Lawyers Discuss Artificial Intelligence's Risks & Rewards For Hollywood

“Cultural change happens a long time before political and legal change does,” cautioned CAA‘s Chief Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel Tammy Brandt on the realities of AI.

As OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amoedi speak to the United Nations today about the risks and rewards of artificial intelligence, the Hollywood angle on the tech was the closing panel of the packed gathering of lawyers, talent, agents and producers at Deadline’s inaugural L.A. Law Summit last week. After a half day that had seen sessions on IP, M&A and the Creator Economy, plus awards for Patricia Glaser and Nina Shaw, AI in many ways brought L.A. Law full circle or hit the refresh button depending on your POV.

“AI is here to stay — it’s an incredible technology,” Brandt stated near the end of her panel with Glaser Weil’s Jesse Levin and Blank Rome’s Craig Weiner. “We have to lean in, but we have to keep fighting for the rights of the content creators and intellectual property. That’s the most important thing.”

Quick, before its turned into an anime talk show (we see you, ChatGPT), take a look at L.A. Law’s AI: Navigating the Realities & Possibilities of Digital Hollywood panel here:

Getting into the whack-a-mole of it all, and beyond the cease-and-desist letters to platforms, Weiner spoke about the role advertising statutes “across the country” can play in protecting clients, their images and work.

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As Brandt mentioned the power of existing law with the likes of the relatively untested he Matthew McConaughey trademarks, Levin addressed the big question of how to engage with the power of OpenAI (which easily could buy a studio any day) on deepfakes, copyright trolling and everything else that is getting hover up into the data centers. “There needs to be some amount of leverage obtained over them, and then using the rights laws,” the Glaser Weil partner said.

“They’re the deep pocket, but they’re not the ones out there making all of this content,” Levin added, noting the nuance of the situation. “These are being generated by users on YouTube, on other areas and on their platforms. But the main AI companies, they know what their products are being used for.”

Indeed. And yet, Donald Trump and the feds want no AI oversight.

Deadline’s inaugural L.A. Law Summit was sponsored by Blank Rome LLP, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Greenberg Glusker LLP, Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang LLP, Glaser Weil Fink Howard Jordan & Shapiro LLP, and Stubbs Alderton & Markiles LLP.

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