Following my recent blog post about being able to use A.I. to synthesize actor performances in the future, what would come after that? I think a next logical step would be to create actor mixes.
For example, for a particular role, we could start with a base of Humphrey Bogart, blend in some Jimmy Stewart, then add in a dash of Brad Pitt. And maybe just a hint of Bette Davis to top it all off.
To be clear, this is all we could do, given our current approach to A.I. Convolutional neural nets are only able to scrape existing data, and then find new points in the space created by that data.
What makes the original Humphrey Bogart a genius will continue to remain mysterious and unfathomable. And all we will be able to do is tap into that genius.
The creation of a new actor who goes in a completely different direction — a true original, will remain beyond reach. A.I. will not create the next Merrill Streep or Christopher Walken or Cate Blanchett.
But will, eventually, be able to effectively place mixtures of those actors into new scenes and new situations. And that limitation is important to understand.
Because it would be a mistake to believe A.I. can replace great actors. On the contrary, future A.I. actors will require the performances of the originals. Without them, it would have nothing to work with.