As I scroll through my social media feeds these days, a thought often crosses my mind: “Is the content I am seeing real? Or is it AI?” Though I proudly call myself a tech head, it is becoming harder for me to discern between the two. The sheer volume and astonishing quality of AI-generated videos flooding platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have truly transformed the meaning of “user-generated content.” It’s no longer just shaky phone footage or amateur animations; it has become very hyper-realistic, with fantastical worlds made from just your text prompts. The lines between what’s real and what’s AI are not just blurring anymore; they’re practically indistinguishable — well, kinda.
This democratisation of high-fidelity visual production is phenomenal. Anyone with a smartphone and a subscription to an AI tool (some are free, I know) can now create content that, just a few years ago, would have required a dedicated studio, expensive software, and a team of highly skilled professionals. My own attempts, while still a far cry from a blockbuster, are light years ahead of what I could have produced manually. This accessibility has profound implications, not just for the individual content creator but for the entire media that exists right now.
When your average TikToker can churn out visuals that could almost pass for a big-budget commercial, what does that mean for the very definition of “studio production”? It forces us to re-evaluate what we perceive as professional quality and, perhaps more importantly, how we verify the authenticity of what we consume.
And it’s not just the everyday user harnessing this power. Mainstream filmmaking has been quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, integrating AI into its workflows for years. The results are often subtle, sometimes groundbreaking, and almost always designed to enhance the cinematic experience, proving that AI is now an indispensable tool in Hollywood’s arsenal.
Mainstream Movies That Used AI in Filmmaking
Here are some of the most prominent examples of AI’s footprint in mainstream filmmaking, starting with the most recent:
Emilia Pérez (2024) – Voice Synthesis
In this musical film, AI voice cloning software, specifically Respeecher, was utilized to fine-tune and enhance the singing voice of lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón. The technology allowed for the blending of her voice with that of a French singer-composer, ensuring she could hit certain high notes and maintain musical precision without compromising her performance. This application highlights how AI can serve as a vocal enhancement tool, pushing the boundaries of what actors can vocally achieve on screen and ensuring a seamless, pitch-perfect delivery for musical numbers.
The Brutalist (2024) – Voice Enhancement
For “The Brutalist,” AI played a crucial role in refining the Hungarian dialogue of actors Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones. The production team used Respeecher to subtly adjust their pronunciation, aiming for a native and authentic sound. This wasn’t about replacing their voices entirely but rather enhancing the linguistic nuances and ensuring that their foreign language performances were as convincing as possible, demonstrating AI’s capability in achieving intricate linguistic perfection in film.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) – De-aging
The latest “Indiana Jones” instalment famously utilized AI and cutting-edge visual effects to de-age Harrison Ford for an extended opening sequence set in 1944. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) employed a complex process that involved scanning extensive footage of Ford from his younger years and combining it with on-set performance capture. This allowed for a highly convincing digital recreation of a younger Indy, seamlessly integrating past and present versions of the iconic character and maintaining narrative continuity without recasting.
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Top Gun: Maverick (2022) – Voice Recreation
A poignant moment in “Top Gun: Maverick” involved the return of Val Kilmer as Iceman. Due to a battle with throat cancer, Kilmer lost his ability to speak. However, AI technology from a company called Sonantic was used to recreate his voice by analyzing hours of his past audio recordings. This allowed Kilmer to “speak” his lines in the film, providing a deeply emotional and authentic continuation of his character, showcasing AI’s ability to restore and preserve an actor’s unique vocal identity.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) – Face Replacement
In “Shang-Chi,” machine learning was employed for advanced face replacement in intense martial arts sequences. Rather than simply using traditional CGI overlays, AI algorithms were trained on the principal actors’ faces to map them onto stunt doubles. This technique ensured that even in complex, fast-paced action shots, the audience always saw the main actors’ expressions and likenesses, creating a more immersive and believable fight choreography without compromising on performance.
The Irishman (2019) – De-aging
Martin Scorsese’s epic crime drama “The Irishman” pioneered advanced de-aging technology to portray its lead actors – Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci – across several decades. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) developed a custom “three-headed monster” camera rig that captured volumetric data of the actors’ faces. This data, combined with a vast library of their past performances, allowed AI to digitally “youthify” them, enabling the narrative to span many years with the original cast, a feat previously unimaginable in filmmaking.
Beyond these specific examples, AI is quietly revolutionizing other aspects of film production, from aiding in script analysis and pre-visualization to automating tedious editing tasks and even composing musical scores. It’s helping filmmakers make more informed decisions about casting and optimizing distribution strategies by analyzing audience data.
The future of filmmaking, much like our social media feeds, is undeniably intertwined with AI. While the advancements are thrilling and open up unprecedented creative possibilities, they also spark vital conversations about ethics, job displacement, and the very definition of creative authorship. As the lines between “user-generated” and “studio-produced” continue to blur, driven by increasingly sophisticated AI, we are entering an exciting yet complex new era of visual storytelling. It’s a world where anyone can be a filmmaker, and the only limit is imagination – or perhaps, the capabilities of the next AI update.
