The week's developments on the intersection of AI and creative content | 30.04.24

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This week James Cameron predicts his job may be at risk from AI, but that talented actors  — like Terminator’s Arnie — are pretty irreplaceable. Meanwhile, the creators behind the short film ‘Air Head’ reveal the strengths (speed + quality) vs weaknesses (pretty much everything else) of OpenAI’s Sora: Will the next Oscar nominee be an AI prodigy, or are we safe to say Hollywood’s heart still beats human?

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola is remixing music with its AI 'Coke SoundZ' instrument, now hitting studios worldwide. And in the art scene, Boris Eldagsen's AI-crafted photograph "Pseudomnesia: The Electrician" hits the London market with a whopping €20,000 price tag.

We cover these stories, plus the AI Putin biopic, Sony’s AI that auto-plays games for you, and Netflix’s new ‘AI Propaganda’ starring J-Lo…

— Charlie and the Research and Intelligence Team

Ps. You are now able to sign up for the super early bird offer (75% off) to the CogX AI Summit in London on October 7th here.

Cinema and Industry

🎬Can AI replace James Cameron? The director certainly thinks so, acknowledging AI might eventually take over tasks like script writing and directing films. However, he firmly believes that AI cannot replicate the unique human qualities of actors (so Schwarzenegger's safe). 

🥋Martial arts and nappies: The AI Putin biopic. The film combines real Ukrainian footage from the Russian invasion with AI-generated scenes of Putin (in a soiled nappy and practising martial arts?), to clarify motives and shed light on a controversial political figure.

🎮Sony has filed a patent for an AI-driven 'auto-play' feature adapted to mimic a player’s style will assist gamers during the less engaging parts of a game, allowing them to skip content they find mundane. However, it is not aimed at fully automating gameplay.

🤔Sora short film creators discuss the tech’s strengths and limitations. Achieving professional results (while possible) still requires storyboarding and post-production, with challenges in consistency and detail control requiring complex workarounds and extensive editing.

Arts and Entertainment

🥤Coca-Cola has launched the AI 'Coke SoundZ' instrument that converts iconic cola sounds into music. Designed to mimic the iconic Coca-Cola bottle, the instrument is already being used in studios globally and is available as a free digital version in the US and Europe. 

🎵Artist with synesthesia uses AI to translate colours (that he perceives as sounds) into music: a novel AI art genre. He has developed an algorithm that composes music from these colour-sound correlations, leading to performances that blend visual art and music.

🌀Surrealism in the age of AI: Both employ automatism and estrangement from rational control, with AI art produced through algorithms that mimic these concepts — with platforms like DALL-E and Midjourney creating surrealist images by blending vast amounts of data.

📸Controversial AI photo comes to market for €20,000, one year after Boris Eldagsen controversially won and then declined the Sony World Photography Award for his AI-created piece "Pseudomnesia: The Electrician" (2022), its first appearance on the London market. 

🤖Approx 1,000 Steam games use gen-AI, says developer Ichiro Lambe. His research explores the diverse applications of the tech ranging from character art to narrative content, and suggests a growing trend of its integration into game development processes.

In case you missed it

Netflix just dropped the trailer for new sci-fi starring Jennifer Lopez and it’s being dubbed ‘AI propaganda’ — what are your thoughts?

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🚀 You are now able to sign up for the super early bird offer (75% off) to the CogX AI Summit in London on October 7th here.