'Mad Max' Creator George Miller On AI: It "Is Here To Stay And Change Things" But "Won't Have That Human Essence"

Mad Max creator George Miller has shared some of this thoughts on AI as well as the ongoing debate about its use inside and outside of Hollywood.

Speaking to The Guardian, Miller made clear that he does not believe AI is going to go away saying, “AI is arguably the most dynamically evolving tool in making moving image.”

He added, “As a film-maker, I’ve always been driven by the tools. AI is here to stay and change things.”

Additionally, he shared, “It will make screen storytelling available to anyone who has a calling to it. I know kids not yet in their teens using AI. They don’t have to raise money. They’re making films – or at least putting footage together. It’s way more egalitarian.”

As far as the ongoing debate regarding AI, he commented, “It’s the balance between human creativity and machine capability, that’s what the debate and the anxiety is about.”

He went on to compare it to previous advancements in technology, “It strikes me how this debate echoes earlier moments in art history.”

Referencing the Renaissance and the adoption of oil paint he said it “gave artists the freedom to revise and enhance their worker over time. That shift sparked controversy – some argued that true artists should be able to commit to the canvas without corrections, others embraced the new flexibility.”

“A similar debate unfolded in the mid-19th century with the arrival of photography,” he elaborated. “Art has to evolve. And while photography became its own form, painting continued. Both changed, but both endured. Art changed.”

Speaking specifically to the fear that AI will replace laborers, Miller said, “The first film I made, Mad Max, had 30 people on the credits. The last film I made [Furiosa] had over 1,000 people credited, and a huge number of those were CGI visual effects artists.”

Additionally, he recounted a discussion he had about using AI to mimic dead actors specifically Marlon Brando and how it will never have that “human essence.” He said, “You’ll have a character who looks like Marlon Brando, but you’ll have nothing close to Marlon Brando. You won’t have the engagement, that performances arise out of the collaborative effort between other actors and directors and writers and so on. You will not have the essence of Brando. And that applies to everything – whether it’s a song, a novel, or whatever. You won’t have that human essence.”

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