AI and Data Are Reshaping the Film Industry, Like It or Not

In July 2025, Tyler Massey, Head of Sales at ContentX Labs and SVP of Global Sales at allrites, visited Silicon Valley to attend GenAI Week hosted by GPTDAO.

For context, ContentX Labs is a product by allrites that supplies large volumes of legally cleared film and TV content for AI machine training and learning. As AI tools continue to expand, so does the demand for high-quality, structured, and compliant data. That’s precisely where ContentX Labs comes in.

After the event, Tyler shared his reflections, beginning with a simple statement that captured the atmosphere of the week:

“AI is here to stay and the world will never be the same.There are incredible benefits such as scientific breakthroughs and exponential productivity. And there are challenges, such as how bad actors may employ the advancements, and the evolution of what work will become for many. Some fields will be incredibly disrupted (and already are) while others will be untouched at least initially, like skilled labor (plumbing, hairdressing etc).”

AI Can Help Indie Filmmakers Make the Impossible Possible

It’s the middle of 2025 and the world is still uncertain about AI, just like with any other greatest invention in history. Some are sceptical, some are unsure, some don’t get it, some are excited, and some are afraid. Over the past year and a half, every major media and entertainment event has featured AI panels and sessions. What started as a curiosity is now a standard part of the conversation. Or, as Tyler put it:

“AI doesn’t care if we approve of it or not. It is here like the industrial revolution and the introduction of the internet to the world before it. So, best embrace it and discover how AI can make your work or life better. Or be left behind.”

Though we followed it from afar, the Amman International Film Festival offered a fascinating look at how AI is being used in independent film. Copyright has always been a concern in the creative process, long before AI came into the picture. Everyone involved in film and TV production, like writers, directors, actors, producers, and distributors, has had to think about content ownership and rights security. Even at allrites, we regularly receive questions from sellers about ownership once their content is listed on our platform. With AI, those concerns haven’t gone away, but deepened.

Yet, instead of getting stuck in that fear, people at Amman IFF talked about practical applications. They discussed tools like 2D-to-3D conversions, workflow support, and post-production features that help change scenes or costumes. These technologies are already assisting creators to finish projects that would have been too expensive to produce otherwise. With tools like these, projects that would have been shut down for budget reasons can now move ahead. As Tyler said,

“AI tools will help reduce costs to create films and TV series at a time when budgets have exploded, commissioning dollars have been drastically reduced, and the industry reeling to find solutions to financing the gaps in the budgets and keep producing projects… AI no doubt will be a major part of the solution.”

Major Studios Are Finally Acknowledging Their Use of AI

Netflix recently used generative AI in its series El Eternauta for the first time, or at least admitted to doing so. According to co-CEO Ted Sarandos, AI helped produce the show ten times faster and at much lower cost. He also addressed the usual concerns about layoffs by saying AI is not a replacement for people, but a tool that supports and expands their creativity.

Ed Ulbrich, a visual effects expert known for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Top Gun: Maverick, offered a personal comparison. He shared that back in 2008, it took over 200 people and two years of post-production to age and de-age Brad Pitt on screen. Today, he says, AI can automate 18 out of 20 of those tasks. He embraces the change and said many studios do as well, though some projects have been postponed to 2026 due to the 2023–2024 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. 

Some experts predict that fully AI-generated feature films could be common within five years, though others urge caution. James Cameron, for example, has questioned whether AI will ever be able to replicate the emotional intelligence required for meaningful cinema. He suggested we wait twenty years to see if an AI film can win an Oscar before deciding how serious the threat to human creators is.

Meanwhile, a recent example of full AI production is already emerging out of Korea. CJ ENM, the studio behind Parasite, recently released Cat Biggie, a short animated series comprising 30 episodes, each around two minutes long. The entire production cycle, like planning, production, distribution, and even marketing, was handled by AI. The IP itself was developed by AI, based on viewer preferences and genre demand. It’s one of the clearest real-world examples of what full-scale AI integration in content creation looks like.

“The tools being built by the video generators in particular will be incredible tools to be used by filmmakers to bring their stories to life in ways never before imagined.”

“Data Is the New Oil or Gold”

As AI continues to gain ground in film, TV, and beyond, there’s one thing every system needs to grow: training data. And not just any data, but structured, legal, and reliable sources are quickly becoming the industry’s most valuable assets.

The early days of scraping the open web for free content are ending. Legal pushback, bot blockers, and monetization tools have forced a shift toward licensed data access. Training models on freely available content is not only riskier now, it’s becoming less valuable, as AI-generated material fills the internet and lowers overall quality. As the recent Product Manager Hub report explains, the most useful data today is clean, permissioned, and curated for machine consumption.

All of this momentum has increased the demand for structured, ethically sourced data. And that's where ContentX Labs provides a key service.

“Data is the new oil or gold. And quality data that is ethically sourced will be seen as premium — which is where we at ContentX Labs come in!”

By providing legally cleared film and TV content for AI training, ContentX Labs gives rights holders a new way to participate in the AI economy, on their terms. At the same time, it allows AI companies to train on data that is not only high-quality but also future-proof against legal and reputational risks.

This space is moving fast. Regulations will evolve, partnerships will form, and standards will shift. But as Tyler reminded us,

“This is just the beginning.”

And that’s a good place to leave it.

About allrites

Located in Singapore and globally, allrites is a premier marketplace for buying and selling film, TV, and sports rights. We provide a vast catalog of Film and TV content, from major studios to independent producers, available in any language and genre. Our innovative licensing models, including allrites Content-as-a-Service, offer flexible and efficient content monetization and acquisition solutions, accommodating the evolving needs of content buyers and sellers worldwide.

Want to learn more about our content library, licensing models, or industry trends?

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