As artificial intelligence increasingly enters the entertainment industry, it provides creators with powerful tools, but it also brings new and sometimes daunting challenges. Professionals in roles across industries need to understand the logistical and ethical issues associated with leveraging AI for creative work to successfully navigate the changing paradigm.
Below, 19 members of the Forbes Technology Council share some of the key challenges facing the entertainment industry in increasing AI adoption (and resistance to AI). We also discuss the changes and key solutions needed to successfully incorporate the benefits of AI while preserving the advantages of human innovation and creativity.
1. Integrate AI into your production workflow
The biggest new challenge for the industry is integrating AI into production workflows in a way that increases creativity, efficiency, and delivers greater revenue. “Owning” your AI workflow involves leveraging your content to build content creation tools that are more competitive and productive. This gives you creative superpowers while protecting your investment like the crown jewel of intellectual property. – Jamie Lerner, Quantum Corporation
2. Lack of emotional resonance
Art, whether music or visual media, aims to evoke deep emotional responses and convey unique experiences of the human condition. This emotional resonance is created by humans leveraging their personal perspective. As generative AI content becomes more prevalent, there is a risk that viewers will feel it lacks the depth and authentic emotion that comes from real human experience. – Abhishek Shivanna, Nubank
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3. Diluted originality and authorship
AI in entertainment blends human creativity with machine precision, but risks diluting originality and blurring the lines of authorship. A hybrid model where AI assists creators helps maintain artistic integrity. Protecting imagination and storytelling in the age of AI requires new intellectual property laws and basic ethical guidelines for collaboration and transparency. – Vivek Jetly, EXL
4. Repetitive and stagnant content
When AI becomes the default content generator, the output of an AI model is used to train the exact same model. Ultimately, these models become biased and begin to produce very similar results over time, resulting in a lack of differentiation and stagnation in the content produced. – Gonzalo Ribeiro, YData
5. Maintaining reliability
Maintaining the authenticity of creative content is a challenge. Scripts, music, or visuals generated by AI run the risk of coming across as impersonal. Entertainment teams can use AI as a collaborative tool, letting it handle data analysis while humans drive creativity. This balance ensures that the human touch is maintained and that AI enhances artistry rather than replacing it. – Sherry Brunswick, SB Global LLC
6. Align the potential of AI to your creative needs
The entertainment industry faces challenges as technology executives entering the industry must match the potential of AI to creative needs. To bridge this gap, AI education programs for filmmakers, pilot initiatives, and AI governance councils can foster collaboration, align expectations, and ensure that AI can foster creativity while driving sustainable innovation and revenue. I will do so. – Chaitra Vedullapalli, Women in the Cloud
7. Regulation of the use of AI
As with any technology, there are good and bad sides. While inappropriate uses of AI (e.g. intellectual property infringement, creation of deepfakes, etc.) will continue to occur, risk management of mainstream AI tools should be regulated by government agencies and organizations. Unfortunately, this will require significant upskilling of regulators and legislators, first to understand the risks and second to effectively manage them. – Gladwyn Mendez, Global Center for Risk and Innovation
8. “Filter Bubble”
The main challenge is AI-powered content personalization. This can create a “filter bubble” and limit the diversity of content recommendations to your audience. AI optimizes engagement, but can also increase repetition and reduce exposure to new genres. To combat this, the industry must leverage AI to enhance diversity by enhancing recommendation algorithms that prioritize novelty alongside user preferences. – Santosh Vijayabaskar
9. Stylized content
One of the big challenges is maintaining creativity while using AI. As AI handles more tasks, there are concerns that content can feel too formulaic. What’s the fix? Use AI to enhance your creativity and let humans lead your storytelling, not replace you. After all, no one wants a romantic comedy written entirely by robots…yet. – Evgeny Popov, Verve Group
10. Definition of the concept of “uniqueness”
Intellectual property, licensing, brand recognition and characterization are becoming increasingly blurred. In particular, new questions have arisen regarding the concept of “uniqueness.” This can be addressed by establishing strict boundaries to determine whether the output of generative AI is truly based on a specific person, creative work, or entity. In that case, you will need to obtain the appropriate permits or licenses. Ideas and art often build on existing foundations, but clear boundaries are essential. – WaiJe Coler, InfoTracer
11. Avoiding creative risks
AI is not purely creative. It simply recreates the representation of a known pattern. By taking risks and moving away from “yet another sequel” or “live-action remake,” humanity can maintain its advantage. As long as you accept the risk of failure, you can try new things that you haven’t tried before. – Kevin Korte, Union
12. Follow the trend
AI-powered predictive analytics can force studios to only create content that aligns with existing trends of success, potentially stifling innovation. A balanced approach that combines predictive insights with bold creative risks will help the industry maintain its uniqueness and foster new types of content. – Mani Padishetti, Emerging Technology Arsenal
13. Upskilling industry experts
The entertainment industry faces the challenge of upskilling its workforce to work effectively with AI. To address this, companies need to invest in comprehensive AI literacy programs for all employees. This includes training for those who work directly with AI tools, as well as comprehensive education about the technology’s capabilities and limitations in creative and managerial roles. – Mark Fisher, Dogtown Media LLC
14. Abuse of deepfakes
One challenge is the potential for misuse of deepfakes, where AI-generated replicas of actors or celebrities are created without their consent. This can damage your reputation and lead to legal battles over image rights. The industry needs stricter regulation and verification technology to ensure that AI-generated likenesses are clearly labeled and authorized by their rightful owners or their estates. – Andres Zunino, Zircontec
15. Create high-fidelity audio and video
The more the entertainment industry adopts AI technology, the more difficult it becomes to create audio and video at higher levels of fidelity. Don’t focus on the content itself. If AI Prompt engineers don’t do their job right, “this looks like CGI” can be replaced by “this looks like AI”. – Syed Ahmed, Act-On Software
16. Erosion of cultural diversity
One challenge is the erosion of cultural diversity with the proliferation of AI-generated content. AI could lead to a homogenization of entertainment by favoring patterns that lack cultural nuance. To address this, AI tools must integrate diverse datasets and collaborate with creators from diverse backgrounds to ensure that cultural richness is amplified rather than suppressed. – Nicola Sfondrini, PWC
17. Content Oversaturation
As AI enables the rapid production of content, there is a risk of overwhelming media being released and oversaturation. To address this, curation AI systems help filter and personalize content while maintaining quality standards to avoid diluting the entertainment experience. – Manasi Sharma, Microsoft
18. Lack of clear legal and compensation provisions
Content creators and studios need a clear legal framework and remuneration model for AI-generated content. The immediate solution is to establish transparent policies around AI usage rights, data licensing, and revenue sharing with human creators, backed by contracts. Over time, this will shape regulations, reduce ambiguity, and establish AI as a powerful tool rather than an unknown threat. – Adam Ennamli, Central Bank of Canada
19. Human worker turnover
The entertainment industry is already working to replace workers with AI-generated content. While this poses challenges, it is important to focus on how AI can create new opportunities. Rather than resisting change, the key to success is to actively seek innovative ways to harness the potential of AI. As with any major transition, the way forward is to adapt and embrace new possibilities. – Joseph Ours, Centric Consulting
