Is Your AI Glass Half Full or Empty?
March 2024
Earlier this Spring I posted this on LinkedIn, but the ideas still swirl for me on the net-net value of these tools in this time of disruption for the industry at large. I wanted to bring it into my substack archives, but I guess it will auto-post as if it’s news. So for clarity, this is OLD news! But I think still relevant thinking :)
Today we see OpenAI’s latest share on what’s cooking with their Gen AI video tool Sora. This time around they invited a short list of hyper talented creators to play with their tool.
Paul Trillo's experiments prove yet again what a shooting star he continues to be in this space; such explosive creativity (though a bit dizzying here depending on your device). I personally enjoyed even more the piece he posted on his personal page yesterday telling the story of the Sagan Family’s famous Golden Record.
Don Allen Stevenson III's whimsical take on the wildlife documentary genre. Seems like in his mind is really where the wild things are!
The one that really stayed with me is the "Air Head" film from shy kids. Among this crop of shorts it’s the most narrative and perhaps analogous to the type of storytelling many of us are engaged in. It’s a humorous piece following the self-narration of a person in the world who has a balloon for a head (hence the title).
Creatively, I can’t help but wonder if this is actually autobiographical and we are seeing someone’s inner monologue using this fantastical imagery to communicate feelings. I personally love this potential of how AI video can express more intimately experiences that lack b-roll or archival.
But on a production level we enter the tug of war of the moment… there’s the main VFX conceit which in a traditional world mainly involves adding a CGI balloon over originally shot material. But seemingly (details aren't currently transparent) Sora generates the entirety of this film.*** Look at how many shots this film involves, locations, aerials, elaborate camera positioning, days shooting. I suspect that’s usually a costly short film with lots of people employed to produce it... which delivers on the fear of replacement so many have about this technology.(***Update: shy kids did post a BTS showing that quite a bit is done in post production, so no, not a magic slot machine. But my observations re: the resources skipped in field production remain accurate.)
On the other hand, would this film ever actually get made? Perhaps it serves a commercial brand’s values in which case they might fund something this unusual and hire all those people. But if it’s mainly a personal expression of a creator, what an amazing delivery of normally unattainable production resources within apps and tools accessible someday from anyone’s home.
This is an uncomfortable friction of the moment for many. Being myself among the many people in transition due to the changes in our industry, I don’t necessarily welcome more disruption and uncertainty for me and my community. But I can’t help but feel that when it becomes easier and faster to make creative things, more creative things happen and usually more opportunities emerge. I’m pretty sure that’s the case of how YouTube generated a multi-billion dollar economy by bringing the previously gate-kept powers of global distribution into the average creator’s hands.
It's a tricky one to predict, but what do you all think?