SAG-AFTRA and WGA fears about AI are justified after 15 years of streaming chaos, Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan says: Companies "don't want to take responsibility for everything does this algorithm"

Christopher Nolan sees the insistence of the striking members of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA that the studios and streamers limit the use of artificial intelligence stems directly from the explosion of streaming over the past decade.

Referring to the current "labour dispute" without going into detail, Oppenheimer the writer-director drew a parallel between the recent actions of Hollywood and Big Tech and his film's protagonist wrestling with the thorny ethical dilemmas of nuclear science.

"When you innovate through technology, you need to make sure there is accountability" , he said during a post-screening panel in New York. "For 15 years, many companies have used terms like 'algorithm', not knowing what they really mean in any meaningful technical sense. These guys don't really know what an algorithm is or what it does. People at my company are talking about it, they just don't want to take responsibility for what this algorithm does. Applied to AI, it has terrifying possibilities. Terrifying."

He didn't name any specific companies, but the 15-year timeframe points directly to the initial live. to mainstream streamers, Netflix and Amazon. (Apple, Facebook and others were well on their way with their own algorithmic forays around this time, too.) Panel moderator Chuck Todd had also prompted Nolan to digress into labor disputes by suggesting that Nolan screen the film. for a Silicon Valley audience.

Traditional media companies have also jumped into the data-driven streaming race, of course . Nolan became the personification of that disruption in 2020, cutting ties with Warner Bros following its parent company's decision to put its slate of films on HBO Max the same time they opened in theaters.

If any tech executives or contractors are watching the movie, Nolan said, "I want them to retain the notion of responsibility.”

Nolan made his comments after Oppenheimer was shown at the Whitby Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The roundtable was then moderated by Todd, host of NBC's Meet the Press. Alongside Nolan on the panel are Kai Bird, who co-wrote the book the film is based on; Thom Mason, current director of Los Alamos National Laboratory; and famous physicists Kip Thorne and Carlo Rovelli.

"When I talk to leading AI researchers, they literally refer to this as their 'Oppenheimer moment' ", Nolan said. "They look to his story to say, 'What are the responsibilities of scientists who develop new technologies. [Silicon Valley?] Oppenheimer's story can at least serve as a cautionary tale. It can at least show where some of those responsibilities lie.”

Oppenheimer prepares to...