Hollywood

Avid Technology, the editing software company, is the latest entertainment industry player to introduce AI into its toolbox.

The company behind industry-standard platforms Pro Tools and Media Composer said it is entering a multiyear partnership with Google Cloud.

The goal is to implement both generative and agentic AI so that users can turn the “mostly manual process into an intelligent, AI-assisted experience,” Avid said in a statement Thursday morning.

“The primary bottleneck in Hollywood is manual labor [in editing] and managing thousands of hours of high-risk footage,” Avid Chief Executive Wellford Dillard told The Times. “This isn’t us just adding a new tool. It’s going from static files sitting on hard drives, to living data that understands its context.”

Google’s Gemini models and Vertex AI will be embedded directly into Avid’s processes, offering customers a chance to accelerate their editing time. Avid’s Media Composer, the editing system used on most professional film and TV productions, will now include a Gemini extension that could enhance metadata and generate B-Roll.

The company said that, overall, using AI on its platforms enables systems to understand the context of every file — allowing users to describe what they need based on visual movements, on-screen dialogue and emotional cues.

Dillard said that when someone uses Media Composer for editing, it can often be frustrating to click in and out of the application in search of the right shot buried within hours of footage. Now, he said, clients can describe the shot to AI, which could find it faster.

Anil Jain, global managing director at Google Cloud, said that these tools can do both simple functions like tweaking a scene’s background, or achieve more complex tasks, like creating promotional material.

“Most storytellers don’t get excited about putting together a promo, but if they could leverage AI to help do it a lot faster, then it becomes more interesting, gets it done and opens up the possibility of more creative time,” Jain said.

Avid, founded in 1987, is based in Burlington, Mass., and has since established itself as a pioneer in digital audio and video editing software. The company said its software was used to edit 87% of this year’s Oscar-winning productions, including the movies “K-Pop Demon Hunters” and “One Battle After Another.”

Avid is one of the many media companies that has recently incorporated AI into its services. In March, Netflix acquired Ben Affleck’s AI filmmaking company, Interpositive. Disney invested $1 billion into OpenAI’s now shuttered Sora platform. Even in the music industry, the “Big Three” labels have inked individual deals with AI startups like Udio, Klay and Suno — after suing a few of the same companies for copyright infringement.

Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor of information studies at UCLA, said these kinds of deals are the “new normal” and that “almost every single industry is being sort of eaten up by the Pac-Man of AI.”

But he said he’s not sure that this kind of AI will only be used for mechanical tasks.

“Editing is a task that involves creativity and human artisanship. An editor is not just someone who mechanically reproduces a number of steps. They have a sense of storytelling in mind,” said Srinivasan. “In terms of AI-created content, the initial research is showing that it is flattening creativity. It’s putting out the dominant patterns that it can copy, rather than reflect, the specific diverse and creative ways we can write, or edit.”

To Dillard, Avid’s CEO, incorporating AI is a way to ensure that creators can make enough content to keep up with audiences’ increasing demands.

“The demand for content is almost insatiable, and dollars are limited. This work can help compress those production timelines [and make] more content,” Dillard said. “Our hope is that we’re actually enabling the world, within the same budget constraints that the studios have today. You’re producing more content, and you are also opening the doors for smaller production houses to be able to produce more content competitively.”

CBS hasn’t given up on producing an original late-night show — despite easing Stephen Colbert out the door.

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” ends next month after CBS canceled the popular program, citing financial pressures. The network’s top two executives told reporters during a press briefing in Hollywood on Wednesday that the network still wants to be a player in the 11:35 p.m. hour.

CBS struck a one-year deal with media mogul Byron Allen to bring his “Comics Unleashed” syndicated show to the prominent time slot once occupied by David Letterman until Colbert took the mantle a decade ago. President Trump, in social media posts, has taken credit for getting Colbert, whom he dislikes, tossed off the air.

Colbert’s final broadcast will be May 21.

Beyond the stop-gap arrangement with Allen, network executives acknowledged they don’t have a long-term plan for the late-night hours — but development executives are working on it.

“We are still going to develop other ideas, other concepts,” said George Cheeks, whose role as chair of TV Media at Paramount includes running CBS. He added that Allen’s programs, including “Funny You Should Ask” at 12:35 a.m., will allow the company to immediately turn a small profit — an increasingly critical mandate as CBS prepares to absorb the high cost of keeping NFL football on its schedule.

“If we are going to go back into that space, we have to go back into that space with a different financial model,” Cheeks said, in contrast to a show set in a theater with a band, live audience and large group of writers and support staff to stage a nightly show with numerous guests.

“I grew up in late night — I believe in late night,” Cheeks said. “The reality is that the reach is still there, but the reach is primarily on YouTube.”

It’s become increasingly difficult for CBS or other major networks to make money on a topical show when the majority of the audience, particularly younger viewers, watch snippets on YouTube.

CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach acknowledged the network wasn’t actively developing a replacement late-night show; instead the effort was in the brainstorming stage. “They’re just conversations at this point,” she said.

CBS can make money on “Comics Unleashed” because Allen pays CBS for the hours and covers production costs. In return, Allen’s company receives most of the commercial spots in the programs, which his company can sell to advertisers to defray its costs.

Cheeks dismissed concerns that Allen’s programs, which have been in syndication for years, would not be viewed as “CBS-level quality.” He called Allen “a great partner.”

“Comics Unleashed” has run at 12:35 a.m., but CBS is moving it one hour earlier on the schedule, where it will have more exposure and benefit from running immediately after TV stations’ local late news. “Funny You Should Ask” will air in the 12:35 a.m. time slot.

“I actually think the shows are strong. … They have a point of view,” Cheeks said of Allen’s programs. “It’s a change in format … a change from what people are used to.”

It’s been a rough year for CBS.

The last 12 months have included a nasty spat with Trump over a “60 Minutes” segment with Kamala Harris, which Paramount ended by paying the president $16 million. Then came the tempest over Colbert’s cancellation just days after he called the Trump settlement “a big fat bribe.”

The network got new owners — David Ellison and Skydance Media — in August and Ellison promptly installed a new boss at CBS News, Bari Weiss, who has made talent moves to shake up the division.

Six weeks ago, Paramount prevailed in the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery — a deal that will bring more turmoil to Paramount, CBS and Hollywood production.

Because of last year’s Paramount change in ownership, the NFL has the ability to reopen the network’s TV license deal, which is expected to increase the cost of retaining the NFL by as much as $1 billion a year, potentially cutting into CBS’ programming budget.

“Capital allocation is always a major consideration,” Cheeks said. “But I would harken back to something that David Ellison said recently, which was content investment was mission critical to the future of this company.”

CBS unveiled its new fall schedule Wednesday, announcing that fan-favorite LL Cool J was returning to star in a new show, “NCIS: New York,” with Scott Caan, and the introduction of a new legal drama, “Cupertino,” from hit-making executive producers Robert and Michelle King. CBS will serve up two other new shows, including a comedic drama, “Einstein,” and a half-hour vampire family comedy, “Eternally Yours.”

Cheeks also acknowledged that, for the first time in 18 years, CBS would not end the television season in first place in viewers. This year, that honor goes to NBC, which broadcast a blockbuster February with the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics.