Welcome to Rendering, a Deadline column reporting at the intersection of AI and showbiz. Rendering examines how artificial intelligence is disrupting the entertainment industry, taking you inside key battlegrounds and spotlighting change makers wielding the technology for good and ill. Got a story about AI? Rendering wants to hear from you: jkanter@deadline.com.

Dodge College, the Chapman University film school that trained Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers, has a reputation for attracting Hollywood big beasts. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos regularly graces the college’s lecture halls, while other guest speakers have included Daniel Craig and Dwayne Johnson. But earlier this month, Dodge promoted a talk from an altogether more divisive visitor: Tilly Norwood.

The so-called “AI actress” may be little more than a piece of provocative marketing, but her presence has become a vector for existential handwringing about AI in the entertainment business. And she was not welcome on college campus. When Dodge promoted her talk on Instagram earlier this month, the post attracted nearly 1,300 comments, many of which were written by disquieted Dodge students and alumni. 

“Gross and irresponsible,” was the take of one commenter. “When is Dodge gonna learn we don’t want AI slop,” another added. “Do better,” chimed a third student. Norwood has been created to revel in this kind of backlash (you can find her happily s**t posting on Instagram despite her creator saying she’ll never replace humans), but for the students of Dodge, her arrival signalled something deeper about their place of education and its growing embrace of artificial intelligence. 

Within days of plugging Norwood’s talk, Dodge Dean Stephen Galloway — former executive editor of Deadline’s sister title The Hollywood Reporter — sent an email to students announcing an “innovative filmmakers challenge,” through which students will be awarded financial grants for projects that “use AI” and other new technology. 

Grants totalling $40,000 are available to students who put AI to work with “originality, inspiration, and creativity.” Galloway thanked “generous donors” for supporting the scheme, but did not name them, sparking speculation that those with vested interests in AI could be supporting the filmmakers’ challenge. Chapman University declined to answer our question about the identity of donors.

Speak to students at Dodge, and they are not naive about the inevitability of AI — they accept that they should be learning about the disruptive technology before entering the workplace. But there is a sense that this should be done cautiously, and in the context that AI is killing jobs they would like to occupy. Some do not see this balance in Dodge’s communications — in fact, one recent graduate tells Deadline’s Rendering column that the promotion of artificial intelligence filmmaking is “tone deafness.” Dodge denies this.

“It’s one thing to provide an option to learn about AI, but it’s another thing to incentivise and push students towards something detrimental to meaningful work,” says Wells Goltra, a senior in documentary film. “It’s frustrating to see time, energy, and finances invested in something that does not foster creativity.” Another source, who wished to remain anonymous, put it this way: “It seems to be spitting in the face of the industry that they are pushing these students into.”

There is also a sense that encouraging students to machine-generate their filmmaking could actually damage collaboration between departments and disciplines. One former student says Dodge first experienced an AI backlash last year, when the college enhanced pictures of the campus using AI, rather than turning to the animation students in its lecture halls. The illustrated pictures, some of which Deadline has seen, were eventually pulled down from social media.

In response to the concerns, a Chapman University spokesperson says: “We are taking a thoughtful and deliberate approach to artificial intelligence in our policies and practices inside and outside of the classroom. This includes the formation of interdisciplinary and cross-functional groups across the university to look at the issues, benefits, and potential concerns about AI, as well as the development of a survey that is being distributed to our entire university (faculty, staff, and students) to learn their perspectives. 

“The reality is that AI is already part of our society and is a growing practice in numerous industries. In our pursuit of developing global citizens, we have a duty to expose our students to AI best practices and help them navigate it responsibly and ethically. As a highly creative and innovative university spanning the creative and performing arts and science and technology, we also know that nothing can equal the creativity and ingenuity of the human spirit, which we greatly value and nurture every day.”

Students are not totally convinced. In a report for Chapman’s The Panther Newspaper, film writing student Kiera Nusbaum summed up the mood like this: “Students [are] wondering if the school’s intentions in incorporating AI stem from genuine motivation towards innovating the film industry, or pushing a different agenda based on shock value in an attempt to stimulate discussion.”