Callif added that he understood the trepidation about AI but felt some in the production community were being “irrational” about it, focusing only on the threat—which he said isn’t as imminent as some would think—and not the opportunity.
“We are so far away from AI being able to train on a dataset and all of a sudden spit out a 30-second commercial,” he said. “There’s a lot of sensitivities around AI. Immediately people were like, ‘Oh my God, AI trained on this footage and they generated a new spot.’ And that’s not what happened.”
At the same time, Callif said he wasn’t going to shy away from—or apologize for—experimenting with AI.
“We are using these processes to help us save time and provide new solutions to clients,” he said. “That’s innovation, and that’s OK. The reality is, we are trying to provide as many creative solutions and opportunities for our brands, as well as our directors. When there’s an opportunity to go do a shoot, great. When there’s not an opportunity, there’s alternative ways to approach it.”
A canary in the coal mine
Ad Age spoke with the heads of several production companies on Wednesday about the debate.
Patrick Milling-Smith, co-founder and CEO of Smuggler, said he understood the concerns but felt AI is still a long way from producing what humans can.
“My instinct is it’s going to be a bit like automated cars. Amazing, unbelievable for the first 90% but quite a long way away for the final 10,” he said. “Trying to get a performance out of AI and edit dialogue, etc., is a pretty high hill to climb for a bit.”