Film critic and author A.S. Hamrah joins for a conversation on his recent Fast Company piece "Hollywood’s obsession with AI-enabled ‘perfection’ is making movies less human", which details some alarming (and frankly, depressing) recent use cases of A.I. in both studio blockbuster fare and awards-contending independent releases like Brady Corbet's The Brutalist.

We attempt to unpack the psychology driving the pervasive and exponential use of A.I. in moviemaking - Is there a genuine impetus on the part of a moviegoing audience to iron out anything that antagonizes credulity? Why do filmmakers seem so eager to embrace the ease of A.I. at the expense of cinema's sense of "authenticity"? The, we examine the material implications of A.I. on film workers, and how the unanimous embrace of the technology poses an existential threat to the future of craftspeople in Hollywood. Finally, we look to the near future and ask, "Are we already past the tipping point? What, if anything, can we do to oppose A.I.s dominance of Hollywood at the expense of real artistry?"

Buy A.S. Hamrah's book, The Earth Dies Streaming from n+1

Read A.S. Hamrah on the 2025 Oscar nominees and the best films of 2024 at n+1.

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