultural phenomenon, however it was predicated on distributing unlicensed (stolen) music, and the corporate’s refusal to interact with copyright legislation proved expensive in the long term. Main labels sued, and by the point Napster realized it was higher off negotiating licensing offers, it was too late. The music trade had moved on, choosing sustainable agreements with companies corresponding to Rhapsody, iTunes, and finally Spotify. OpenAI’s know-how is way extra transformative than Napster’s, however its story might look the identical.
Like Napster, OpenAI fails to see that working with established industries is the higher path to long-term development. As a substitute of partaking with creators, OpenAI has scraped information articles, ingested complete libraries of books with out securing rights, and launched a voice assistant that sounded so much like Scarlett Johansson (who had beforehand denied permission). Amid criticism across the Johansson case, OpenAI claimed the voice belonged to a unique unnamed actress and carried on. That technique—transfer quick, ask for permission later—might have labored thus far to make OpenAI the dominant participant in generative AI, however it’s not sustainable.
Studio-friendly AI
As Napster did, OpenAI is opening the door for the movie trade to companion with AI firms that respect its mental property. Lionsgate introduced a partnership with Runway to construct a proprietary AI mannequin skilled solely on the studio’s catalog. The ensuing mannequin will probably be absolutely clear and managed—Lionsgate is aware of precisely what IP is getting used and might distribute income internally or reinvest it. Equally, James Cameron has teamed with StabilityAI to convey AI to particular results, and veteran movie government Peter Chernin joined with Andreessen Horowitz to launch an AI-native studio, Promise.
These ventures differ from OpenAI in that they’re both coaching fashions solely on licensed knowledge, utilizing AI in slim, artist-controlled pipelines or constructing new studios with Hollywood’s direct involvement. By insisting on management and never acknowledging filmmakers’ considerations, OpenAI might finally discover itself on the surface wanting in.
OpenAI ought to be taught from different tech firms that when noticed regulation as an impediment however later realized the advantages of cooperation—typically after bruising fights with regulators. For instance, Uber touted itself as a “disruptor,” but it will definitely labored with metropolis governments together with London and Washington, D.C. to safe municipal contracts and bolster market belief.
OpenAI nonetheless has time to persuade legacy industries that it could actually respect mental property rights, knowledge privateness, and labor guidelines.
As a primary step, OpenAI ought to supply extra transparency round its AI coaching knowledge, serving to studios and unions perceive what copyrighted materials is getting used. A content material provenance system that traces AI-generated outputs like scripts or performances wouldn’t require the mannequin to be absolutely disclosed. OpenAI, studios, and creators might depend on third-party audits to certify that the fashions have been developed with agreed-upon knowledge restrictions and requirements. This may be performed whereas nonetheless defending proprietary data.
OpenAI must also conform to share income with rights holders not directly. A Spotify-style royalty system is probably not replicable for movie, however the core thought of a inventive fund continues to be viable—particularly in managed instances like Runway’s take care of Lionsgate. The thought isn’t to pay per use, however to license pre-approved datasets and share income tied to the movies derived from that content material.
OpenAI in Hollywood
There’s an actual alternative in bundling knowledge: OpenAI might undertake an analogous mannequin utilizing licensed bundles of copyrighted content material, developed in partnership with unions and particular person studios. Even a restricted system would reveal a willingness to collaborate. The best threat for OpenAI isn’t in getting the main points incorrect—it’s in doing nothing whereas rivals transfer forward.
On this vein, it’s in OpenAI’s finest curiosity to interact extra broadly with Hollywood—not simply studios, however labor and creators. The 2023 strikes confirmed that unions form public narratives and coverage, and any long-term technique should replicate that. Funneling a portion of AI-driven income to trade professionals would sign an intent to work with, not round, human expertise. This type of initiative might reframe AI as a inventive companion, not a risk, and assist OpenAI stand other than opaque general-purpose fashions.
Final month, greater than 400 Hollywood creatives despatched a letter to the White Home, arguing that AI firms ought to comply with copyright legislation like some other trade: “There isn’t any purpose to weaken or get rid of the copyright protections which have helped America flourish,” the letter stated. The longer OpenAI waits to behave, the extra it opens the door for others to take action first.
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