Tyler Perry puts studio expansion plans on hold
The industry titan expressed his concerns in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
The multi-hyphenate recently opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about his industry concerns after closely following developments in artificial intelligence.
Perry told the THR he’s worried about how AI will impact the entertainment industry, especially after seeing OpenAI’s text-to-video model, “Sora.”
“There’s got to be some sort of regulations in order to protect us,” he told the outlet. “If not, I just don’t see how we survive.”
Perry told THR that he’s been working on an $800 million expansion of his Atlanta-based studio which would have included a dozen additional soundstages.
“All of that is currently and indefinitely on hold because of Sora and what I’m seeing. I had gotten word over the last year or so that this was coming, but I had no idea until I saw recently the demonstrations of what it’s able to do. It’s shocking to me.”
He went on to explain that he was most stunned by the technology’s location capabilities.
“I no longer would have to travel to locations. If I wanted to be in the snow in Colorado, it’s text … If I wanted to have two people in the living room in the mountains, I don’t have to build a set in the mountains, I don’t have to put a set on my lot. I can sit in an office and do this with a computer, which is shocking to me.”
Protections against AI, as theGrio previously reported, were a major sticking point for the unions in Hollywood when they went on strike last year.
“I absolutely think that it has to be an all hands on [deck], whole industry approach,” Perry told the outlet when discussing how he hopes the industry as a whole can protect itself.
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“It can’t be one union fighting every contract every two or three years. I think that it has to be everybody, all involved in how do we protect the future of our industry because it is changing rapidly, right before our eyes.”
The full interview with Perry and the outlet can be read here.
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