The cofounder of DreamWorks says AI is an ‘amazing resource’ for Hollywood

• Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks, said Hollywood bigshots are embracing AI.
• He said the top showrunners and creators find AI an “amazing resource.”
• During the monthslong WGA strike last year, writers opposed the adoption of AI.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks, said Hollywood is warming up to the use of artificial intelligence.

Speaking at Fortune’s Brainstorm AI conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, he said top Hollywood showrunners and creators are embracing AI.

“I would say almost across the board they have all talked about how the AI tools today have been helpful to them,” Katzenberg said.

“They have seen them as a resource and an asset that have made them more productive,” he said about AI tools, adding that with the use of AI, creators have been “able to widen the diversity of their work, the quality of their work.”

“They find these tools an amazing resource for them — and it’s not constraining them, it’s inspiring them,” he added.

DreamWorks Animation is the force behind animated classics like “Shrek,” “Kung Fu Panda,” and “How to Train Your Dragon.”

Katzenberg’s comments come after Hollywood writers spent months on strike last year, partially in reaction to the use of AI in their industry.

More than 11,000 film and TV screenwriters went on strike from May to September 2023 after the Writers Guild of America, or WGA, could not agree on a labor contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP.

The strike was aimed at securing better wages and fairer work practices, and at prompting more regulation of the use of AI in film writing and production.

The strike led to key wins: The WGA agreement with AMPTP said the AMPTP members can use AI-generated material but can’t write or rewrite literary material with AI.

Under the agreement, AI-generated material won’t be considered source material, a rule that will protect writers from having their credit undermined by AI. Writers also can’t be required to use AI software.

Katzenberg previously said AI could reduce the cost of animated films by 90%.

“I think AI as a creative tool, think of that as a new form, a new paintbrush or new camera, has so much opportunity around it,” he said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore in November 2023.

“Well, the good old days when, you know, I made an animated movie, it took 500 artists five years to make a world-class animated movie,” he said.

“I don’t think it will take 10% of that three years out from now,” he added.

Representatives for DreamWorks didn’t respond to a request for comment from BI, sent outside regular business hours.