AI in entertainment is a hot topic right now, with Hollywood writers and actors striking over the potential use of AI in the creation of TV and movies. Those striking creatives likely do not want to hear that there’s a new AI that can allegedly “write, animate, direct, voice, and edit” an entire TV show — with the proof of concept being a fake episode of South Park.
The episode itself has been posted to Twitter by Fable Studios, as it announced its paper on “Generative TV & Showrunner Agents.” The episode itself is 11 minutes long, and briefly showcases the tool (called The Simulation) used to generate a story using AI. The user picks characters, locations, and enters a prompt for the AI to work from.
Announcing our paper on Generative TV & Showrunner Agents!Create episodes of TV shows with a prompt – SHOW-1 will write, animate, direct, voice, edit for you.We used South Park FOR RESEARCH ONLY – we won’t be releasing ability to make your own South Park episodes -not our IP! pic.twitter.com/6P2WQd8SvYJuly 18, 2023
In a very meta plot, the short features Cartman and Butters attempting to launch his own deep fake streaming service in the midst of an actor’s strike. It is, admittedly, a very South Park story, and like all of Cartman’s antics in the actual show things don’t go so well for him. Unfortunately, the plot is pretty basic and easy to deduce, and isn’t actually funny.
But the tech does seem rather impressive, assuming it’s working the way Fable claims. Though there are plenty of problems in terms of quality. Occasionally characters end up floating in mid-air, a lot of the character models look off and a bunch of the voices sound identical.
South Park does have a very basic animation style that might suit this proof of concept, but I do wonder how effective this tool would really be with other concepts.
Apparently, the studios’ goal is to create AIs that are “alive” rather than chatbots that only pop into existence when summoned. That way you could watch the lives of those AIs unfold on your TV — which is likened to reality TV and The Truman Show.
The Simulation has made it clear on both Twitter and speaking to TechCrunch that it has no intention of letting people create their own episodes of protected IP. However, it does have high hopes for the use of AI in entertainment, though the company admits the need for strong protections that would prevent producers using AI tools without artists’ permission.
I have to say, though, it’s a very strange time to be releasing this research and showing the possibilities of creating TV shows without a cast and crew. That feels like it runs contrary to the reasons why the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are on the picket lines.
It’s hoped that Simulation will launch later this year. However, at this stage, especially with the ongoing strike action, it’s unclear how such tools may end up being implemented in the tech industry. Hopefully, if they are, the results are slightly better than this fake episode of South Park — and fairer to the creatives themselves.
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