At View Conference, AI video company Runway sharpened its pitch for AI filmmaking. Co-CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela said software-generated performers could “absolutely” replace human actors.
Valenzuela said it’s “already happening in a way.” He called AI a new creative medium and pointed to generative tools moving into pre-production, VFX, marketing, de-aging, digital doubles, and synthetic characters. Supporters say the tools can get work done faster, bring costs down, and give smaller teams the kind of visuals that used to require a full studio setup. Forecasts now put the film market above $1 billion by 2030.
The pushback is just as strong. The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes led to some of the first rules on consent and pay for likeness and performance data. Critics also argue that machine-made characters still lack human depth, and they point to fears over jobs, likeness theft, deepfakes, and cases like the synthetic “actor” Tilly Norwood, which SAG-AFTRA says was trained on performers’ work without consent.
For people who follow film and TV, that says a lot about where this is headed: some see a new storytelling medium, others see screen labor being rewritten. The argument only gets bigger as Bollywood and China expand, Nollywood wrestles with cultural identity, Europe rolls out AI rules, and the effect on editors, cinematographers, sound designers, and interactive entertainment keeps growing.
You can access Runway’s tools on the web.
Author: Chema Carvajal Sarabia
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