Computers are learning, and fast. While that seems like the plot of the next Matrix movie, it's actually what's happening in Hollywood. We have lots of jobs that computers want to take over. One of them is editing. Computers are getting more intuitive. So how will this change Hollywood? Adobe has some ideas.
Scott Prevost, VP of Adobe Sensei, wants to figure out how this new computer intelligence can be incorporated into his products.
“Sensei was founded on this firm belief that we have that AI is going to democratize and amplify human creativity, but not replace it,” Prevost told the Vergecast. “Ultimately, enabling the creator to do things that maybe they couldn’t do before. But also to automate and speed up some of the mundane and repetitive tasks that are parts of creativity.”
This is an interesting statement about automating mundane tasks. I would worry about computers doing things that might require intuition. But they're backing up those big claims.
They released Neural Filters for Photoshop which can be used to remove visual artifacts from compressed images. You can also change the lighting in a photo, or alter a subject’s facial expression. You can even change the age, adding wrinkles or taking them away.
Credit: Adobe
Aside from all that, Adobe also has Content Aware Fill, which is built into After Effects. It seamlessly removes objects from videos. That used to take hours, now it can be done in minutes. And you can focus on more important things.
Credit: Adobe
So this is not really about computers taking over, but more like technology getting better at us telling it what to do.
There's also Auto Reframe. That leans heavily on AI to reframe aspect ratios, keeping the important objects in the frame. It intelligently chooses that frame for you, so you're not always readjusting.
Credit: Adobe
All of these things can be used for personal projects, but where people think they will truly help out are on all of these blockbusters that studios are making. There are so many things to edit on a blockbuster that often it's hard to get movies out on time. People are working on huge scenes as soon as the shooting starts. This aims to level that field and help ease some of the load.
But one thing no one is talking about is all the entry-level editing jobs this might take away. How did you get your first start as an editor? I bet it wasn't cutting together complex scenes. It was probably doing a lot of the labor described in this article.
Well, It'll be interesting to see how Hollywood adjusts to these kinds of hurdles. With computers taking over, are we going to need as many editors? It's something to think about as Hollywood automates.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
