%202.png)
By Claire Chen
The Lawrenceville School, NJ
When I was young, one of my favorite places to go to was Disneyland. Who wouldn’t enjoy the exciting rides, interactive experiences and lively parades? But with the rapidly developing technology, Disneyland experiences could be taken to new heights. Imagine if you could choose the theme of your own rollercoaster ride or perhaps, personalized interactive experiences with your favorite characters. The help of machine learning could make your dreams come to real life.
Image of Disney and the castle
to, C. (2020). Disney. GreatestMovies Wiki; Fandom, Inc. https://greatestmovies.fandom.com/wiki/Disney
As a result of of the intensified competition in the entertainment industry, Disney acknowledges the need to leverage machine learn in order to stay ahead of their competition and effectively address the customers’ needs. A week ago, Disney announced their decision to create a new business unit centered around the development and use of AI in augmented reality, content creation, theme park interactions, etc. This newly formed Office of Technology Enablement will be led by Jamie Voris, chief technology officer for the Walt Disney Film Studios, and this unit would mainly focus on blending physical and digital worlds, providing new experiences to the company’s theme parks and consumer’s homes.
In the past, Disney has already explored various projects involving artificial intelligence. One of the major projects that started a few years ago was project KIWI, which used machine learning techinques to create Baby Groot. Baby Groot is a small, free-roaming bot that imitates the behavior and personality of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" figure. This project aims to bring characters to life “at their actual scale in authentic ways” (Francis, 2023), engaging and interacting with the audience.
Image containing a screen showing Disney’s logo (Chmielewski & Paul, 2024)
Over the next few years, Disney is striving to provide personalized recommendations to optimize their advertising strategy. They are working on using AI algorithms to analyze customer data and behavior, creating more attractive personalized offers based on customer preferences, including recommendations for movies, shows, merchandise and experiences. This leads to more targeted and tailored content, resulting in increased viewer engagement and enables companies to build deeper connections with their audience.
According to the Co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Alan Bergman, AI and XR (extended reality) will continue to impact consumer experiences and creative endeavors, “[exploring] the exciting opportunities and [navigating] the potential risks” (Chmielewski & Paul, 2024). As the potential of AI at theme park continues to grow, in the future, amusement parks might be a whole new experience for us. By converging technology and creativity, Disney sets the stage for a new era of entertainment. Due to the benefits of AI, more and more entertainment companies would start integrating AI to generate creative content, create immersive experiences and analyze metadata from social media. In the coming time, as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly advanced, entertainment-based applications will be able to completely transform the content landscape, reshaping and revolutionizing the entertainment industry.
However, while AI could bring tremendous opportunities, it is crucial for companies to find a balance between AI and human creativity, ensuring that AI would not reduce the originality and creativity of the content produced.
------
Chmielewski, Dawn & Paul, Katie. (2024). Exclusive: Walt Disney forms business unit to coordinate use of AI, augmented reality. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/walt-disney-forms-business-unit-coordinate-use-ai-augmented-reality-2024-11-01
Francis, Katie. (2023). Disney Creates AI Task Force to Explore Future Use for Movies, Theme Parks, and More. Retrieved from https://wdwnt.com/2023/08/disney-ai-task-force-movies-theme-parks/
Comments