‘What’s Ethical AI?’: The AI CEO Netflix, A24 & Disney Rely On (But Can’t Control)
Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela tells me regulation will ‘stifle’ innovation, and he won’t put the genie back in the bottle: ‘You take the responsibility’
I write every other Tuesday for paid subscribers and recently reported on Cursor, the app that could supercharge A24; why Hollywood won’t be distributing AI films anytime soon; and the Chinese AI that should scare you.
Anyone in Hollywood who doesn’t already know about Cristóbal Valenzuela… well, you should. And if you don’t, you will soon. The Chile-born, mid-30s CEO and co-founder of Runway — the NYC-based AI video company whose tools helped shape Oscar’s 2023 best picture winner, Everything Everywhere All at Once — has gone from outsider to one of the industry’s most-watched technologists in record time.
Valenzuela and Runway’s emergence comes during a period of, at best, destabilizing — and at worst, terrifying — AI transformation for Hollywood, which both Reel AI and my colleagues at The Ankler have been covering from every angle. In just the past month, I wrote about CAA’s investment in startup Moonvalley, and Ashley Cullins spoke with Vermillio CEO Dan Neely about protecting IP. Earlier this year, Matthew Frank covered the AI wars roiling top film schools as professors embrace the tech and students resist, while Elaine Low talked to WME’s Chris Jacquemin about the agency’s plans and partnerships in the space — and more recently wrote about AI’s disproportionate impact on animation.
But perhaps no AI leader has been more active and disruptive in Hollywood than Valenzuela, whose company was valued at more than $3 billion in its latest fundraise, scoring $308 million in a Series D round led by General Atlantic. In his native Chile, Valenzuela studied economics and business; at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, he added a master’s degree in media arts from the Interactive Telecommunications Program. He launched Runway in 2018 with two other ITP grads and first hit Hollywood’s radar with Everything Everywhere, whose talking rocks relied on Runway tech.
Now, in just the past year, Runway has inked deals with Lionsgate, AMC, Netflix and Disney, while transforming the company’s AI Film Festival from a scrappy “misfit” (as Valenzuela recalls it) meetup into a sold-out Lincoln Center event, now partnered with IMAX. Valenzuela’s pitch to Hollywood is equal parts seduction and warning: AI will change everything about how stories are made, and those who move first will win.
Related:
Runway keeps moving, introducing in late July its newest model, Aleph, which can remove people and items from scenes, generate new camera angles, transform objects in a scene and more. Today, in my first one-on-one with him for Reel AI — which has been lightly edited for length and clarity — Valenzuela talks ethical AI (“What’s ethical AI?” he asks, no joke), regulation and why the next wave of filmmaking will let animators finish in seconds what used to take weeks — ushering in, as he has it, “the best stories that are yet to be told.”
From our wide-ranging interview, you’ll learn:
How Runway’s new Aleph AI model is pushing video creation to near-Hollywood quality, and what that means for filmmakers.
Why Netflix, Disney, Lionsgate, AMC and IMAX are betting on Runway to reshape production
Valenzuela’s unfiltered take on “ethical AI” and the safeguards he says actually matter
How AI could slash animation timelines from weeks to seconds, transforming production schedules and giving people “weekends”
The make-or-break factors that will separate AI-adopting studios from those left behind — and why thinking 10 years ahead is key to survival
How partnerships with NYU, MIT, UCLA and USC are creating the next wave of AI-native filmmakers
His hints that Runway’s next fundraise will come sooner, not later
Why AI and traditional filmmaking will coexist — serving different audiences, like YouTube and streaming
This column is for paid subscribers only. Interested in a group sub for your team or company? Click here.
For full access and to continue reading all Ankler content, paid subscribers can click here.