Kathleen Grace

David LaPorte

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“Chief AI officer” isn’t a classic Hollywood power title like “head of business development” or “social-media crisis manager for when a celeb loses their mind.” But get ready for that to change as more studios and agencies realize they need executives devoted to overseeing AI efforts.

Among the first to the campfire is Kathleen Grace. A former executive at YouTube and the rights-tracking AI company Vermillio, Grace was hired this winter as chief AI officer at Lionsgate, becoming the first person at a Hollywood studio to specifically hold that title.

What does that job actually mean and how does she feel the tech should — and shouldn’t — be integrated into the development pipeline? We chatted with Grace to find out.

Let’s start with the job description. What does a chief AI officer do?

I’ve been brought in to connect AI strategy with real execution as we continue to invest and find the right tools and put them in the hands of our filmmakers and showrunners. My goal is to very intentionally move forward with experimentation, but with clear guardrails and a strong focus on trust and creative partnership. Success is not just about, “Hey, let’s go try the latest model.” It’s about responsibly integrating AI across production, marketing, distribution and administrative workflows in a way that supports our creative teams, protects their rights and actually makes the work better.

You mention experimentation. I know it’s early in your tenure, but what could that look like?

For me, it’s structured, meaning it’s an iterative process, like software development. We pilot things before we go sell them as a series. We read scripts. Software development works very similarly. So how are we going to test the tools out there in a safe way, without even using any of our existing IP, and then, how do we do the work? Are they up to the standards of our creative teams? So it’s a very rigorous testing process that I’m trying to build internally.

So what kinds of things can readers see? What will AI experimentation look like to a Lionsgate consumer?

Like you said, right now it’s early. I like outlining the use cases and understanding what’s going to be most impactful for both Lionsgate and our partners. So it’s hard for me to give you a specific example I’m comfortable talking about publicly right now.

Do you see AI as an all-encompassing effort? That is, is this more of a filmmaker-support thing, invisible to consumers? Or can you envision creating platforms for the public?

I think we’re going to work across production, marketing, distribution and even administrative workflows — so every single aspect of our business. My vision is to support the showrunners and filmmakers and what they want to do. So they come to me with an idea that’s ambitious and cool. We’re going to do everything in a safe way. And be open. If it deepens the experience for the audiences we speak to, I’m into it.

What do you say to people who see this as more of an efficiency tool or a cost-cutting tool? Is that something you’d be OK with, or would you try not to use AI for that purpose?

Every era of filmmaking has been shaped by new technology. Things have changed black and white to color, film to digital and obviously, more recently, streaming. And at each time, there has been this anxiety, but at each time, the tools change. The role of filmmakers and genres as creative leaders did not, and so we see the following of a similar path, opening up creative possibilities, expanding the world that can be built and enabling new formats. Yes, it can introduce efficiency and speed, but it’s more about removing friction from the process, not people from it.

So those who say it will be the same amount of output, just now done more cheaply and with fewer people — you’d push back on that scenario.

Our goal is to make more space for creative ambition, not less, and to support the visions of our filmmakers and showrunners, not replace them. I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t a pressure to be more efficient in our business today. But that efficiency doesn’t have to mean fewer voices. It can just mean giving creative teams better tools earlier in the process. My previous role at Vermillio was entirely building a tech that allowed people to be fairly compensated for the use of their name, image and likeness. Previously at YouTube as well — I was deeply involved in the creator ecosystem. And so I continue to bring that expert

Lionsgate AI Chief Kathleen Grace Explains the Job, Runway Pact