Meta has partnered with Hollywood's Blumhouse to test its AI movie generation model
A1 Digital India News: Facebook-owner Meta said on Thursday it has partnered with Hollywood company Blumhouse Productions to test Movie Zen, a new generative video AI model that features in popular horror films such as "The Purge" and "Get Out." The announcement comes after Meta unveiled Movie Zen earlier this month, which it says can create realistic-looking video and audio clips in response to user demands.
Meta says the tool can compete with offerings from big media generation startups such as OpenAI and ElevenLabs. In a blog post, the social media company said Blumhouse selected filmmakers Aneesh Chaganty, the Spurlock sisters and Casey Affleck to try out Movie Zen and use clips generated by the tool in their shorts.
Meta said Chaganty's film will appear on Meta's Movie Zen website, along with an upcoming Affleck and Spurlock sisters film. Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum said in a statement that artists remain the lifeblood of the industry and that innovative technology can help tell their stories.
"We're giving some of them the opportunity to test this cutting-edge technology and give notes on its advantages and disadvantages during its development," Blum said. "These will be powerful tools for directors, and it's important to involve the creative industry in their development to make them better suited for the job.
" Through this partnership, Meta has expressed how it wants to collaborate with the creative industries, whose members have largely turned their back on the emergence of AI generative technologies due to concerns about copyright and consent. Several copyright owner groups have sued major tech companies, including Meta, for unauthorized use of their work to train generative AI systems. Meta says its AI training is protected by the fair use copyright doctrine.
But Meta and other tech companies have indicated a willingness to pay for certain types of AI content. In partnership with Movie Gen, Meta said last month it had struck deals with actors including Judi Dench, Kristen Bell and John Cena to promote its Meta AI chatbot.
Similarly, Microsoft-backed OpenAI has been meeting with Hollywood executives and agents this year to discuss potential partnerships including video generation tool Sora, which it first showed off in May. Those talks have yet to result in a deal, though Lions Gate Entertainment said in September it had struck a deal with another AI startup, Runway.