Is there a future for human content-creators in a post-ChatGPT world?
That鈥檚 what many content marketers, journalists and even some artists are nervously asking themselves, as AI chatbots and realistic text-to-image technology (most famously Midjourney) explode in both quality and quantity.
But until recently, 鈥渢ext-to-video鈥� was far more rudimentary, with algorithms regurgitating stock footage and stitching it together like a lazy marketing intern. There was no conjuring up of startlingly-real, original videos with just a few prompts.
So when a string of fictitious, AI-produced video ads surfaced in the last few weeks that generated video from scratch, new ground appeared to have been broken. But as impressive as that may sound, the results are a little鈥� rough around the edges, to say the least.
鈥淩eally Weird”
The first such video was released in late April by London-based production company . It was meant to be a beer ad, but the utterly hilarious-yet-creepy result 鈥� entitled 鈥淪ynthetic Summer鈥� 鈥� went viral almost as soon as it was uploaded to their Instagram page.
It turns out that Artificial Intelligence doesn鈥檛 quite get the mechanics of drinking a beer with friends. In fact, the algorithm didn鈥檛 seem to understand the mechanics of drinking at all. Or barbecues. Or beer. Or talking. Or laughing. Or鈥� well鈥� see for yourself:
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The first few seconds seem fairly normal, if a bit trippy, and the nostalgic sound of 鈥淎ll Stars鈥� by 1990鈥檚 rock band Smash Mouth is definitely a nice touch. But the video quickly spirals into something much more bizarre. Or as one commentator noted: 鈥淚t feels like a bad acid trip.鈥澛�
We go from people laughing in ways that aren鈥檛 humanly possible; to choosing increasingly odd ways of drinking from (sometimes floating?) beer cans. Eventually, the algorithm seems to have given up hope altogether: with an exquisite sense of timing the Smash Mouth song starts skipping, as the BBQ spews out a column of fire that consumes the still-jolly partygoers.聽
Then there鈥檚 the fact that all the people have at least 12 fingers on each hand. While the likes of Midjourney and co. have ironed out these glitches when producing still images, it seems that accurately representing human beings in a video is a lot more challenging.
鈥淪o Creepy But I Can鈥檛 Stop Laughing鈥�
The next day, a different artist took to Twitter and YouTube to release their own AI-generated ad 鈥� this time for a fictitious pizza joint. 鈥淒efinitely wasted 3 hours of my life making this today,鈥� mused the artist behind the Twitter handle Pizza Later. 鈥淓verything is AI from the VO to the video and images. Assembled in After Effects. More info below.鈥�
Again, the results were both terrifying and hilarious. 鈥淰ideos generated by artificial intelligence are like fever dreams,鈥� said one YouTube commenter, while another one remarked: 鈥淵es AI, please give me an early 90s Pizza Hut commercial but in the style of a terrible nightmare.鈥� 鈥淪o creepy but I can鈥檛 stop laughing,鈥� said a third.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like family, but with more cheese,鈥� the video ends. Sure.
So can videographers, video editors and other video-related professions all breathe a sigh of relief? For now, probably. But if the rapid evolution of related technologies like ChatGPT is any indicator, they might not have as long as they think.
