Reply AI recently hosted the Mastercard-sponsored AI Film Festival, and the finalists were chosen at the prestigious 81st Venice Film Festival on September 3. The films were all created using different AI technologies and revolve around the theme of “synthetic voices, human hearts.” To find the finalists, an international panel of judges reviewed over 1,000 short films submitted from 59 countries.
The winner was To Dear Me, an animated short film by Gisele Tong, described as a “gripping exploration of self-discovery and healing.” You can watch the film below, but be aware that it contains scenes of domestic abuse. If you have experienced domestic abuse, call this number: 1.800.799.SAFE (7233) in the US, 0808 2000 247 (UK) or 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) (AU).
Second place went to One way by Egor Kharlamov and the third place was Curse by Mansha Totla, a documentary about World War II made entirely in AI. Criteria for the awards were that the film had to be generated or enhanced by AI, and the entrants used a wide range of different AI tools to create their films. You can watch the finalists and runners-up on the AI website answer.
There can be no doubt anymore that artificial intelligence (AI) is going to revolutionize the film industry in the future. That’s why we asked Filippo Rizzante, CTO of Reply AI, if he sees AI as a threat to the traditional film industry.
“AI is a tool. AI is not an entity,” says Filippo. “It’s like when humanity invented the camera (as a rival medium to) painting, and people were convinced, remember, that the camera stole people’s souls? It makes me think exactly the same.”
But isn’t he afraid that AI will take away people’s jobs in the film industry? “No, no. It will really disrupt organizations, not people,” says Filippo. “What will change is not only the possible creative output – so maybe there will be a new kind of creativity – but also the quantity. So in the 17th century, we were copying books by hand. Now we can’t count the number of books we can produce, and that will probably be the same with videos. That will enable much more in the future in terms of quantity, but also quality. This means that probably even more people will be needed to produce videos, because there is a bit of democratization, but it will disrupt organizations.”
Maybe Game of Thrones didn’t have to end this way
Filippo sees AI as a complement to filmmaking, rather than a replacement. “We will mix real reality with AI, sometimes just for visual efforts, sometimes, like in the short films that you will find in our competition, maybe to create things about your grandmother’s story, about your grandmother’s past, that today are not possible to create without big investments.”
But AI isn’t just about replicating the way we make movies now, it’s also about thinking about filmmaking in new and different ways. “With AI, you can also generate a movie on the fly, which means Game of Thrones might not end the way it did,” Filippo says. Making movies on the fly opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Imagine an AI that can scan your face to judge how you’re reacting to a movie, so it changes the plot accordingly. Or maybe if you don’t like the ending of a series, you can change it in a different way.
Instead of seeing AI as a threat to film and television, it could actually shake up an industry that has been in need of an overhaul for a while. No one likes to wait at least a year between seasons of their favorite show. It would be a blessing if AI generated the next season when you were ready for it. And I’m sure my reaction to the ending of Game of Thrones would have been easy to read even for a non-human!