Amidst the ongoing strike of creatives in TV and film, US artificial intelligence company Fable Simulation has gone on to reveal an AI that can create an episode of South Park and allow users to star in it.
The company calls the tool AI Showrunner and upon entering a one or two-sentence prompt, it’ll generate an episode and even create an AI character based on the user’s looks and voice.
The company wrote on Twitter, “We started with a simulated town of South Park FOR RESEARCH ONLY: to see if the model is working we needed a comparison point with a real show. We are NOT releasing a way to make South Park episodes!!! That’s their IP! But Showrunner will let you make your own IP!”
Announcing our paper on Generative TV & Showrunner Agents!
— The Simulation (@fablesimulation) July 18, 2023
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/6P2WQd8SvY
“Our goal at The Simulation is AGI – AIs that are truly alive, not chatbots that pop into existence when we speak, but AI people, living REAL daily lives in simulations, growing over time.”
This AI tool can not only create episodes of TV shows with a prompt but can also, “Write, animate, direct, voice, edit for you,” the company wrote. You can read about the project in further detail in the white paper, To Infinity and Beyond: SHOW-1 and Showrunner Agents in Multi-Agent Simulations.
Is this the best time?
While some may perceive it as an impressive innovation, others will argue that the tool couldn’t have arrived at a worse time than now when about half of Hollywood is striking to have their demands met, one of which is to eliminate AI utilisation from the industry.
Speaking to TechCrunch, CEO Edward Saatchi thinks otherwise as he says, “We think the timing is correct — we are right in the middle of the biggest strike in 60 years, by releasing the research we hope [for] the Guilds in Hollywood to negotiate strong, strong, strong protections that producers cannot use AI tools without the express permission of artists.
“Frankly the IP holders also need to figure out how to negotiate with AI chatbot companies who are profiting from their work,” he adds.
The Hollywood strike has raised concerns among writers and actors about the potentially transformative impact of generative AI on TV and film. Fran Drescher, president of the SAG-AFTRA union said, “We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines.”
The AI company says it’ll be opening up the ability to use Showrunner agents and build simulations to creators in a safe step-by-step way. Interested users can join the waitlist from the official website.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
