The day I master AI

Has the ex-actor turned talent manager, singer, songwriter and record producer James Reid sold his five-story house at Loyola Grand Villa in Quezon City? Did anyone finally grab it at P80 million?

If he has sold it, where does the ex-boyfriend of actor Nadine Lustre live now, and what does his new dwelling look like?

A content-making artificial intelligence (AI) service could easily produce an organized report about that house where Reid and Lustre lived for a few years before breaking up. That’s assuming there are sporadic data on the Internet about the properties of Pinoy showbiz idols. Some idols do put up (humbly or boastfully?) on their social media their property acquisitions but usually with no estimated costs of those properties.

Since showbiz stars are private citizens who generally do not get paid from people’s taxes, they are more inclined to bare their assets--unlike politicians and government officials many of whom try to avoid submitting the sworn statement of assets and liabilities if they can get away with it.

But how wealthy a showbiz idol has become over the years will always be an interesting story for an entertainment journo to write. And write with substantial and truthful details AI may be able to put together with clear instructions from the journo.

Reports about first-day gross box-office revenues of Pinoy movies shown in theaters would be less doubtful if there were tracking companies in the country that report on cinema performances. If a showbiz journo has the logistics, the journo could ask an AI to churn out a report about first-day box office intakes of both local and foreign films. AI services are not for free. Even the ones available in the country still charge in dollars and euros.

Since there are no box-office revenue trackers in the country, it is almost impossible for an individual to come up with an impressive report soon after the opening day. Movies are now shown nationwide simultaneously, unlike 10 to 20 years ago when they were screened in Metro Manila first and a week later in the provinces.

In the distant past, movies were literal reels of film negatives whose heavy copies were delivered by bicycle-riding men to theaters that were near each other. Screenings don’t start all at the same time. Some movie houses can start screening only after 30 minutes or an hour so the so-called lagarista (from the Tagalog lagari for “saw”) can deliver the first reels to the other movie houses. These days, a full movie can be recorded in a single digital disc provided to theater operators who have to sign a sworn statement that he will not replicate the disc.

Distributing copies of movies have become easy, but not the information on how much each movie grossed in a day. It might be easy for SM cinemas all over the country to aggregate the information, but they probably have no good reason to share the info to the public, so why should they bother? Which may be a blessing to the movie producers because they can pad a bit or so much their movie’s first-day revenue. But it’s foul for the readers!

Oh, there are really many juicy stories that showbiz journos can think of and post and earn views by the tens and hundreds of thousands. Stories that need assistance from AI.

I wish AI services in the country would be made affordable soon for journos who earn only per story or per column output. I am definitely excited to order an AI tool. I should be its master, not its slave.