An AI music video was booed at the Annecy Animation Festival, prompting a wave of discussion about the role of AI in creative fields, the future of animation, and the standards expected at prestigious events such as Annecy.
The Annecy Animation Festival is renowned for its celebration of the art and craft of animation, so the booing incident became a significant moment of controversy for the Annecy crowd, especially the critics.
AI Music Video for Étoile Filante Met with Boos at Annecy
In the sea of titles projected at the Annecy Festival, the French music video for Chien Méchant's Étoile Filante produced using artificial intelligence (AI) was met with a notably cold reception, with some of the spectators booing the clip, according to French VFX, animation, and gaming website, 3DVF.
Kelzang Ravach directed this AI music video for Étoile Filante, which Temple Caché and Mélusine Caillau produced.
It was part of the commission films in competition and was shown to an audience made up primarily of animation experts and students from Europe's top schools.
While the Annecy audience practically applauded everything on the screen, the music video for Étoile Filante ended with a few claps, with the vast majority remaining silent and others expressing their displeasure with boos.
This reaction demonstrates the wide rift in the animation field over the acceptance and worth of AI-generated material.
After all, Annecy is one of the world's premier animation festivals, and the audience is used to such high-quality, engaging work that AI-generated content frequently falls short of.
Annecy Artistic Director Says AI Is Not Prohibited
Aside from the AI music video for Étoile Filante, Ryo Nakajima's 68-minute Japanese film Who Said Death is Beautiful? which used the Stable Diffusion AI program was likewise received with criticism.
This prompted Annecy's artistic director, Marcel Jean, to issue a statement (translated from French) regarding the choice to include films developed with AI in this year's Annecy Animation Festival.
Accordingly, the festival has no rule that prohibits the use of artificial intelligence. He also revealed that they received numerous works using AI this year, some of them seeking to embark on a new path.
This is the reason they are inclined to share these works with the public, not only to stimulate them but also to provoke debates.
With regards to music videos using AI, the Annecy artistic director thinks that music videos are the “ideal breeding ground for AI” due to various factors, such as low production costs.
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