Yes, AI will decimate film-making, but that isn't the main problem

Seen the astonishing results you can achieve with Google's new AI video tool, Veo 3? If not, the short version is that just by typing a text prompt, you can now generate a fake video clip that's indistinguishable from the real thing. And if you work in film-making, that should scare you quite a bit.

Let's not beat around the bush. This kind of AI technology is undeniably going to lead to job losses in film-making. And I'm not here to sugar-coat this or feed you comforting lies about AI being "just another tool". That's the kind of patronising nonsense that gets trotted out every time tech steamrolls an entire profession.

But here's the thing. While everyone's busy having panic attacks about our silicon overlords, they're completely missing the main thing that's killing film-making. AI isn't the problem. Bad film-making is.

The real crisis

Walk into any cinema right now and what do you find? Sequel number seven of a franchise that should have died three instalments ago. Remakes of films that were barely worth making the first time. Superhero movies that feel like they were assembled by committees of people who have never experienced joy.

I've spent the last decade watching executives greenlight projects based on algorithms, market research and international box office projections rather than, you know, whether the story is actually worth telling.

Studios have been using artificial intelligence to guide their decisions for years; they just called it "data analytics" and pretended it was sophisticated.

Even Disney's fallen foul of this. Their recent focus has been on making live action versions of their animated classics, which no one wants and have generally been terrible. This hit a new low point in 2025 with a dreadful remake of Snow White that even the brilliant Rachel Zegler couldn't save.

What audiences want

Audiences are starving for good stories, well told. They're desperate for characters they can care about, dialogue that sounds like actual humans wrote it, and plots that don't insult their intelligence. These aren't high bars to clear, but somehow, we keep limbo-dancing under them anyway.

In short, the problem isn't that we need more technology. The problem is that we've forgotten how to use the technology we already have to serve the story (rather than the other way around).

To be fair, if you look hard enough, there are still great films out there. Out right now are four superb releases I'd urge everyone to check out: The Surfer, Shiva Baby, Good One and Hallow Road. Unfortunately, they're the exceptions that prove the rule. And if the average person has been disappointed on their last three multiplex visits, they're unlikely to take a risk on another dull evening.

The democratisation myth

"But AI will democratise filmmaking!" cry the tech evangelists. "Now anyone can make a movie!" Sure, and anyone can already write a novel using Microsoft Word. How's that working out for the quality of literature?

Tools have never been the barrier to good storytelling. You can shoot a compelling film on your phone – people have been proving this for years. (Watch out Unsane (2018) or Tangerine (2015) if you don't believe me.) Indeed, for not much more than the cost of an iPhone 16 Pro Max, you can get an impressive pro camera like the RED Komodo 6K.

In short, the barrier to great film-making has never been technological; it's having something interesting to say, and the skill to say it well.

Yes, AI might make it easier to generate pretty pictures or smooth out rough edges. But it can't give you a point of view. It can't inject soul into soulless material. It can't turn a boring person into an interesting storyteller.

What AI will do – and is already doing – is amplify whatever you feed into it. Feed it mediocre ideas, get mediocre results. Feed it derivative concepts, get derivative output. Feed it the same tired tropes that have been recycling through Hollywood for decades, and congratulations, you've just automated the production of cinematic landfill.

The real terror isn't that AI will replace human creativity. It's that it will replace human creativity with exactly the same level of uninspired garbage we're already drowning in, just faster and cheaper.

So here's the silver lining. While AI churns out its thousand variations on a theme, the creators who understand character, who can write dialogue that doesn't sound like it came from a chatbot, who know how to build genuine emotional stakes; they're going to stand out like fireworks in a grey sky.

If you're a filmmaker whose main skill is following established formulas, then yes, you should be worried. But if you're someone who actually has something to say, who understands why some stories resonate while others fall flat, who can spot the difference between content and art, then you're not being made obsolete. You're being made essential.