Where Entertainment and AI collide:
Impact on our daily life and drivers of economic development.
Launch of the E-AI International Community on June 14 & 15 in Montreal
Montreal, June 2, 2022
The entertainment and media industries alone represent annual global revenues of over US$2 trillion (source : Statista). What’s more, a PwC study has shown that AI could potentially contribute an estimated $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030 and, according to MIT, 92% of large companies have already reported returns on their data and AI investments. Jean-Francois Gauthier, CEO of Startup Genome, estimates that AI and Big Data now account for 25% of startup funding transactions, up from 16% in 2016. According to an article that appeared in Harvard Business Review, most U.S. executives (74%) think that AI will not only make business processes more efficient but also create new business models (55%) and lead to new products and services (54%). AI adoption has exploded since 2020.
The creative industries are not simply a collection of small, purely artistic projects. These sectors are multi-dimensional and can be major drivers of economic change in the Montreal, Quebec and international landscapes. To make that happen, companies both here and abroad must develop tools and build bridges. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a key tool in this area, and one not used merely for creative pursuits.
In this spirit, the E-AI launch event will take place on June 14 and 15 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal with the theme “Explore, Co-Create and Amplify.”
More than just flashy projects
Entertainment industry decision-makers often think of AI as a way to deliver experiences.
“While that aspect is important, and very artistic-minded, it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” explains Olivier Blais, Co-Founder and Head of Decision Science of Moov AI.
“The goal is to get people to think about how the creative industry can be strategic in diverse ways, and this is where AI holds great opportunities. Although companies don’t always realize it, almost every one can capitalize on this tech, for example, through AI-optimized supply chains or when they need predictive models to forecast raw material prices or market demand for products. Creative projects also need a down-to-earth vision to take shape.”
Whether used for creative projects or other applications, AI systems need to be cloud-native, robust, and of high quality. AI can be a true cornerstone to optimize the entire entertainment industry, as is the case for many other sectors of the economy. This is exactly the ambition of Moov AI, which is giving a presentation at E-AI on June 14 and whose experts deploy concrete AI and machine-learning solutions to solve business challenges.
AI serving great chefs and your taste buds
AI can also help us dream and push our boundaries. One of the showcased topics will include the “Sony AI Gastronomy” project, for which François Chartier serves as a senior gastronomic consultant. President of Chartier World LAB Barcelona, this Quebecker will soon open a branch in Montreal. Sony, one of Japan’s top brands, needs no introduction when it comes to movies, music and gaming. Yet the multinational created its Sony AI division to leverage artificial intelligence in these three key areas. When Sony launched its AI division four years ago, they decided that gastronomy would be a first field of research.
“We wanted to show how AI can impact and push the barriers of gastronomic creativity in an agile way,” explains François. Chartier.
“And it will do this through a dialogue with chefs, not by replacing them. We are giving chefs and sommeliers whatever tools they need to create a dish or compile its harmonies in a database. And that’s amazing! The project is articulated around the science of aromatic molecular harmonies that I created in 2002. We want chefs and creators to be stimulated by the interface and open doors to new creative paths based on existing or future cooking techniques, the place where they cook on a product-available basis, among many other parameters. Given Sony’s successes with gaming, I’m sure our project will see the same ‘boom’ in the AI world.”
Chartier World LAB, which is based in Barcelona, will soon open new Labs in Tokyo, the Douro and Montreal.
Oh, so robots
“When non-industry people ask me what I do for a living and I say, ‘high-performance computing infrastructure and AI,’ they immediately reply, ‘Oh, so robots,’” says Mark Stephens, Head of Marketing and Communications for Images et Technologie.
“People are somewhat oblivious to just how much AI is integrated in our everyday lives. Social media platforms rely on AI algorithms to rank and push content based on end-user inputs. We know that, but most people would be surprised to find out just how integrated AI is in the media and entertainment space.”
VFX artists use AI every day, making it hard to tell the computer generated from the real. “From an economic perspective, Deep Learning and AI decrease production costs and time to market,” Mr. Stephens continues. “Even marketing benefits. When studios publish trailers for upcoming films, they can use AI solutions like Valossa, which takes key content elements that generate hype around the film. Entertain-AI lets us speak even more about the importance of converging AI with all aspects of media and entertainment. The more we adopt and integrate AI technology, the more companies will develop tools that improve workflows and creative collaboration, and ultimately, industry sustainability and the ability for smaller studios to compete.” Images et Technologie is a member of the E-AI advisory committee and will give a presentation at the event.
Are you interested in these topics? Consult the event program here.
Tickets can be purchased here. #EAI2022 will be held at the Palais des congrès de Montréal.
About E-AI
E-AI is a global business-to-business community that unites the entertainment and AI ecosystems. It fosters greater collaboration between the two groups through opportunities for meetings and discussion, with the aim of exploring and generating new business opportunities and spurring innovation.
Media Relations
Julie Gagnon, 514 713-4381 – julie@juliegagnon.ca
Isabelle Fafard, 514 865‐8157 – isabelle.fafard@180deux.ca
