Over the past year, YouTube has been flooded with AI-generated fake movie trailers, a trend that has not gone unnoticed by its regular users. 🎬 Surprisingly, major Hollywood studios have been capitalizing on this phenomenon, as reported by Deadline. Instead of cracking down on copyright infringement, these studios negotiated with YouTube to redirect the ad revenue from these videos to themselves, rather than the creators who generated them with minimal effort.
One notable example is a counterfeit trailer for the upcoming Superman reboot, which even deceived French national television. Director James Gunn expressed his dismay on X with three puking emojis, unaware that Warner Bros. Discovery was among the beneficiaries of these AI creations. 🤢
The rationale behind studios allowing their brands to be associated with such content remains unclear, especially considering the potential for consumer confusion. Despite the lack of specific financial details, the billions of views these videos accumulated suggest a lucrative, albeit short-sighted, revenue stream. The actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has criticized this practice as a ‘race to the bottom.’
However, this revenue stream has dried up following YouTube’s decision to demonetize such content, likely in response to Deadline‘s investigation. Channels like Screen Culture, known for distributing AI-generated trailers, have been excluded from YouTube’s partner program. While these channels can appeal the decision, the move marks a significant shift in the platform’s content monetization policies.
Creators argue their intentions were misunderstood. The founder of KH Studio, a channel with hundreds of millions of views, stated their aim was to explore creative ‘what if’ scenarios, not to deceive. Meanwhile, Screen Culture, with over 1.4 million subscribers and 1,800 videos, has produced numerous AI trailers, including over 20 for the anticipated Fantastic Four: First Steps movie.
