Metaphysic announced on Thursday that it had appointed Sam Head as its Senior Artificial Intelligence (AI) Model Artist to expand the company’s generative AI solutions.
Additional appointments include Thomas Salama, AI and Compositing Supervisor, Scott Bourne, AI Compositing Lead, and Matteo Olivieri Dancey, AI Innovation Lead.
The new entrants formally worked for major special effects (SFX) giant Industrial Light & Magic. They also created the metaverse experience for ABBA: Voyage, The Book of Boba Fett, and many others.
The four newly-appointed executives will work directly with the company’s Chief Innovation Officer, Jo Plaete, to expand the enterprise. The developments come amid massive partnerships and project expansions in the sector.
Partnerships include the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Miramax, and others, leading to generative AI work with the film “Here” and further work with America’s Got Talent.
For America’s Got Talent, Metaphysic developed hyperrealistic Elvis Presley avatars for the television programme.
Thomas Graham, Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Metaphysic said,
“The entertainment industry is rapidly evolving, and Metaphysic has quickly become an in-demand technology provider to help production houses and studios produce real-time, realistic enactments”
According to a Precedence Research report, the global generative AI market reached $10.79 billion USD last year and is set to reach $118:06 billion by 2032. It is also set to top a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.02 percent from 2023 to 2032, the report added.
The announcement comes amid the firm’s attendance at the Synthetic Futures event, which kicked off on Wednesday. The enterprise will discuss its collaborative work with generative AI for the gaming industry along with panel discussions, talks, and demos.
The event aims to hold talks on synthetic media and AI ecosystems, ethical, social, and cultural challenges, tackling DeepFake concerns, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and developing the Metaverse, among others.
Metaphysic’s Gen AI Hires
Head received notoriety for his hyperrealistic avatars on YouTube for movies, where he de-aged Star Wars protagonists Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, created a Mel Gibson cameo appearance in Mad Max Fury Road, and others. He also reimagined a young Luke Skywalker for the Mandalorian.
Lucasfilms has lauded him for his AI work, leading to his appointment as a Senior Facial Capture Artist to create real-time de-ageing for characters.
Head stated that as a visual artist, he wanted to “surprise and delight the viewer” by recreating or reimagining major scenes from entertainment.
He added: “Metaphysic is the preeminent technology company, setting the bar for the entire industry by developing hyperreal, photorealistic content for TV, film, and beyond, and I am thrilled to join this incredibly talented team.”
Salama has worked as Lead Compositor for ILM and DNEG, an award-winning VFX firm. He has worked along with Bourne and Olivieri-Dancey, with the three working as Digital Composers at ILM.
They have worked on impressive VFX for movies such as Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049, and the Star Wars and Jurassic World film series. With a combined experience of 12 years in generative AI, they aim to work with Metaphysic’s AI and VFX teams to develop next-generation technologies for the entertainment industry.
Web3 Takes on the Art, Film Industry
The news comes as global Web3 firms develop the next wave of immersive technologies for the entertainment industry. Adoption rates for immersive solutions have seen a meteoric rise over the last few years, with multiple firms leveraging new Web3 tools to engage their viewerships.
In art, the transformé and Beyond Digital exhibits in Montreal and New York, respectively, have showcased immersive artworks to audiences at exclusive venues. The works have received critical acclaim for capturing stories with Web3 tools aimed at deepening emotional impacts on attendees.
Additionally, Web3 artists Mat Collishaw and Danil Krivuchko have also gained massive praise for their immersive creations Heterosis, BEDLAM, and SNARK ART’s ‘Boids’ non-funtible token (NFT) collection.
To interact with fans and audiences, Sony recently teamed up with legendary anime studio Toei Animation to debut its ONN’ON STuDIOS venture. Using VRChat, attendees can meet in an Otaku-themed virtual space to view classic and upcoming films in virtual reality (VR).
Sony has recently struck a partnership with Epic Games to deliver first-rate virtual content creation tools to audiences. These aim to expand the former’s portfolio of interactive, collaborative Web3 experiences with NFTs, VR events, and metaverse infrastructure.
Acclaimed musicians leveraging Web3 avatars have also earned recognition from the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). The awards show opened a “Best Metaverse Performance” category for artists creating metaverse videos leading to artists such as Ariana Grande, BLACKPINK, Justin Bieber, and others receiving nominations.
