Let’s talk about the future of telly and films, shall we? Specifically, what happens when one of Asia’s biggest entertainment powerhouses decides AI isn’t just a shiny new toy, but a core part of its strategy. We’re looking at CJ ENM, the South Korean giant behind global hits like Parasite and some cracking K-dramas, who are apparently going all-in on artificial intelligence. And they’re not just dipping a toe; they’re talking about baking AI into the very fabric of how they make and distribute stuff.
Now, when a company like CJ ENM, which has built its empire on creative talent and understanding audience eyeballs, starts shouting about AI, you have to sit up and take notice. They’re not talking about some abstract concept; they’re deploying actual internal AI systems with names like ‘Cinematic AI’ and ‘AI Script’. Sounds technical, right? These systems are apparently aimed at revolutionising everything from content planning to production and even marketing, and have been notably used in projects like the AI-generated animation ‘Cat Biggie’.
Why the Big AI Push in Entertainment?
So, why is a creative powerhouse getting cosy with algorithms? Well, the entertainment industry, like many others these days, is under the cosh. Costs are soaring, competition for attention is brutal, and everyone’s scrambling to find an edge. AI promises potential efficiencies, faster turnaround times, and maybe, just maybe, the ability to predict what we’ll all want to watch next before we even know it ourselves. CJ ENM seems to be betting that AI can help them cut through the noise, streamline those notoriously complex production workflows, and potentially even help cook up entirely new kinds of content or spot hidden gems in their vast libraries.
Think about the sheer volume of decisions that go into making a film or series: script analysis, casting suggestions, production schedules, marketing campaigns tailored to specific demographics across different platforms. It’s a logistical nightmare that often involves countless human hours and best guesses.
CJ ENM has developed internal AI systems like ‘AI Script’, reportedly focused on the front end – predicting trends, analysing scripts, and identifying planning efficiencies. Imagine an AI that can quickly crunch data on audience preferences and past performance to give producers a better shot at greenlighting a hit. Their ‘Cinematic AI’ system, on the other hand, is designed for the production and post-production phases, assisting with tasks like editing, special effects, and managing overall production workflow. That’s the promise of these tools.
The goal here isn’t necessarily to replace human creativity – though that’s a whole other can of worms the industry is grappling with – but to augment it, to make the process faster, cheaper, and potentially more effective. They’re looking at using AI to automate repetitive tasks, manage resources more effectively, and assist in things like editing or special effects, freeing up creative talent to focus on the big ideas. A notable early demonstration of these capabilities is the AI-generated animation project ‘Cat Biggie’.
Building Their Own vs. Off-the-Shelf AI
Now, this brings us to an interesting point. CJ ENM isn’t just signing up for a generic AI service; they’re building these tools internally. Why is that? Well, it highlights some fundamental aspects about how AI works today, and crucially, its AI limitations. While large language models and image generators have captured the public imagination, they come with inherent constraints, especially when dealing with proprietary or real-time information.
For starters, general-purpose AIs often cannot access websites directly in a dynamic, real-time way. They don’t inherently have web browsing capabilities built in like a human using a browser. If you give a standard AI model a URL, it typically cannot fetch content from URLs on the live internet without specific, built-in tools or integrations provided by its developers. This lack of inherent real-time access means they can’t just surf the web to get the latest box office figures or trending social media topics as they happen.
Trying to rely on standard models for up-to-the-minute industry data or script analysis based on the latest cultural shifts runs into these AI limitations accessing external content. The idea of AI web scraping is a complex technical task, not something a typical conversational AI does out of the box. Explaining Why can’t AI access websites? often boils down to how these models are trained (on vast, but static, datasets) and the security and technical hurdles of giving them unfettered, live internet access. This gives us a good look at the Limitations of AI models regarding web access and offers a better AI cannot fetch content from URL explanation than just saying “it can’t”. It’s about how they’re designed and the environments they operate in.
For a company like CJ ENM, dealing with internal data, proprietary scripts, and sensitive planning information, building their own systems makes strategic sense. They need tools trained on *their* data, designed for *their* specific workflows, and operating within *their* secure environment. This allows them to sidestep many of the AI limitations faced by public models and tailor the AI capabilities precisely to their business needs.
The Strategic Play: Beyond Just Cost-Cutting?
While efficiency and cost reduction are clearly huge drivers – and frankly, who in entertainment isn’t trying to shave a bit off the budget these days? – the move to integrate AI feels bigger than just that. This could be about creating a competitive moat. If CJ ENM can genuinely use AI to identify winning content concepts earlier, produce them faster, and market them more effectively than their rivals, they gain a significant advantage in the global streaming wars.
It also opens up possibilities for new content formats. Could AI help generate interactive narratives, personalised viewing experiences, or even assist in creating entirely synthetic media elements? It’s early days, but the potential is vast. Of course, this also raises thorny questions about authorship, intellectual property, and the future role of human creatives. Will AI be a co-pilot, a tool, or eventually, something more? The industry is only just beginning to grapple with these existential questions.
For now, CJ ENM’s focus seems practical: make the business of making entertainment more effective. They’re apparently committing significant resources to this, with talk of targets and milestones for these internal AI tools. This isn’t just a press release; it seems like a fundamental shift in how they view production and strategy.
What Does This Mean for the Rest of Us?
For audiences, this could eventually mean more content, potentially delivered faster and perhaps even better tailored to our tastes (for good or ill). For those working in the industry, it means adapting. Roles will likely change, with some tasks being automated while new ones focused on managing and guiding AI tools emerge. The fear of AI replacing jobs is real and understandable, but the hope is that it can also empower creatives to do more, faster, and push the boundaries of what’s possible.
CJ ENM’s move isn’t happening in a vacuum, of course. Every major studio and production company is exploring AI to some degree. But putting specific, named internal AI systems like ‘Cinematic AI’ and ‘AI Script’ front and centre, and showcasing their application through projects like the ‘Cat Biggie’ animation, suggests a serious, integrated strategy rather than just piecemeal experimentation. It’s a sign that AI is rapidly moving from the research lab into the core business operations of even the most human-centric industries.
So, while the public debates the merits and AI limitations of chatbots that can write poetry but can’t tell you what’s trending on Twitter right this second because they cannot access websites live, companies like CJ ENM are quietly building bespoke AI muscles designed to give them a tangible edge in a cutthroat global market. It’s a fascinating development and one that will undoubtedly shape the movies and shows we’ll be watching in the coming years.
What do you make of entertainment companies using AI this way? Are you excited about the potential, or concerned about the impact on human creativity?
