(Montreal) If artificial intelligence raises questions about the protection of intellectual property in the cultural industry, the big boss of Cirque du Soleil, Stéphane Lefebvre, believes that the risk is relatively low for the Quebec company.
“We don’t have all the answers yet, but I would be lying to say that I am very worried given the strength of the trademark,” replied Mr. Lefebvre in an interview on Tuesday, on the sidelines of a speech before the Cercle. Montreal Canadian.
Cirque’s “strong” trademark represents protection against attempted copying, he said. “There are a lot of people in the past who wanted to do things that looked like Cirque du Soleil, even without artificial intelligence,” he adds. There may be a lot of people who want to create similar circus shows, but without having the Cirque trademark, the Cirque seal of quality, it would become more complicated for people. »
Artificial intelligence raises many questions in the cultural and artistic industry. Users have been able to create images, text or music inspired by the work of other artists. Recently, a fake duet copying the voices of Drake and The Weeknd went viral on social media and caused a stir in the artistic community.
In private, Mr. Lefebvre says he had fun experimenting with chatbots. “I did it myself, not so long ago, for purely personal purposes to tell a story to my children. It’s very fast. So it is possible. The technology is there today. »
Cirque du Soleil does not completely close the door to the use of this technology in its creative process, but the leader seems more inclined to consider it for administrative operations.
“We’re trying to see how we can use artificial intelligence to help us outside of the creative sphere,” he replies. Because it can still be an interesting support from an administrative point of view, to become more and more efficient. So those are things that are being studied right now. »
The question is more complex when it comes to creation, notes Mr. Lefebvre. “We are still studying to understand what it can mean, where it can help, but also the pitfalls that there can be, in particular the legal pitfalls. »