Series
1 episode
Summer Series: Hollywood Transformations
High cheekbones and frank gaze, Justine Bateman no longer plays the role when it comes to talking about artificial intelligence (AI). During the major strikes that will paralyze the industry in 2023, the actress and director, who also has a computer science degree in her bag, established herself as an advisor to the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA on issues related to AI.
“Most of my warnings” about its dangers were, however, “not taken into account” during negotiations with the studios, regrets today the one who was a pioneer in this fight. Three years after this massive strike, while the use of this technology has accelerated, Justine Bateman nevertheless seems to have found strong allies.
The initiator of a festival without AI
Last spring, its Credo23 film festival, the first guaranteed AI-free in the United States, saw big names in the industry flock to the Hollywood hills, from director Sean Baker, director of Anora (five Oscars and a Palme d’Or in 2024) to actor Tim Robbins. Its label, which certifies films made without AI, benefits from the support of personalities such as producer Matthew Weiner (Mad Men), director Reed Morano (The Handmaid’s Tale) and costume designer Arianne Philips (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood).
Meanwhile, the use of AI is progressing at full speed in Hollywood: helping with screenwriting and concept development, modifying actors’ voices or creating digital doubles… According to the anti-AI activist, this infiltration is happening “largely in silence”, with the industry fearing “an outcry” around a technology which, for many, threatens a certain idea of Hollywood creation.
Optimization of content to the detriment of artistic creation
For the professional, AI is only the latest stage of a transformation that began with the arrival of digital giants in Hollywood and the rise of streaming in the 2010s. “Tech does not have the same DNA, not the same infrastructure as Hollywood,” notes this sixty-year-old who has experienced the before and after.
Justine Bateman, a pioneer in the fight against AI in Hollywood, believes that “bursting this bubble could usher in a new age of creation.”
Chris Pizzello / Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
The artist took his first steps on the sets as a teenager, in the early 1980s, at the same time as his younger brother, the actor Jason Bateman (Arrested Development). Revealed by the hit sitcom Sacred Family, with Michael J. Fox, she then appeared in Desperate Housewives and Californication, before moving on to direct with Violet in 2021.
In the Hollywood of before, “those who had the luck, the determination and the necessary talent could still find their place”, she recalled in 2024 in a forum widely shared on the Web. “Thoughtful decisions were made to preserve the quality of the productions. And the newcomers respected those who had built the industry to enable the next generation to flourish. »
Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have introduced a logic of content optimization to the detriment of artistic creation. “Today, the industry is more supportive of films that can be deployed on a large scale and exported, capable of attracting the greatest number of people. Especially action films and thrillers. Much less dramas or comedies whose sensitivity and humor vary according to culture,” she explains.
Films “too smooth and too polished”
She also denounces “the proliferation of “second screen films””, these “very visual” works that we can watch with one eye while doing something else”. In this context, “directors are starting to adapt their films to the expectations of the platforms,” laments Justine Bateman.
Despite everything, the director remains optimistic. “Once the novelty wears off, the general public will start to reject these films that are too slick and polished,” she predicts. The sums invested in AI are also “huge and without guarantee of profitability”. Justine Bateman wants to believe that “the bursting of this bubble could open a new age of creation by bringing out new artistic genres”, in line with the great transformations that American cinema has already gone through. “AI is Hollywood’s next chapter, but it’s not the last. »
AI is gaining ground
Platforms and studios remain discreet about their AI spending. In March, Netflix nevertheless declared that it had invested 587 million dollars (516 million euros) in actor Ben Affleck’s AI start-up. The platform also revealed that AI had been used in 300 titles in its catalog this year, mainly for tasks related to production and post-production.
According to a 2025 survey by the Mozilla Foundation, 48% of Hollywood creatives admit to using AI in their work. Nearly 20% use it to generate ideas or get feedback on scenario concepts.
