Understanding the Audience-AI Relationship: What’s Welcome, Acceptable, or Avoided

Session details:

AI is becoming more integrated in the business of entertainment. Generative AI’s ability to create original content garners a lot of attention (and much controversy). It’s also poised to revolutionize tasks in post-production and editing, as well as change how people find, choose and use content of all kinds. But less attention has been paid to the most critical part of the puzzle: how do audiences feel about automation taking a role in the content they consume?

Hub’s new “AI and Audiences” study drills down on what consumers know and feel about AI, the areas where they’re uncomfortable with it being used, and the problems they’re excited for it to solve. Among the latest findings, Jon Giegengack will dive into:

• AI vs. Artistry: Recent controversies like the Anthropic lawsuit, synthetic influencers, and Open AI/Sora tools that enable content creation with proprietary IP.
• AI for people vs. companies: Who uses AI and for what—creative tasks (writing, composing) to operational uses (post-production,recommendations, and ad targeting).
• Current/future use cases: Consumers will rate ~16 AI applications, co-developed with three entertainment AI partners, including digitizing actors’ likenesses, generating stories with real IP, AI-generated performers (e.g., Tilly Norwood), and hyper-personalized sports channels. Ratings will cover appeal and ethics, highlighting those with the greatest potential and when disclosure is expected.