With the rollout of artificial intelligence tools (AI) in all areas of the media industries, there is a dire need for scholarly analysis of the ways systems of automation, predictive analytics, and recommendation are transforming film, television, gaming, music, and other forms of digital entertainment. AI tools such as Showrunner AI, Deep Editor, Respeecher, and Runway Gen-3 are transforming the production of media content and the roles of creative workers such as actors, cinematographers, editors, sound designers, and makeup artists. There is a long history of technological change in the entertainment industries, but the current conjecture has brought sudden and dramatic transformations that demand investigation by media industry scholars.

Media Industries and AI (MI-AI) focus on the relations between AI tools and entertainment industry labor, workflows, markets, regulation, audiences, distribution, curation, and content creation. The project will explore changing approaches to intellectual property, studio production, storytelling, worldbuilding, exhibition, and media consumption in the context of AI’s emergence. By analyzing the integration and use of AI tools across the entertainment sector, the research will provide crucial insights about major changes underway in the global media industries. These findings will be vitally important to students' education and success in the public university and workforce, as many are anticipating future work in digital media and entertainment.

We provide below a list of preliminary research questions, which will help to guide our initial work.

Production process: How are uses of AI tools by creatives in the media industries altering media production processes, narrative, and content? Which tools and software are currently used by creatives and which are in development? What does the workflow now look like?

Jobs/Workforce: How are work roles changing in the media industries in the context of AI tools (from scriptwriting and showrunners to directors, voiceover artists, production designers, and studio admin work)? Which positions are becoming obsolete? What kind of new jobs are emerging? How are creative workers and unions negotiating these processes? What kind of work should our students prepare for if they want to enter the media industry workforce? What kind of workers or roles will be needed in the next 5-10 years?

Markets: How are AI tools being used on the backends of streaming platforms to conduct audience and market analysis, or to “engineer” audiences for certain types of content? How is the function of ratings changing in the context of AI? What emergent measurement systems and metrics are being used to assess the “success” of content? How are theatrical exhibition companies using AI to program/book films in theaters globally?

Aesthetics; Taste; Recommender Systems: How is the use of AI tools changing media forms and aesthetics, as well as viewing and listening experiences among audiences? Are media consumers able to detect uses of AI? How does it impact consumers’ disposition toward content, if at all?

Intellectual Property Issues: How is the use of AI tools interwoven with copyright intellectual property issues? What scale of media “datasets” are needed to train new showrunner models? What kinds of licensing agreements are emerging? What is the status of lawsuits filed by content owners?

Corporate Players: Which companies are the big players in this emerging space? Are they in Hollywood / Silicon Valley? What kind of conglomeration is happening across these sectors relative to AI? Who is maintaining or gaining power and why? What independent companies have emerged and gained power or been acquired?

Regulation: What are state and federal regulators doing about AI technologies that may impact the media industries, if anything?! How do pending copyright lawsuits involve and/or relate to media industries?