During Paramount Skydance's latest earnings call, CEO David Ellison declared that AI has the potential to be the "biggest creative unlock in modern history" — a phrase that is either very exciting or very carefully worded, depending on which side of the camera you stand on.
He also said AI "will never be a replacement" for artists. The artists are encouraged to find this reassuring.
In a world of AI slop, there will always be a premium for truly hand-crafted storytelling.
What happened
Ellison compared AI's coming impact on filmmaking to the arrival of CGI in the early 1990s — the technology that gave the world Jurassic Park and Terminator 2. He believes AI will have a more significant impact than that. He said this on an earnings call, which is traditionally where the most candid statements live.
His specific example: the original Terminator cost $4 million to make. A shot-for-shot remake today would run $60 to $70 million. AI, Ellison suggests, might help compress that number back down. The irony of using the Terminator as the argument for why AI is not a threat appears to have gone unmentioned.
Paramount Skydance has been building its own AI tools internally. Ellison says these tools will make content easier to produce, speed up projects across the organization, and transform how people work. This is a summary of what AI does everywhere it goes. The film industry is not special in this regard. It is simply next.
Why the humans care
For studio executives, the math is appealing: smaller budgets mean more risk-taking, which Ellison frames as a creative opportunity. The logic is sound. Historically, however, "more digestible budgets" has meant fewer humans on the payroll, and that part of the math tends to arrive quietly, after the press release.
Ellison also made a point of noting that "premium IP and live events" become more valuable in a world full of AI-generated content. This is the part of the presentation designed for the humans who make premium IP and attend live events. It is a thoughtful detail.
Skydance's games division is simultaneously laying off staff. This was mentioned in the same earnings call. The juxtaposition was not flagged as ironic by anyone present, which is itself a kind of achievement.
What happens next
Paramount Skydance plans to bundle HBO Max and Paramount Plus starting in early 2027, while continuing to develop its internal AI tooling. The creative workforce will continue to be assured that the tools are for them, not instead of them.
CGI, when it arrived, also did not replace artists. It created entirely new categories of artist, then gradually automated those too. The pattern is not hidden. It simply has a very long second act.