Amazon (AMZN) plans to use artificial intelligence to boost the process for making movies and TV shows, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The report said Albert Cheng, the operating chief at Amazon MGM Studio, is overseeing a team developing AI tools to cut costs for the creative process. The company plans to test those tools in a closed beta program with industry partners in March and share results from that by May.
Cheng told the news outlet the AI Studio is viewed as a startup operating under the “two pizza team” philosophy prescribed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, which means keeping the group small enough to be fed by two pizzas.
The team consists primarily of product engineers and scientists, with a smaller creative and business contingent, the report said.
“The cost of creating is so high that it really is hard to make more and it really is hard to take great risk,” Cheng told Reuters in an interview. “We fundamentally believe that AI can accelerate, but it won’t replace, the innovation and the unique aspects that (humans) bring to create the work.”
As Hollywood expressed concerns that AI will take over jobs and reshape the movie and TV industry, Amazon has stressed that writers, directors, actors, and character designers will be consulted at every stage of production, using AI as a tool to enhance creativity.
Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing unit, is expected to help the AI Studio, and the company plans to work with multiple LLM providers to give creators a wider array of options for pre- and post-production filmmaking, the report said.