Amazon Begins Quiet AI Trials in Film and TV Production, Promising Assistance Rather Than Replacement

Amazon is preparing to test a new set of in-house artificial intelligence tools inside its film and television division, marking one of the most concrete attempts yet by a major Hollywood studio to embed AI into mainstream production workflows.

The closed beta, scheduled to run from March through May, will take place at Amazon MGM Studios and involve a small group of trusted creative partners. Amazon says the tools are designed to support filmmakers, not replace them, but the timing ensures the experiment will be closely watched by unions still wary after recent strikes over AI use.

What Amazon Has Built

Last year, Amazon quietly set up an internal unit known as “AI Studio” to develop proprietary tools tailored specifically for film and TV production. Unlike off-the-shelf generative AI products, these tools are built for controlled studio environments and tightly integrated with Amazon’s own infrastructure.

The system is designed to assist across multiple stages of production, including planning, visual effects, and post-production. According to people familiar with the project, the emphasis is on technical acceleration rather than creative authorship.

Core goals include maintaining visual and character consistency across scenes and episodes, expanding large-scale environments such as crowds or battle sequences, and reducing the time spent on repetitive VFX and editing tasks.

Early Use Inside Amazon Productions

Amazon has already tested AI-assisted production techniques internally.

One example cited by industry sources is the biblical drama House of David, where AI-generated visuals were reportedly blended with live-action footage to enhance large scenes. The use of AI allowed the studio to scale visual scope more efficiently after Prime Video restructured parts of its production staff.

Amazon has not positioned this work as fully automated content creation, but rather as selective augmentation inside a traditional production pipeline.

How the Beta Program Will Run

The upcoming beta will be led by Albert Cheng, a longtime Amazon executive and former COO of Amazon Studios who now oversees the AI Studio initiative.

Participants include a small group of experienced creatives, such as production designers, animators, and producers with backgrounds in major studio projects. Amazon says the goal is to test practical workflows with professionals who understand both creative and technical constraints.

From a technical standpoint, the tools will rely heavily on Amazon Web Services and will integrate models from multiple AI providers rather than depending on a single in-house system.

What Amazon Says the Tools Will and Will Not Do

Amazon has been careful in its messaging.

Executives involved in the project emphasize that human oversight remains mandatory and that the tools are meant to assist with execution, not to originate stories, write scripts, or replace creative decision-making.

The company has also highlighted intellectual property protection as a priority. Amazon says content generated for its productions will be isolated and not reused to train external models in ways that could compromise ownership or licensing rights.

In public statements, Amazon consistently frames the initiative as a way to reduce production costs and timelines while keeping creative control firmly in human hands.

Why Hollywood Is Watching Closely

The announcement arrives in a sensitive climate.

The 2023 strikes by writers and actors placed AI at the center of labor negotiations, resulting in new rules around disclosure, consent, and compensation when AI tools are used. While the updated agreements allow certain applications of AI, they also leave room for future disputes as technology evolves.

Against that backdrop, even limited experiments can trigger concern. Many industry workers worry that tools designed to make post-production faster could gradually reduce demand for VFX artists, editors, and other specialized roles.

The concern is not a single leap, but a series of small steps that normalize AI-heavy pipelines before labor frameworks fully catch up.

The Bigger Picture

Amazon is not alone in exploring AI for production, but it is one of the first major studios to formalize an internal testing program at this scale.

By keeping the beta closed and emphasizing collaboration with experienced creatives, Amazon appears to be taking a cautious approach. At the same time, its willingness to deploy AI tools inside real productions signals that the post-strike era of experimentation has begun.

Whether these tools remain limited assistants or become a deeper structural change will depend on results from the beta, union negotiations, and how audiences and creators respond.

For now, Amazon’s experiment underscores a reality Hollywood cannot avoid. AI is no longer a hypothetical disruption. It is being tested quietly, shot by shot, inside the production process itself.