AI in Hollywood: Enhancing Performances or Undermining Talent?

March 5th 2025

Cover Photo credit: Adrien Brody, winner of the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role for The Brutalist, poses in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, March 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Adrien Brody’s Oscar-winning performance in The Brutalist has sparked fresh debates over AI’s role in film, as his Hungarian dialogue was refined using AI voice technology.

Director Brady Corbet and editor Dávid Jancsó argue that the AI-assisted tweaks improved pronunciation rather than replacing Brody’s performance. While some critics see this as a slippery slope toward AI replacing human craftsmanship, dialect coach Jane Guyer Fujita believes this instance complemented human effort rather than undermining it. She compares it to the use of CGI or audio mixing in past films, such as Bohemian Rhapsody, which similarly enhanced Rami Malek’s vocals with Freddie Mercury’s real recordings.

This raises key questions: When does AI cross the line from enhancement to replacement, and how can Hollywood protect creative jobs while embracing technological advancements?

Source: NPR