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Credit: Disney / PixarA viral video has settled a recent debate regarding the future of Disney animation and other studios. Watch it here!
It is no secret that some of the latest Walt Disney movies have stirred a heated debate online, from the Rachel Zegler-led live-action adaptation Snow White to Wish (2023), the movie that celebrated The Walt Disney Company’s 100th anniversary.
Whether due to casting, storytelling, or efforts to promote diversity and inclusion —which many have deemed “woke” in the past years — audiences’ response to these movies has not been overwhelmingly positive.
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Following these stirring conversations, a viral video has been released online, making netizens wonder if Artificial Intelligence will replace animation studios like Disney and Pixar in the future.
AI animation is here
With the accelerated growth of AI-based tools in programming, writing, and even design, it was expected that Artificial Intelligence would eventually take over animation.
Surprisingly, that day has arrived, and a company specializing in “creating characters, worlds, and stories” using generative AI tools has taken the internet by storm. It released an all-new teaser trailer that immediately went viral.
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Viral teaser revealed: Monster Camp & the Curse of CandyCrest
Earlier this month, The Monster Library, responsible for the polarizing video, proudly presented the teaser trailer for Monster Camp & the Curse of CandyCrest, which was entirely created and animated using technology developed by Luma AI. The latter specializes in creating “multimodal AI” tools to “expand human imagination and capabilities.”
The Monster Library used Luma AI’s Dream Machine, an AI model that makes “high quality, realistic videos fast from text and images. Luma AI describes Dream Machine as follows:
It is a highly scalable and efficient transformer model trained directly on videos making it capable of generating physically accurate, consistent and eventful shots. Dream Machine is our first step towards building a universal imagination engine and it is available to everyone now!
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You can see the AI-generated teaser trailer of Monster Camp & the Curse of CandyCrest in the video below or click here to watch it.
Unleash your inner monster maker: Monster Camp by @monster_library
Unleash your inner monster maker 🎥: Monster Camp by @monster_library pic.twitter.com/HyH56WyvAr
— Luma AI (@LumaLabsAI) June 12, 2024
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Viewers react. Is the animation industry at risk?
Now, the million-dollar question: does this viral video mean that Walt Disney Animation’s future is sealed? Will the company and other animation studios shut down to make way for the use of Artificial Intelligence?
At least for now, that is highly unlikely. While the teaser trailer for Monster Camp has engaging visuals and likely a compelling story, the video is plagued with inconsistencies that would not be acceptable in a Disney or Pixar animated movie.
Some of these striking errors include the consistency in character design, as many characters change entirely between shots, their interactions with the environment, with objects disappearing or flying in mid-air, mistakes in the background like gibberish text, and what many viewers called “soulless animation,” with characters staring blankly to the camera.
While some viewers applauded the debut of this AI-generated trailer, most of the reactions were negative.
One viewer commented, “It comes for your soul because they doesn’t have one.” Another added, “Wow that’s… Awful.” “This looks like s**t” also popped up in the reactions.
User @KorenSolust responded: “This is just god awful… You can see things are blending into one another and merging and text can’t even stay consistent. If they wanted something to generate trash for toddlers to just watch pretty colours move with squeaky voices, they found it.”
User @flikQ humorously commented: “Turns out animators and animation studios are gonna be fine.”
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Luma AI states that Dream Machine “understands how people, animals, and objects interact with the physical world,” allowing the tool to create “videos with great character consistency and accurate physics.”
However, this example demonstrates that Artificial Intelligence still has a long way to go before posing a threat to Disney, Pixar, and other animation studios like DreamWorks and Illumination.
You can watch a collection of these bloopers in the video below or click here to see it.
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The Walt Disney Company and Artificial Intelligence
While the company has not used Artificial Intelligence tools as prominently, The Walt Disney Company has been entangled in multiple debates involving AI.
Disney in trouble after using AI
While Disney continues to rely heavily on its animation studios and teams, the company is not exempt from scandals involving these technological advancements.
The Walt Disney Company received severe backlash over the alleged “hidden” use of AI in some of the most recent installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) presented as Disney+ original series — Loki (2021-2023) and Secret Invasion (2023).
The Disney Channel original movie Prom Pact (2023) also stirred debate. The film’s not-so-hidden use of Artificial Intelligence terrified audiences, put unsettling imagery on thousands of screens, and concerning experts about the possibility of AI replacing actors in the future.
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The growing — and increasingly concerning — use of AI even caused actor Bret Iwan, who voices the iconic Mickey Mouse, to come forward and share his stance on the use of this technology and the possibility that it could eventually replace actors in playing Mickey Mouse and other beloved Disney characters.
The company takes legal action against Artificial Intelligence
Last year, Disney fans worldwide jumped on a viral trend creating fake movie posters featuring their pets — among other things — inspired by the style of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Studios movies with an uncanny resemblance to the company’s creations.
The trend quickly gained traction and, inevitably, the attention of The Walt Disney Company, which, in a bold move, demanded that Microsoft modify its Bing Image Creator, as the generative AI tool misused Disney’s intellectual property, infringing trademarks and copyrights.
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In response, Microsoft initially blocked the term “Disney” from being entered into its Artificial Intelligence image generator, informing users that the prompt was against its policies.
However, this measure was later reversed, altering the logos of The Walt Disney Company and Pixar by changing letters or blurring characters to avoid infringing copyright and trademark laws while maintaining a recognizable image, leaving Disney’s concerns unresolved.
A report by the Financial Times revealed that Microsoft had pledged to assume legal responsibility for any commercial customers using its software who face complaints of breach of copyright due to material generated by its AI products.
Other major technological and creative firms using generative AI, including Adobe and OpenAI, have offered similar protections.
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It is unclear if Disney will continue to crack down on the use of its intellectual property and image through generative AI tools, as the report stated that the company had declined to comment on the subject.
What do you think of the viral Monster Camp & the Curse of CandyCrest trailer? Do you believe AI animation threatens Disney, Pixar, and other animation studios? Share your opinion with Inside the Magic in the comments below!