Author William Gibson once said, “The future is already here, but it is not distributed equally.” » This particularly resonates today as consumers see artificial intelligence (AI) spreading like wildfire across all industries, including the entertainment industry. In August alone, Meta offered millions to stars like Awkwafina and Judi Dench to use their voices for AI-based products, and AI startup ProRata signed licensing deals with Universal Music Group and The Atlantic.
But how will the ever-increasing presence of AI in the entertainment industry impact the inclusion and representation of people with disabilities? Apprehension about this is great, especially as disabled audiences continue to see computer-generated images (CGI) used to make non-disabled actors appear disabled, such as Hugh Grant in the recent “Wonka.” Conversely, CGI can also be used to make disabled actors appear non-disabled.
During a panel on AI presented by Easterseals Disability Services at TheWrap’s 2024 Grill conference, actor Lolo Spencer reflected: “There is a concern…the (disability) community is still dealing with what is ableism, and this idea that if you live with a disability, you are either less than or not good enough. And so, with the rise of generative AI, there’s going to be conversations about, “How can we heal this person?” »
Kaitlyn Yang, visual effects supervisor and CEO of Alpha Studios, echoed concerns about AI. “We, society as a whole, have erased disability,” she told TheWrap. Yang, one of the few VFX supervisors who uses a wheelchair, explained that fears about the risks of AI and how AI will affect people with disabilities stem from the bias and ableism that already plagues contemporary industries .
Despite legitimate concerns, there are currently notable positive avenues for people with disabilities to use AI. Yang believes AI could create a huge advantage for those who find computers inaccessible. In his work with the One in Four Coalition (named after one in four Americans with disabilities), an intersectional coalition of creatives with disabilities currently working in Hollywood, many of their mentors and mentees seek help due to their inability to type on a keyboard. . With AI, speech synthesis is improving and making their job easier. Yang uses AI assistance for editing, post-production tools and audio.
Those actively working for AI companies believe there is no limit to what these programs could do for the disabled community. “There are a lot of unknowns about AI, and I think worrying is a very human response,” said Guy Gadney, co-founder and CEO of Charisma.ai. “By nature we are afraid of the dark because we don’t know what’s out there.” He explained the need to reframe the debate, with a focus on how AI will replace humans, into one that can open up new avenues for creatives and others, much like the rise of phones mobile or social media.
Yang, however, is very concerned about what AI could do to the world of visual effects, regardless of its handicap. “Some groups of people believe that generative AI, visibly created by typing and prompting, would replace many entry-level jobs, many departments, like concept artists,” she said. Areas like rotoscoping, in particular, are also at risk. Many of these areas, she said, are “on-ramps for entry-level artists (and) entry-level visual effects artists coming into the system.”
But Gadney and Dilip Jagadeesh, director of product design at SmartSheet, think AI could be an accessibility tool for creatives with disabilities. As Jagadeesh explains, an author publishing a book could, in theory, not only use AI to translate their book into multiple languages, but also in different ways. “I want it to be an audiobook, or I want it to be in a comic book, or I want it to be in a cartoon version, or a live-action movie version. You would be able to create and define the AI-generated characters, including the music, including the sequencing of it all,” he said. Consumers could also benefit from AI. For example, for Jagadeesh, the creation of AI sign language in films and TV shows was also a game changer.
Gadney also sees the potential to introduce more disability into content that doesn’t already have any. To illustrate the possibility, he cites testing of TrueSync technology in 2023, which went viral on social media because it illustrated how AI can remove and edit content from a movie to make it PG-13. Gadney believes such technology is proof that it is possible for consumers to remove ableist and outdated language from films. In the future, AI could also allow consumers to insert disabled characters where they weren’t present before and see how that changes the narrative. But would this potentially limit the roles of disabled artists?
During the Easterseals panel on AI at TheGrill, comedian Adam Conover shared his belief that it’s not just AI that endangers the roles of people with disabilities; it’s humans who use AI.
“The reason…the stories of people with disabilities aren’t being told is because the leaders who run the industry are already not using their humanity enough,” Conover said. “They don’t realize how powerful disability stories can be, and that’s why they never greenlight them because they’re just doing the same thing. AI, at its best, only gives you an average of what’s already out there… so if leaders use it to leak the decision-making process, then they’ll just continue to not have people with disabilities in the workforce. things or in the stories of people with disabilities. It will just be the same thing.
Beyond concerns about human bias, concerns about AI’s inherent bias are pervasive. As disability rights advocate and working actress Emily Kranking said, if you put the word “disabled” into an AI generator, it only brings up a wheelchair user, and that wheelchair user wheelchair is always pushed by someone.
“They don’t recognize my braces, even though the usual artists would!” This is why AI cannot replace real artists and writers,” Kranking said. “It’s not authentic and steals jobs from people with lived experiences and multiple definitions of disability.” Yang seconded this. “It’s about sampling what’s already out there and, as we know, ableism is alive and well and does exist… not every negative trait, style and characteristic we see in our environments will automatically be removed or enhanced by it. ‘AI. »
Gadney also acknowledged that these biases exist and need to be rectified to mitigate the risks of inclusion of people with disabilities in the entertainment industry before AI is widely used. “The reason it’s biased is because human beings created it and designed it,” he said of AI. “It’s a series of computers with code coded by humans… We need more people with disabilities in positions in AI, helping to train it and eliminate these biases.”
AI presents significant opportunities and challenges for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the entertainment industry. While it has the potential to revolutionize access and create new pathways for creatives with disabilities, technology also risks perpetuating existing biases if not carefully managed. People with disabilities must play a central role in shaping the future of AI. As AI continues to evolve, we must focus on collaboration, working toward a future where technology enhances, rather than erases, the representation of people with disabilities in entertainment.
This post is sponsored by Easterseals.
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