An Open Embrace of AI You didn’t have to wait long to hear or learn about artificial intelligence (AI) at this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) — the topic was tackled at the opening press conference for festival jurors, and then kept raising its head at panels, no matter what the focus was really supposed to be. SIFF itself embraced the phenomenon, with its AI Backlot initiative showcasing the technology’s uses via filmmaking projects that played out in front of festivalgoers in real time. You could learn first-hand what AI is all about, in terms of filmmaking, and then perhaps make your own decision about whether its impact is good or bad for the industry and for creativity in general. There were varied opinions shared by those in the know — the “Cultural Value and Future Possibilities of Animation” panel’s reactions were of particular interest simply because animation is the industry that is either currently most under threat or that stands to benefit the most from AI.…