OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research and deployment company, is taking a deliberate approach to forging partnerships with Hollywood, emphasizing the need to build trust and educate the entertainment industry on the capabilities and implications of AI technologies like its video generation model, Sora.
Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s “The Future of Everything” Conference, OpenAI’s Chief Operating Officer, Brad Lightcap, indicated that formal deals with movie studios are not imminent. As reported by TheWrap, Lightcap’s comments, made during an interview with WSJ reporter Keach Hagey, highlight a strategy centered on foundational understanding and collaboration.
“To start any conversation with AI, it starts with an education process. This stuff’s all really new,” Lightcap stated. He further elaborated on the importance of mutual understanding before formal engagements: “There’s a baseline level of trust and understanding that you have to build with partners before you engage just as to what it is that you’re doing.”
This cautious stance comes even as OpenAI has successfully brokered content licensing deals with several major publishers. However, Lightcap explained that the landscape with media companies, particularly in Hollywood, requires a different approach due to the nascent stage of AI in filmmaking and the need to clearly demonstrate its value and address concerns.
Referring to Sora, OpenAI’s text-to-video AI model which has garnered significant attention for its potential in content creation, Lightcap acknowledged its current limitations for professional productions. “People can play with [Sora], but it’s not meant for production-level content,” he remarked. “It’s not, in my opinion, good enough for that yet.”
Despite this, Lightcap expressed optimism about the future trajectory of these tools. “So will it get better? Yeah, of course. But it’s just [about] starting a dialog and starting a process of understanding [with studios currently],” he added, signaling a long-term vision for AI’s role in the entertainment sector.
OpenAI’s current focus, therefore, appears to be less on immediate deal-making and more on fostering a receptive and informed environment within Hollywood, ensuring that future collaborations are built on a solid foundation of trust and shared understanding of AI’s evolving capabilities.
