As Principal Skinner once said, “The times they are, ah, becoming quite different.” One of the biggest debates in the entertainment industry is the use of AI. What should it be used for? Should it be used at all? Skydance CEO David Ellison seems to be on the side of AI, even saying the technology could have a bigger impact than the CGI boom of the early ’90s and unlock a new era of creativity.
During Skydance’s latest earnings call (via The Verge), Ellison was asked about the company’s stance on AI.
“I think when you zoom out and look at production, AI really has the potential to be the biggest creative unlock in modern history,” he said. “The last time we saw anything close to this was really the, you know, advent of CGI and digital composites in the early 90s. That technology gave birth to amazing stories like Jurassic Park and Terminator 2, and it’s hard to imagine that AI is not going to have a more significant impact than that. And I personally believe that’s going to be an incredible unlock on creativity.“
Ellison added that a film like the original Terminator, which cost just over $6 million to make in 1984, would cost upwards of $60-$70 million today, but AI could help reduce that cost. “We think these tools will help unlock more original storytelling by being able to make the budgets more digestible to be able to take that amount of risk,” he said.
Skydance has been developing its own AI tools, which Ellison says will make projects easier to produce, but he was quick to note that real human artists remain crucial. “In a world of AI slop, we think there will always be a premium for truly hand-crafted storytelling,” he said. “We also continue to believe that artificial intelligence is a tool for artists and will never be a replacement for them.“
In under two years, Skydance has grown into one of the biggest media companies in America thanks to its acquisitions of Paramount and Warner Bros., and Ellison has big plans.
“We have big goals for Skydance, and we intend to pursue them with passion, imagination and a willingness to take smart risks,” he said. “At the same time, we will honor what makes Paramount and Warner Bros. special — giving both studios the opportunity to grow, tell more great stories and bring those stories to even broader audiences around the world, powered by the scale and capabilities of Skydance.“
It’s still too early to tell exactly what the future will bring, but the studio has been making some big moves, including recently booting James Gunn and Peter Safran as the heads of DC Studios.