Electric Sheep / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
The use of AI in Hollywood has been a controversial issue, to put it mildly. It was a major focus of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes, for example, and the filmmakers behind The Brutalist — which won three Oscars in March — have been criticized for their use of generative AI tools in some aspects of the film, including the fine-tuning of its starring actors’ speech to make it sound like they were speaking flawless, fluent Hungarian.
Nonetheless, AI-assisted filmmaking is a rapidly advancing field, with tech developers promising that their new tools will automate many of the more mundane aspects of the production process while supercharging human creativity. In that vein, London-based VFX company Electric Sheep has announced that its AI-powered video-production platform is now publicly available.
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The platform is being promoted as a one-stop-shop editing and post-production solution for smaller, more financially constrained studios.
“Anyone with any filmmaking experience will tell you that iterating, editing, and producing pro-level video content is challenging, but with available technology, it really shouldn’t be,” Gary Palmer, co-founder and CEO of Electric Sheep, said in a statement. “Electric Sheep is the first platform in the space to give storytellers of all kinds everything they need to make their final product the caliber of Hollywood productions.”
How Electric Sheep’s AI video platform works
Electric Sheep is designed to take the raw materials of an idea and help bring it to life. Filmmakers can start with a script or a storyboard, for example, and then use the platform as a gateway to access some of the most advanced generative AI tools from developers like Runway and OpenAI.
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(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
It offers a suite of AI-powered editorial tools that can help to make adjustments during post-production, including adjustments to camera angles, scene extensions, and the generation of new backgrounds behind human actors. Users can also make adjustments to projects by feeding the system prompts in natural language, such as: “Make this actor’s hair red throughout every scene.”
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The platform speeds up the post-production process as much as 80% faster than other tools that are currently available, according to the company.
Enhancement vs. replacement
Electric Sheep is just one of a host of companies looking to cash in on the burgeoning market for AI-generated video tools. Many of them have adopted the same fundamental marketing stance: We’re here to enhance human creativity, not replace it.
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Google, for example, recently debuted Veo 3, the latest iteration of its text-to-video AI model, which can also generate synchronized audio. Company leaders like Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google DeepMind, have insisted that tools like Veo 3 will empower creative professionals — even if they ultimately cause some unpredictable, long-term disruptions in the job market.
Meta, meanwhile, is reportedly working on new AI tools which could completely automate the ad-production process. While details on the company’s plan are scarce, such tools will almost certainly be presented as time-saving, creativity-boosting add-ons for creative teams.
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As tech developers continue releasing new AI tools, Hollywood is trying to figure out how to approach its relationship with the technology.
While the use of generative AI in professional filmmaking still largely remains taboo, some big industry players have taken steps to embrace it. Google recently announced a partnership with acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky, for example, and last year a collaboration was struck between Lionsgate and Runway, an AI company that builds video-generating models.
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