Academy President Janet Yang Urges Preservation of ‘Human Authorship’ in the AI Era

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Janet Yang said the media and entertainment community needs to preserve “human authorship” as AI use evolves in Hollywood, Monday during a session at the NAB Show. “We need the human behind the AI,” she said. “I feel cautiously optimistic that we will find a path for what will be a big part of our lives.”

In attendance at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas for the first time, Yang participated in a panel during which she provided an overview of the Academy and thoughts on AI to the engineering-heavy audience.

Noting that the Academy has 19 branches, representing those in front of and behind the camera, as well as one of the newest, aimed at those who work in production technology, she said, “as one can imagine there are a lot of different points of view [on AI]. One thing we feel strongly about is human creative authorship. … Lets look at the information and value of the tools, and preserve that human authorship.”

Annie Chang, chair of the Academy’s Science and Technology Council, agreed, adding “these are tools [but] humans have to be at the center of it.” She reminded delegates that “the heart of what we are doing is storytelling” and “I think the machines are going to remind us is what if feels like to be human.”

She noted that part of their goal is education. “It’s not a secret society. It’s always going to be improving,” she said.

Yang similarly suggested that the science and technology field “needs to get more attention… It’s really important that we find commonality in language [with all members]. We are all serving the same purpose – to make great films.”

Yang also took a moment to reflect on last month’s Academy Awards. “There were so many wonderful moments at this year’s ceremony,” she said. With a nod to the win for “Flow,” she said, “for a film from Latvia to win best animated film was incredible;” and to “I’m Still Here,” she added “Brazil went crazy when it won best international feature.”

She also cited the night’s big winner, Sean Baker’s indie “Anora,” adding, “what we do is on a spectrum of love on one end and money on the other. … now it’s got to be about love. … That’s what driving great films.”

Also Monday, the Academy releases the anticipated Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) 2.0, a new version of its open-source color management system.