How Does Generative AI Change Video Creation?
Well, that didn’t take long.
In February, OpenAI released a demo of Sora, which makes it possible to create videos from text prompts.
OpenAI’s demo was striking. With some simple text prompts, Sora could create woolly mammoths bounding through the snow, a cyberpunk robot, a scene from the snowy streets of Tokyo, and a lot more. Video creators everywhere recognized immediately Sora’s potential impact: if Sora could create detailed and realistic videos with simple text prompts, how would human beings who create video be affected?
The outcry was loud and urgent. American filmmaker Tyler Perry said he was halting an $800 million expansion of his studio until he sorts out Sora’s potential ability to do the work that humans usually accomplish. His was a big moment that tends to capture headlines. Which it did.
Well, I am not Tyler Perry. But I do manage creative video creation for several clients, and I like to think that my team does work that has impact. And, yes, I have thoughts about Sora. Here they are:
One Ring to Rule Them All?
Sora isn’t the only AI video creation tool out there. Gen-2 from Runway is turning heads with its ability to create short videos with text prompts. Lightricks recently launched LTX Studio. There are more options from other companies beyond those. But Sora has the backing of OpenAI and Microsoft behind it and is already leading the field before its general release. Sora has the potential to consolidate the means of production.
All of this should tell you something: AI isn’t going away. In fact, AI is an opportunity for content creators to get better at what they do. So, let’s work with AI.
The Content Pyramid Is Bigger, but Is It Better?
Commercially created content is like a pyramid. The most ambitious brands – the ones I love to work with – strive to be at the top of the pyramid. The cream of the crop consists of great content (video or otherwise) where powerful stories are told. Where businesses build emotional connections that result in brand loyalty. But at the base of the pyramid, content creation is nothing more than a forgettable commodity. Throughout the digital age, technological advances have not altered the ratio of good to bad content. Just because YouTube and the proliferation of iPhones made video production more democratic, it does not follow that commercial video creation got better without the spark of human creativity rooted in customer insight.
Sora will not alter the shape of the pyramid. But Sora will make the pyramid bigger. Many businesses will be satisfied with bad off-brand video. They’re the same ones who are satisfied with a first-draft blog post created by ChatGPT. They strive for low cost and quantity, not quality. But the leaders will not. In fact, the best content creators will get better at their jobs by applying AI as a tool, not as a replacement. Do you think Apple is going to outsource video to Sora? I don’t. Great video will need human attributes that brands will pay a premium for.
Red Pill or Blue Pill?
This isn’t to say that content creators can rest on their laurels. Far from it. Sora will also elevate the state of the art by helping good content creators to get better. OpenAI’s Sora demo showed just how far Sora has to go yet – in particular, human movement and expressions are not rendered very realistically. But Sora will get better. And quickly. That’s what AI does. And smart content creators will push themselves to improve.
Where Sora can make an immediate and positive impact is in video ideation. This is where things get really interesting. Bright, creative minds will have a field day with Sora. That’s because Sora makes it easy to imagine new ideas without having to invest much money or energy into creating concepts for those ideas. It’s possible for Neo to take the red pill and unlock a new way of seeing the world without getting lost in the Matrix. And I’m all in!
Sora removes the guard rails. This will be a good thing for superior creators who know how to stretch the boundaries of video that builds a brand rather than “be edgy and cool” for the sake of being edgy and cool. But many other creators (namely inexperienced ones) will find that removing the guard rails causes them to fall flat on their faces. They’ll create ideas that should never make it to the light of day in a pitch to a client. The inexperienced will need guidance from the experienced.
With human oversight, inexperienced creators can learn faster and improve. This is very exciting. But for now, the brilliant creators need to vet the inexperienced ones.
The Sustainability Problem
One topic that doesn’t get discussed often in the hue and cry about generative AI is the creation of digital pollution. Not long ago, The Wall Street Journal bemoaned the rise of junk content written that has accompanied the rise of ChatGPT. This waste happens because generative AI makes it possible to create more content, not necessarily better content. (See my point above about the content pyramid.) The CO2 emissions from online advertising alone account for a 10 percent of the internet’s total infrastructure emissions. And Sora will only compound digital waste. This will have a negative impact on sustainability.
Please think twice before you impulsively unleash videos just because you can. Consider the digital waste you are creating.
Using AI to Improve
To me, the biggest value generative AI provides is to challenge creatives to get better. It’s annoying to see anyone with access to generative AI create content and brag on LinkedIn, “Look, Mom, I did this with no experience!” Annoying but also . . . challenging. Generative AI creates a standard for creativity that may seem very low right now. But AI always learns how to get better. That’s what will happen with Sora. Creatives need to continue to ask themselves: how can AI help me improve? It’s already clear that generative AI can help content creators deliver a stronger first draft – but we cannot stop there!
The Big Picture
If you have gotten this far in the post, then I know you really care about generative AI. So, I’m going to leave you with one more thought. I focused on marketing because that’s what I do. But we need to remember that the conversation about AI goes well beyond marketing. It’s about ethics. Fairness. Responsibility. As a father, I worry about the dark side of AI. The toxic impact of the internet on our children is magnified by AI in general, with the horrible abuses of deepfakes being one example. We must never lose sight of our duty to manage AI responsibly. So, amongst all this excitement, let’s not lose sight of the big picture.
Learn more about how we create content and creative on our website, including our film and animation showcase.