Tyler Perry Pauses $800M Studio Expansion After Seeing OpenAI’s Video Generator

Tyler Perry‘s grand plan to go through with an $800 million studio expansion has come to a stop over his concerns that artificial intelligence will cause a loss of jobs.

Perry recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter for an interview that was released Thursday. He discussed his growing fears that AI will have a negative impact on the entertainment industry and said that we must get ahead of the situation before it happens. “There’s got to be some sort of regulations in order to protect us. If not, I just don’t see how we survive.”

He mentioned OpenAI’s text-to-video feature Sora as a reason he halted his project.  “I have been watching AI very closely and watching the advancements very closely. I was in the middle of, and have been planning for the last four years, about an $800 million expansion at the studio, which would’ve increased the backlot a tremendous size, we were adding 12 more soundstages. All of that is currently and indefinitely on hold because of Sora and what I’m seeing.”

Notably, the filmmaker says he is not fully opposed to AI and has even used the tool in two of his upcoming projects but has growing concerns about how it will cause a loss to automation.

“It makes me worry so much about all of the people in the business. Because as I was looking at it, I immediately started thinking of everyone in the industry who would be affected by this, including actors and grip and electric and transportation and sound and editors, and looking at this, I’m thinking this will touch every corner of our industry,” he said.

“I just hope that as people are embracing this technology and as companies are moving to reduce costs and save the bottom line, that there’ll be some sort of thought and some sort of compassion for humanity and the people that have worked in this industry and built careers and lives, that there’s some sort of thought for them.”