Lt. Dawn Chmielewski
LOS ANGELES, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Laid off and sidelined by the production slowdown last year, Hollywood visual effects veteran Michael Eng discovered a gap in his resume while perusing job ads in Los Angeles: experience in machine learning.
Eng turned to Curious Refuge, an online school that teaches artificial intelligence-based filmmaking, in an attempt to reinvent his career amid the industry’s rapid technological change.
Launched in May 2023, Curious Refuge’s highly regarded AI film academy has become a training ground for Hollywood workers racing to adapt as generative technology reshapes production, fueling new careers, even at a time when some in the industry fear losing their jobs to AI.
“I just went for it,” Eng said of diving into AI tools after he was laid off.
Many in Hollywood remain wary of artificial intelligence, with critics pointing to last year’s debut of AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood — condemned by actors’ union SAG-AFTRA for replacing human performers with “synthetics” — as a prime example of the industry’s malaise.
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SCHOOL ATTRACTS 10 THOUSAND STUDENTS
Eng is one of 10,000 students who participated in Curious Refuge courses or workshops, seeking to update their skills, the school says. Co-founders Caleb and Shelby Ward say 95% of current students are professionals in the entertainment or advertising industry looking for new skills as artificial intelligence gains ground in Hollywood.
Others, like Petra Molnar, are hobbyists who have managed to leverage AI to find new careers.
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Molnar said he considered himself a creative person, but was unable to get into art school in his hometown of Budapest. She was working as a dental hygienist in London when the Covid-19 pandemic closed her dental practice. She used the time to explore her creative side by enrolling in classes — initially studying digital product design and creating her own dental app.
The emergence of AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and image generators like Midjourney led her to Curious Refuge, where she began taking courses in 2023.
She found a new career in advertising, using AI to create promotional videos, including one for AI infrastructure company WhiteFiber, which was shown on Nasdaq’s seven-story LED screen in Times Square when the company went public in September.
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“AI has really changed my life,” Molnar said.
STARTUP
Founded in 2020, Curious Refuge began offering AI-assisted documentary and narrative film and advertising courses in early 2023. It now offers instruction in 11 different languages to students in 170 countries. Other educational institutions, such as the Los Angeles Film School, offer an online bachelor’s degree in digital cinema, and leading film schools are also incorporating generative AI into their curricula.
Curious Refuge classes are pre-recorded and made available through an online paywall, allowing students to learn at their own pace.
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Instructors have weekly time slots to answer questions, and the school hosts regular meetups, including at the Cannes Film Festival and in major cities around the world. Meanwhile, the Discord platform, popular among gamers and programmers, has become a virtual place for the Curious Refuge community to gather.
Curious Refuge also offered AI training and workshops in studios, which its founders could not identify due to confidentiality agreements.
“We loved stepping in and creating a foundation of understanding across the studio,” said Caleb Ward, CEO and co-founder of Curious Refuge. “See what you can do with artificial intelligence. See the creative possibilities. See the different benefits you can get from using the technology.”
AI CHANGES JOBS
A 2024 study commissioned by the Concept Art Association and Animation Guild predicted that nearly 120,000 film, television and animation jobs would be consolidated, replacedor eliminated by the end of this year due to generative AI.
Some see parallels between the rise of generative AI and the debut of YouTube, which ushered in a new generation of storytellers.
“There will be some job loss and displacement, but there will also be job creation and the emergence of a generation of new storytellers, in part because financial barriers are being reduced or because they simply now have access to resources that were previously unavailable to them,” said Chris Jacquemin, head of digital strategy at talent agency WME.
“I think Curious Refuge plays a key role as a specialized program in training filmmakers and storytellers on how they can use the machine learning toolkit to their advantage,” Jacquemin said.
AI entertainment studio Promise, a well-regarded startup backed by media veteran Peter Chernin’s North Road studio and Andreessen Horowitz, acquired Curious Refuge last February.
The school serves as a talent pipeline for Promise, which seeks artists, directors and other creatives versed in AI production techniques. It would be a valuable asset as the rest of Hollywood wakes up to the potential of generative AI and competition for talent heats up.
“We realized there would be other studios like ours, but also many traditional studios, distributors and production companies, looking to hire the same talent,” said Promise co-founder and president Jamie Byrne. “So we thought a lot about how to make sure we had the right pipeline of talent for the company.”
Deepening the AI talent pool will also help accelerate adoption by Hollywood, Byrne said.
Yves Bergquist, director of the AI and Neuroscience project at the USC Center for Entertainment Technology, called education “the biggest opportunity in AI today” as the technology is highly complex and rapidly evolving. He praised the courses offered by Curious Refuge as “top-notch.”
For visual effects artist Eng, Curious Refuge has already opened its doors.
“I immediately started using the tools and getting work,” said Eng, who also teaches AI film production at Studio Arts, a professional school in Los Angeles.
