news culture An AI generating an entire episode of South Park with just one command line, the time has come for infinite TV content and it’s terrifying
Whether you’re more of the type who admires the abilities of the AI, or that the latter just scares or disgusts you, perhaps you won’t remain indifferent watching this episode of South Park entirely realized by the AI.
A whole robot know-how
Like it or not, artificial intelligence is still on the rise and continues to push the boundaries that we thought were insurmountable. When the world was already both amazed and frightened by the power of text or image-generating AIs like ChatGPT or Midjourney, Now, an American studio has upped the challenge even further by offering a complete episode of South Park produced entirely without human intervention save for writing a few command lines.
Fable Studios (whose activity has nothing to do with the fantasy game of the same name) intends to retire from the game with a demonstration that is as disturbing as it is impressive. Accompanying the release of their study on “generative television”
We’re announcing our article on Generative TV and Showrunner Agents!
Create episodes of TV shows with a command prompt – SHOW-1 writes, animates, directs, speaks and edits for you.
We have used South Park FOR RESEARCH USE ONLY – we will not publicize any way to create your own South Park episodes – not our intellectual property! pic.twitter.com/6P2WQd8SvY
— The Simulation (@fablesimulation) July 18, 2023
As you can see at the beginning of the video, The simulation promises an interface where you only have to choose a few characters and environments before writing a simple synopsis for the program to create an episode from scratch. Therefore, to generate the episode in question, it was only necessary to write the following sentences:
Cartman heard about the actors’ strike. The children are afraid that there will be no more series. Cartman announces his business idea: a streaming service based on Deep Fake called Queepi.
Fans of South Park in the original language will even recognize the relatively similar voices of the voice actors, but also those of famous actors who intervene in the episode, such as Meryl Streep or Tom Cruise. Suffice it to say that while such a feat can impress many people, it comes at a time that was not chosen by chance.
The strike will not end
If you’re the type of person waiting for the next seasons of your favorite series, you surely know that the entire Hollywood industry is facing a major strike right now. It was created by the Writers Guild of America (an association of American screenwriters) and was recently endorsed and restarted by actors’ union SAG-AFTRA.
Out of demands of the strikersOf course there is a demand for an increase in wages and working conditions, but also Guarantees regarding the rise of artificial intelligence, which could well render an entire industry unemployed if left unregulated. While many projects have already been postponed due to these social movements, the team at Fable Studios felt there was no better time to unveil their famous simulation. Although they used the current situation to illustrate their episode of South Park (the one you saw above, in which Cartman tries to set up a company of deep fakes to replace the striking actors), Fable Studios wanted to remind that the latter was created for research purposes only.
The president of the American studio, Edward Saatchi, even tried to defend his project as an aid to the scriptwriters and actors on strike. Asked by the site TechCrunchhe explained :
We think it’s the right time. By publishing our research, we hope that Hollywood unions will negotiate very, very strict safeguards against producers using AI tools without the express permission of the artists. (…) Honestly, IP holders must also find a way to negotiate with AI chatbot companies that benefit from their work.
While their intentions may seem laudable, it’s hard to believe the forwards will see it with a keen eye as the result shows exactly what they fear. It remains to be seen whether this project will be more successful in making the strikers heard… or, on the contrary, will convince producers that the entire creative process can soon be replaced at a lower cost. If you’re already the type to say that Netflix series or Marvel movies are all the same, you might as well say that AI probably won’t change that.