Hollywood writers and actors are on strike — the former since May 2 and the latter since July 14 — and the repercussions are being felt as far away as Japan. Stars who would have once come here to publicize their latest film are staying home. Local distributors are faced with release delays.
Some issues involved in the Hollywood strike, such as the use of artificial intelligence to write scripts and replace human actors, may seem far from reality for Japan’s film industry, but for how long will this be true? Chatbot prompts can now be framed in Japanese. And AI-generated actors know no borders or barriers, language included.