Amazon is preparing to introduce artificial intelligence tools designed to speed up the production of movies and television shows, as studios grapple with rising costs and growing concern across Hollywood about the technology’s potential impact on jobs and creative work.
At Amazon MGM Studios, long time media executive Albert Cheng is leading a dedicated team focused on developing AI-driven production tools aimed at reducing expenses and simplifying parts of the creative workflow. The initiative, internally referred to as AI Studio, is scheduled to launch a closed beta program in March, with select industry partners invited to test the tools. Amazon expects to begin sharing early results by May.
Cheng described the AI Studio as operating like a startup within the larger company, following Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s “two pizza team” philosophy, which emphasizes keeping teams small and agile. The group is made up largely of product engineers and scientists, supported by a smaller number of creative and business professionals.
Amazon’s push to adopt AI comes as production budgets continue to rise, limiting how many projects studios are able to finance. Company executives believe AI can help accelerate certain stages of development and production, allowing more films and series to be made with greater efficiency.
“The cost of creating is so high that it really is hard to make more and it really is hard to take great risk,” Cheng said in an interview. “We fundamentally believe that AI can accelerate, but it won’t replace, the innovation and the unique aspects that (humans) bring to create the work.”
The initiative arrives amid ongoing anxiety in the entertainment industry, where actors and creators have voiced concerns about AI reshaping creative jobs. Some high-profile performers, including Emily Blunt, have publicly expressed fears that AI-driven performers could one day displace human actors.
Amazon has stressed that writers, directors, actors, and character designers will remain involved throughout the production process, with AI positioned as a support tool rather than a replacement for creative talent.
The company’s broader embrace of artificial intelligence mirrors efforts underway across much of the tech sector. Amazon has encouraged nearly all of its divisions to explore AI applications and has pointed to productivity gains from the technology as one factor behind approximately 30,000 corporate job cuts since October, the largest round of layoffs in its history. Those reductions included roles within Prime Video.
According to Cheng, AI could help Prime Video manage the complexity of producing content at scale. The AI Studio team is building tools intended to bridge what he referred to as “the last mile” between widely available consumer AI systems and the precise level of control required for professional film and television production. Areas of focus include maintaining character consistency across scenes and ensuring compatibility with industry-standard creative software.
Amazon’s experiment reflects a broader industry debate: how AI can be integrated into filmmaking without undermining creative integrity or displacing human workers, while still addressing the economic pressures facing modern entertainment production.
