Amazon MGM bets on AI to cut production costs, insists creatives stay central

Amazon MGM Studios is moving to integrate artificial intelligence into film and television production, positioning the technology as a cost-cutting and efficiency tool rather than a replacement for human creativity.

According to a Reuters report, the studio has launched an internal AI Studio to test how artificial intelligence can speed up production for Prime Video series and feature films. The initiative comes at a time when Hollywood remains wary of AI’s growing role, amid fears of job losses and long-term disruption to creative labour.

The project is being led by Albert Cheng, Amazon’s head of television and a veteran entertainment executive. A beta programme is set to begin in March, with selected industry partners invited to test new AI-driven tools. Amazon expects to share early findings by May.

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Cheng described the AI Studio as operating like a startup within the company, staffed largely by engineers and scientists. He told Reuters that rising production costs have made it increasingly difficult for studios to take creative risks.

“The cost of creating is so high that it really is hard to make more, and it really is hard to take great risk,” Cheng said. “We fundamentally believe that AI can accelerate, but it won’t replace, the innovation and the unique aspects that humans bring to creating the work.”

Amazon says the tools are designed to streamline elements of large-scale production, potentially easing pressure on schedules and budgets, while leaving creative decisions in human hands.

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Addressing concerns across the industry, the company stressed that writers, directors, actors and designers will remain involved at every stage of production. AI, it said, will function as an assistive technology rather than an autonomous creator.

As part of its early experimentation, the AI Studio is collaborating with several established figures, including producer Robert Stromberg and his company Secret City, actor Kunal Nayyar’s Good Karma Productions, and former Pixar and Industrial Light & Magic animator Colin Brady.