The China Mail - France, SKorea warn at film summit of AI risks to creativity

Hollywood star George Clooney -- who has a home in southeastern France -- lent some of his star power to the French event, which brought together more than 200 guests from dozens of countries, including top executives from US studios such as Sony Pictures and Disney.

Called the Lumiere summit, in a nod to Auguste and Louis Lumiere, the French brothers considered the inventors of the motion picture, the event took place in the medieval village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence near Nice and was co-chaired by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

South Korea is home to some of the world's most celebrated filmmakers, including Park Chan-wook, who chaired the Cannes film festival jury this year, and Bong Joon-ho, the Oscar-winning director of "Parasite".

The organisers hope the event at the Maeght Foundation for contemporary art will help spur action to support the film industry, which has been weakened by falling cinema attendance and competition from streaming platforms.

Both Macron and Lee warned about the advance of AI.

"We would be making a tremendous mistake if this technology became a tool that replaces, or claims to replace, creators," Macron said.

Lee said that artificial intelligence should develop in "a more responsible and human-centred way".

"The film and audiovisual industry must be rooted in human creativity and must resonate with human emotions," he said.

- 'Artistic freedom' -

The two leaders called for action to safeguard independent cinemas and diversity in film and pledged to invest substantially in the audiovisual sector.

"Together, we are committing one billion euros ($1.15 billion) over five years to create what we have called the Lumiere Partnership, an initiative dedicated to supporting the audiovisual sector and cultural sovereignty," the French president said.

An informed source said half the money would come from France's state investment bank Bpifrance, and the rest from South Korea.

Executives from streaming giant Netflix and social media platform TikTok attended the event.

But key players such as YouTube and Meta, the parent company of Instagram, declined invitations.

Leading generative AI companies were also absent.

They have been accused by rights holders of using film and audiovisual works to train their models without permission.

Discussions between film executives and government leaders took place behind closed doors.

Ahead of the event, Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese called for efforts to preserve cinema's heritage.

"We need to protect artistic freedom all across the world," the organisers quoted him as saying.

Gaetan Bruel, head of France's National Cinema Centre (CNC), which helped organise the gathering, said it was time for "concrete measures", even if it was impossible "to solve every problem in a single day".

D.Wang--ThChM