HBO/Max Chief Casey Bloys Is Against Using AI to Develop Programming, Reveals the One Note He Gave ‘Succession’ Creator on Final Season

variety.com:

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer HBO and Max chief Casey Bloys thinks AI has no place in the creative process at his brands. “Two things to keep in mind when I say this: One is, remember I grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which is Steel Town,” Bloys, the chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, told Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton during a keynote conversation Wednesday at the Variety TV FYC Fest. “So I am very, very aware of what happens when a company does not think about the future or is not aware of the future.

But also, I’ve been at HBO for 19 years and I have never tested a pilot to decide whether to pick it up or not. We just don’t use all of the things other places do, it’s just not something we do.

So my take on AI, the idea that AI would be involved in any sort of development or the creative process in the kinds of shows that I do, or we do, at HBO, that’s not something I want to be a part of. “If it does become something — and I hope I don’t sound like a steel executive in the 70s — I just can’t see it,” he continued. “And if it is, I hope to God I’m retired by that point.” Bloys’ comments come amid the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, which is a result of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ (AMPTP) inability to reach a deal with the union after its contract expired on May 1.

One of the key issues the two sides can’t agree on: the use of AI in the writing process. According to Bloys, people used to pester him and HBO about pivoting to short-form scripted content, saying that was where things were headed, but he fought back. “I think I was right about that.