Disney Now Seeking Artificial Intelligence Taskforce

Maybe not the best timing, but find out how and why Disney is assembling an AI Task Force.

Strike

In May, we shared that a Writer’s Strike was in effect. What does the walkout exactly mean?  Many of our favorite television series, movie productions, and daytime and nighttime shows are coming to a sudden halt.  Thousands of unionized writers are exercising their rights to proclaim that they are not being paid fairly.

Due to the negotiations that were presented, the board of directors for the Writers Guild of America which includes both West and East Coast branches voted unanimously to call for a walkout. This is further complicated by concerns about Artificial Intelligence (AI) possibly replacing actors.

Now it is revealed that Disney is at work to create an AI Task Force.

New AI Task Force

According to Reuters, Disney first began forming the AI Task Force earlier this year before the writer’s strike. The Walt Disney Company is actively seeking to fill 11 job openings to be filled by candidates with artificial intelligence expertise or machine learning.

This AI Task Force would work in a variety of fields including Theme Parks and engineering, Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney television and advertisements, and the Walt Disney Studios.

An anonymous source shared some insight into how this may affect The Walt Disney Company. For Walt Disney Studios, this could significantly decrease the overall production costs of such expensive undertakings as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and also the new live-action The Little Mermaid.

At Disney Parks, this could improve the overall guest experience by offering customer service and also character interactions such as “Project Kiwi” to create a fully functioning Baby Groot. You can check out the three-year journey of “Project KIWI” HERE.

Recently, guests at Disneyland could enjoy testing this new AI experiment. Guests aboard the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser interacted with an AI character, D3-09. This droid appeared on the cabin screen and answered guests’ questions and offered fun interactions.

Dawson Dill, senior R&D Walt Disney Imagineer and creative leader for the D3-09 Droid shares, “I think Imagineering, traditionally and ever and forever has always been looking at cool new ways to elevate things.” Dill continues, “I think that we see an opportunity with some of this technology to make more personalized connections and have ones that are more also connected to an evolving story.”

“I think that we see an opportunity with some of this technology to make more personalized connections and have ones that are more also connected to an evolving story.”

Dawson Dill

Disney is at the forefront of this AI technology. It appears that they hope to continue this focus while recruiting for this AI Task Force.

What do you think of the use of AI in Theme Parks and at the Walt Disney Studios? Are you for or against the use of this technology? Share your thoughts with us and share this news with a fellow Disney pal.

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