On a new platform called Showrunner, users can create their own scenes and string them together to create full-length episodes.
Showrunner
Generative artificial intelligence is coming to streaming, with the launch of a platform dedicated to AI content, allowing users to create episodes by prompting them with just a few words.
Fable Studios, an Emmy Award-winning San Francisco startup, on Thursday unveiled ShowRunner, a platform that lets users write, voice and animate episodes of shows it produces. The initial release lets users watch AI-generated series and create their own content, with control over dialogue, characters, shot types and more.
The attempt marks the tech industry's further encroachment into Hollywood, where the use of AI tools has been embroiled in controversy over their potential for production efficiencies and the use of copyrighted material by creators that they may eventually replace. Last year, Fable released an AI-generated episode in a historic double strike in an industry where the use of AI became a contentious issue. South Park The company showed off the technology. While some mocked the video as a laughing matter, others pointed to it as a technological breakthrough, a proof of concept that AI tools could help viewers to more actively engage with content. Viewers might even be able to use the tools to create their own content. The video also raised the threat that the technology could be deployed in production, wasting creators' efforts.
“Our vision is to be the Netflix of AI,” says CEO Edward Saatchi. “Once you've watched every episode of the show you're watching, you can click a button to create the next episode. You can tell us what the episode will be about, or we can let the AI create it for you.”
Users can now sign up for a waitlist for the platform's free test, which Saatchi says is expected to run until the end of the year. The announcement featured 10 anime shows across a range of genres and styles, all of which were created with AI tools except for music and some transitions. Deguchi ValleyIt was billed as a satire of Silicon Valley, mimicking the anime style and comedic flavor of the show. South Park, Living and dyinga dark horror anime about survivors of a global disaster trying to rebuild society, and Shim Franciscois an anthology series about people living in a shared universe called “Sim Francisco,” which some of the shows are set in. The technology is limited to animation only and does not yet have the ability to create live-action shots.
Users are encouraged to create their own episodes of the show, and the best ones will be included in the series' catalog when the showrunner officially launches. The winners will receive a lump sum payment, as well as a revenue share if the show is picked up by a streamer. Sutch said the platform's technology allows users to create a series of scenes that can be strung together to create a full-length episode. Prompts can range from just a few words to more than 100 words. Users can edit the dialogue, shots, scene flow and more, he added.
“They can take the core conflict of the episode and develop it with different characters and different locations,” Saatchi says, “or they can say, 'The next scene in particular is this.'”
Fable, which won an Emmy Award in 2019 for innovation in interactive media, hopes it can keep costs down by letting users create content that others watch. The model illustrates the anxiety and fear some creators have about AI: that if it acts as a universal crew or talent, it will undermine the value and demand for their labor. Union protections that currently bar the use of AI tools will become even more important if the company can prove there's a market for fully AI-generated content.
and Deguchi ValleyFable is trying to join the joke about techno-industrialists like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk using AI to unwittingly destroy society. The first episode is rough, and some will see it as a cheap knockoff. South Park — but the storyline is clear and occasionally witty.
“AI can definitely create better episodes. The Simpsons “Today,” Saatchi said.
Showrunner is powering Fable's AI model, which was created following the release of OpenAI and Stable Diffusion's open source AI system. Last year, the company released a research paper showcasing technology that it claims can write, produce, direct, edit, voice and animate episodes of shows with vast content catalogs. The company has created nine short AI-generated episodes. South Park From a short prompt.
Saatchi said the system was trained on “publicly available data.” Asked about widespread allegations that AI companies are using copyrighted material to train their technology, he added that “what matters to me is whether the output is original,” and that “the content determines the value of the technology.”
