AI art has come a long way in a very short time. But despite fears that AI-generated images will be replaced by human artists, some of the great commercial uses we’ve seen are precisely the importance of the human touch. It ridicules technology in order to emphasize its sexuality.
We’ve seen this approach on KitKat. KitKat was meant to give creative teams a break and show the devastation that would happen if AI-generated images and scripts replaced their work. Now, a creative agency has applied this idea to a hotel chain, creating the first ever ad using an AI-generated video (if you still need to get your hands on it, check out our guide to the best AI art generators and best AI art tutorials ) for the latest in technology).
While the KitKat AI ad used still images, the CitizenM hotel ad was the first to use text-to-video technology. It was created by agency KesselsKramer London and ‘AI Photographer’ AISAM (aka Sam Finn) using the newly released software Runway Gen-2.
A nightmarish AI-generated video is used to highlight the horrors of an outdated carbon copy hotel. There’s a clone concierge, nightmare guests, a nauseating buffet, and, of course, a shower scene that’s even more disturbing than Psycho. He intends to contrast this fear with CitizenM, which describes itself as a simple, human-centric luxury hotel brand.
“We want to encourage people to step beyond the depressing realm of AI-generated mediocrity and into the vibrant embrace of CitizenM Hotels, where real relationships await. “Courtesy of the warm and welcoming Ambassadors,” said Robin Chada, Chief Brand Officer.
This is another example of AI art being used in a way that deliberately exploits its ugliness, even exaggerating the nightmarish and flawed quality of crude AI-generated visuals (controversial (on a much more exaggerated scale than the opening credits of Marvel’s Secret Invasion). On social, some fans of AI art have hailed the work as a groundbreaking step forward in the commercial use of AI video, while the ad seems to mock the horrific look of AI video. Interesting to see.
“The fallibility of the software worked to our advantage as holes in what was possible in the software at this early stage in the making of the film,” said Charlie Bowden, senior creative at KesselsKramer.
Creative Director Dave Bell added: “Although AI is treated as a science, there is more art than people think, or at least more than people talk about. I’m really looking forward to seeing if I can do it.”
