AI may be a dirty word in Hollywood, but Mr Mooser says their version of the technology is "clean." "Artists should be at the table," he says, adding that it's better to build the tool for filmmakers rather than get "rolled over by big tech companies". Artificial Intelligence has long been depicted as a villain in Hollywood. In "The Terminator," AI used by the US military decides it must destroy everyone on Earth. But it's AI's creators, and not the technology itself, that has received the brunt of real-life criticism.

The vast majority of robots have never made it out of their laboratories, but there were plenty of signs in 2023 that robots are beginning to have their moment in the sun. These photos showcase some of the most eye-catching machines from the past year, and also tell the story of a class of technology that is becoming increasingly visible in everyday life. Boston Dynamics' robot dog Spot, first seen in 2016, may seem old hat, but its real-world applications have grown since it became commercially available in 2019. The New York Police Department has bought two Spot robots, to be deployed in situations that present a high danger to humans, while e-commerce giant Otto Group has employed the robots in its warehouses for equipment inspections. This year, Spot could also be seen removing a model's jacket as part of a Paris Fashion Week show.

Bouciegues said he has had some performers with whom he has worked express concerns about being scanned for projects but noted that it's been a relatively common practice for some time in the entertainment industry. "These particular scans are by no means suspicious," Bouciegues said. "They've been around since the early 2000s. And almost every movie with heavy VFX or whatever, every performer is scanned." WATCH: ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S STUNT COORDINATOR EXPLAINS WHY HE WANTS A FAIR CONTRACT IN STRIKE NEGOTIATIONS "What I think that the fear is is that AI is going to improve on [and] going to make more efficient the pipelines that are in place already," he continued, citing the example of creating a large digital army through AI versus hiring dozens or hundreds of performers.

Better pay and new agreements with streaming platforms: the actors' strike that brought Hollywood to a standstill a few days ago is mainly about money. But there is something else that film actors are worried about: the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence. It's understandable at any rate, says Peter van der Putten, an assistant professor on the SAILS (Social Artificial Intelligence and Life Sciences) interdisciplinary research programme. We're scared of losing control or becoming redundant. Otherwise it would have vanished a long time ago.

Artificial intelligence can now create images, novels and source code from scratch. Except it isn't really from scratch, because a vast amount of human-generated examples are needed to train these AI models – something that has angered artists, programmers and writers and led to a series of lawsuits. Hollywood actors are the latest group of creatives to turn against AI. They fear that film studios could take control of their likeness and have them "star" in films without ever being on set, perhaps taking on roles they would rather avoid and uttering lines or acting out scenes they would find distasteful. Worse still, they might not get paid for it.

Hollywood's actors and writers will join forces on the picket line from Friday, after studios failed to reach a deal this week with the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). It is the first time the two unions have been on strike simultaneously since 1960, when actor – and future US president – Ronald Reagan led the protests. Among SAG-AFTRA's 160,000-strong ranks are many of the world's biggest stars. Hollywood's A-listers, from Tom Cruise to Angelina Jolie to Johnny Depp, are card-carrying union members. Stars including Meryl Streep, Ben Stiller and Colin Farrell have come out publicly in favour of the strike.