Tyler Perry’s planned $800 million studio expansion in Atlanta has been postponed due to his growing concerns about advances in artificial intelligence.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Thursday, Perry expressed the need for the industry to get ahead of the potential impact of AI, saying: Otherwise, I don’t know how we will survive. ”
He also specifically cited OpenAI’s text-to-video conversion tool Sora as the reason for the suspension of expansion. “I’ve been following AI closely and watching its progress closely. I’ve been in the midst of an approximately $800 million studio expansion plan for the past four years, which will leave us with a tremendous backlot. It’s going to get bigger and add 12 more soundstages. All of that is currently and indefinitely on hold because of what Sora and I are looking at.”
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Perry clarified that she is not against AI, sharing that she has chosen to use AI in two of her upcoming films and have them aged in post-production rather than in the makeup chair.
While he acknowledges the potential for AI to aid filmmaking by allowing sets to be created using text instead of movement, he worries about the jobs that could be lost to automation. “It makes me so worried about all the people in this industry, because as soon as I look at this, I think the actors, the grips, the electrical, the traffic, the sound, the editors, all the people who are going to be affected by this. “I started thinking about all the people in the industry that were there. I looked at this and thought, “This is going to impact everyone. Our corner of the industry,” he said.
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Perry added that he hopes the changes don’t take away from the value of human workers. “I just hope that as people embrace this technology and companies try to cut costs and save profits, there will be some kind of thought and compassion for humanity and the people who work in this industry.” They have built their lives with this, so they have some idea. ”
Last week, Perry expanded his deal with Netflix, adding a multi-year first-look series deal to the previous feature film deal he signed in October.
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