AI Business, Creativity and Jobs Take Center Stage at HPA Tech Retreat: ‘What We’re Trying to Be Is Pixar’

variety.com:

Carolyn Giardina It was fitting that the acquisition of generative AI tech company Metaphysic by DNEG Group’s Brahma AI arm was announced on Tuesday, as a large part of the annual HPA Tech Retreat – which was held this week in Palm Springs – was largely dedicated to AI and this deal underscored several of the predicted trends, including convergence. “Convergence is one of the main things that we will see in 2025,” I2A2 president and CEO Renard Jenkins forecasted, while showing a slide with a lengthy list of just some of the AI startups that are targeting the media and entertainment space. “That can be good and bad, because if your favorite tool gets purchased by someone who intends to maybe keep it under wraps or they fully don’t understand its value, then all of a sudden you’ve got to learn something new.

That changes your workflow, what happens in your development, where things are going to go.” Metaphysic has already made an impression in the VFX space — notably its toolset was used to age and deage Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in Robert Zemeckis’ “Here” — an application that last week won a Visual Effects Society Award in its emerging technology category.

According to DNEG Group, the Metaphysic deal is about creating tools for a range of industries, but VFX is clearly a critical part, particularly as DNEG Group also encompasses VFX giant DNEG, whose work on “Dune: Part Two” is currently nominated for an Oscar.

At HPA, Jenkins reported that in the AI media and entertainment space, “the most impacted areas right now are visual effects and sound.” During another session, VFX vets Barbara Ford Grant and Daniel Kramer discussed what they learned creating a personal project, titled “Unhoused,” using various AI tools.