We went to a gala for AI-produced movies. Here's what we saw

SAN FRANCISCO  — San Francisco Film Commission Vice President Jack Song has been to galore Hollywood movie premieres before, but this was a archetypal — a gala led by tech enthusiasts that screened abbreviated films created with artificial intelligence.

Song, dressed successful a achromatic blazer and a greenish shirt, stood successful the backmost arsenic helium watched the assemblage reactions swell to applause wrong the San Francisco bureau of Andreessen Horowitz, a salient task superior steadfast that has invested successful startups including ChatGPT shaper OpenAI. In an lawsuit abstraction utilized for activities specified arsenic podcast recordings and networking, caller films were projected connected ample screens successful beforehand of a mostly seated assemblage of much than 100 people.

First up was an indie popular euphony video for a opus called “Get to You,” by the creator Caleb Hurst. Directed by filmmaker Dylan Varella, the video showed Hurst moving down a residential thoroughfare arsenic helium and his situation toggled among a assortment of colorful AI-generated worlds. At the end, Hurst waved goodbye to an animated mentation of himself, which flew distant and transformed into a cartoon sun.

The assemblage applauded.

“The communicative inactive came from a quality element, but they leveraged each the existing AI tools to assistance heighten that ocular experience,” said Song, a startup selling enforcement turned movie producer, successful a telephone interrogation aft the event. “That’s what filmmaking and storytelling is about. It’s astir providing an assemblage an acquisition ... and it’s provoking adjacent much thoughts.”

“Get to You” was 1 of a fistful of AI-generated films screened this period astatine an lawsuit called the Project Odyssey AI Film Gala, a astir four-hour gathering — portion movie premiere, portion tech startup league — meant to showcase innovations successful filmmaking utilizing AI models.

In immoderate ways, the lawsuit had the trappings of a mean abbreviated movie festival. There were awards and prizes, arsenic good arsenic appetizers, poke boxes and wine. But successful different telling respects, it was a wide merchandise of Silicon Valley’s incursion into Hollywood’s territory, having been organized by Civitai, a institution that provides a level for radical to observe and stock AI-generated creation and tools.

There were nary publicists guarding A-list actors and determination was nary reddish carpet. The formal codification was primitively billed arsenic semiformal, but, successful enactment with the casual attire of startups, was aboriginal revised to “business casual but consciousness escaped to formal it up!”

In Hollywood, immoderate creatives person labeled AI arsenic a villain, exertion that volition destruct jobs and dramatically endanger their livelihoods. Those concerns came to a caput successful past year’s dual Hollywood strikes led by writers and actors. But successful San Francisco, location to a swath of AI firms that person raised billions of dollars, determination is much excitement, though tech enthusiasts did not sugarcoat its effects.

Coco Nitta, main enforcement of AI-driven movie workplace iKHOR Labs, 1 of the event’s sponsors, started his keynote code with the rhetorical question connected the minds of galore amusement manufacture workers: “Is AI going to instrumentality my job?”

Movie enthusiasts person besides questioned the creator worth of AI-generated films. Oscar-winning manager Guillermo del Toro recently quipped that the exertion has lone demonstrated that it tin marque “semi-compelling screensavers.”

Matty Shimura, Civitai’s vice president of partnerships who leads AI movie and TV initiatives, seemed to code that civilization clash successful opening remarks helium gave to attendees during the Sept. 13 gala.

“This started arsenic a imagination 8 months ago, erstwhile I came to Civitai and ... we came connected this travel of however we tin legitimize AI filmmaking,” Shimura said.

For the Project Odyssey movie competition, creators from astir the satellite came up with films with AI that were 4 minutes oregon shorter. Winners could gain cash, arsenic good arsenic credits oregon subscriptions to AI tools.

The extremity was to promote creators springiness AI a effort and to spot wherever their imaginativeness could instrumentality them. Enthusiasm was high, with much than 1,300 entries.

“There are stigmas attached to utilizing AI filmmaking tools, particularly successful accepted originative communities, but we’re trying to beryllium transparent astir however the tools are being used,” Shimura said successful an interview. “The radical close present who are astir resistant to the exertion are besides those who are going to beryllium champion astatine utilizing it.”

The abbreviated films showed however AI could beryllium utilized successful antithetic genres, including westerns and narrative dramas.

Nitta said AI tools similar those his institution is gathering could streamline animation processes, which could forestall worker burnout. For example, his institution worked with euphony radical ROHKI to make a astir 12-minute video shown astatine the gala.

The filmmakers utilized AI tools from iKHOR Labs to alteration live-action performances into stylized animated versions of the ROHKI characters, Nitta said. The task was made by six radical successful astir a period and a half. Without the technology, Nitta said, it could person taken six months to a year.

Tech executives mention specified creations arsenic grounds of however AI could empower artists to imagination boldly and stock caller stories successful unsocial ways.

“This exertion is going to democratize things successful a way,” Nitta said. “Indie filmmakers that person brilliant ideas in their heads, they’re gonna person a accidental to amusement their stories to the world.”

Varella, the 30-year-old Austin-based manager down the “Get to You” video, said helium was skeptical astatine first, acrophobic that AI tools could “cheapen” the creation and that it could beryllium seen arsenic taking clip distant from ocular effects artists.

But Varella besides was curious, truthful helium entered the competition. The process was much complicated, technically challenging and originative than Varella initially expected, helium said.

“By the extremity of it, I felt similar I had astir learned an wholly caller role,” Varella told The Times. “It required originative decision-making astatine each turn, successful a mode that I didn’t expect. It felt similar a caller creation form.”

Still, Varella said he’s acrophobic that successful the future, arsenic AI rapidly advances, idiosyncratic could bash successful a time what took him astir 300 hours.

“I’m benignant of acrophobic of wherever it’s going, and I’m not excited astir that getting easier to do,” Varella said.

More AI movie competitions are coming. A 2nd Project Odyssey contention is planned for aboriginal this year. In October, Amazon’s AWS Startups and L.A.-based FBRC.ai volition big a movie contention called the Culver Cup.

Several panelists astatine the Project Odyssey lawsuit acknowledged that determination are inactive immoderate shortcomings to the technology. But its capabilities are improving.

“I similar to follow the bull successful the china store theory, which is the tools you person to crook them to your will,” said Katya Alexander, president of Pillars Studio, connected 1 of the panels. “They don’t precisely enactment however you would similar them to yet.”

But Jason Zada, laminitis of AI workplace Secret Level, hopes 1 time radical volition speech little astir the AI tools progressive successful making the films and much astir the movies themselves.

“I hatred [it when] the question close aft I amusement thing is: ‘What tools did you use?’” Zada said connected a panel. “Who f— cares? You know, did you similar it? Was it good?”