New Orleans Film Society New Orleans, LA
Erik Weaver
Director of Adaptive Production, Entertainment Technology Center
andZuri Obi
Film and Conference Programmer
Coded Bias— [VIRTUAL] AI's creative potential: Exploring generative AI in film and TV
Program Description
How can AI be used as a creative companion? This conversation explores generative AI and its impacts on creative authorship, agency, and equity in film and TV. Erik Weaver, Director of Adaptive Production with the Entertainment Technology Center, and NOFS Programmer and filmmaker Zuri Obi will discuss current and near-future AI technologies and help filmmakers navigate ways to engage with, as well as protect work from, this rapidly evolving technology.
Presented At
New Orleans Film Society New Orleans, LA
Film Synopsis
An exploration of the implications of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini's startling discovery that racial bias is written into the code of facial recognition algorithms.
Modern society sits at the intersection of two crucial questions: What does it mean when artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly governs our liberties? And what are the consequences for the people AI is biased against? When MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini discovers that most facial-recognition software does not accurately identify darker-skinned faces and the faces of women, she delves into an investigation of widespread bias in algorithms. As it turns out, AI is not neutral, and women are leading the charge to ensure our civil rights are protected.
Image courtesy of Shalini Kantayya
About the Speaker
Erik Weaver, a specialist focused on the intersection of cloud and the media and entertainment industry, is currently director of ETC’s Adaptive Production project and special projects. Prior work at ETC includes “Production in the Cloud” that encompassed many aspects of the cloud, including transport, security, metadata, long-term storage, and the formation of an agnostic framework that unites key vendors and studios. Erik was also global M&E strategist for Western Digital. Weaver has fostered and achieved many accomplishments in the M&E market including executive producer of “The Suitcase,” (CAA’s People’s Choice award, 2017 Tribeca Film Festival), a project focused on HDR, cloud-based workflows and Live 360; executive producer of “Wonder Buffalo” (2017 SXSW Interactivity competition) that focused on an HRD first, Cloud, & Volumetric capture. The project brought together by Volumetric capture, Photogrammetry, Ambonisic(?) sound, and interactivity. He chaired/programmed NAB’s “Next Generation Media Technologies” Conference 2014-2017, as well as vNAB/vETC 2015-2019. Erik also led the SMPTE C4 MR30 Standards group, which oversaw and helped educate the M&E industry on using C4, Semantics, and NoSQL for Managing Motion Picture Data. He has spoken at dozens of M&E conferences and tradeshows.
Zuri Obi is a Haitian-American artist raised with deep cultural roots in magical realism. As a Camerawomxn, she has collaborated with artists such as Solange and Lizzo, and as Creative Producer, her projects have screened at notable film festivals, including Sundance and won top awards at New Orleans Film Festival, AFI and BlackStar. Zuri also works as a Film Curator at New Orleans Film Society, where she champions community-centered cinematic experiences.