Disney Eyes AI Streaming Deal for AI-Generated Streaming Platform ‘Showrunner’ — But Fans Are Already Pissed

Edward Saatchi isn’t sure if people will rush to use Showrunner, the new AI-powered TV show platform his company is launching this week. But Amazon seems confident in the idea , they have invested in Saatchi’s startup, Fable, based in San Francisco.

The exact amount Amazon put into Fable hasn’t been shared. The money is going into building Showrunner, which Fable calls the “Netflix of AI.” It’s a service where users can type a few words and create scenes or even full episodes of a TV show, either brand new or based on existing stories.

After months of testing Showrunner privately with 10,000 users, Fable is now opening it up to the public. At first, it will be free to use, but eventually, Saatchi said the company plans to charge creators between $10 and $20 per month for credits that allow them to make hundreds of scenes. Watching the AI-generated shows will stay free, and people can share videos on platforms like YouTube.

Saatchi believes AI is more than just a tool to cut costs on special effects. He thinks AI is creating a new kind of entertainment that feels more like video games.

Using AI just to make cheaper special effects is “a little sad,” Saatchi said, who is Fable’s CEO and co-founder. He explained, “The ‘Toy Story of AI’ isn’t just going to be a cheap ‘Toy Story.’ Our idea is that ‘Toy Story of AI’ would be playable, with millions of new scenes, all owned by Disney.” He also mentioned that Fable is in talks with Disney and other Hollywood studios about licensing their characters for Showrunner.

Saatchi imagines a future where streaming services become interactive. “Hollywood streaming services are about to become two-way entertainment: audiences watching a season of a show [and] loving it will now be able to make new episodes with a few words and become characters with a photo,” he said. He added, “Our relationship to entertainment will be totally different in the next five years.”

Still, Saatchi is realistic and admits he doesn’t know if people actually want to be their own showrunners. “Maybe nobody wants this and it won’t work,” he said.

Before Fable, Saatchi co-founded Oculus Story Studio in 2014, part of the virtual reality company Oculus VR, which was later bought by Meta. Oculus Story Studio made VR titles including the Emmy-winning “Henry.” But VR entertainment didn’t take off as expected, and Meta shut the studio down in 2017. Saatchi reflected, “In 2014, we said, ‘Everything will take off when this happens,’ like when VR headset sales pass a certain number. And it didn’t work.”

In 2019, Saatchi shifted focus and started Fable Studio, moving away from VR to create AI-powered interactive stories. (There is also another company named Fable, which works on AI for cybersecurity training.)

Showrunner’s public launch includes two original shows users can interact with. One is “Exit Valley,” a comedy in the style of “Family Guy,” set in a fictional city called “Sim Francisco” and poking fun at AI tech leaders like Sam Altman and Elon Musk. The other is “Everything Is Fine,” about a couple who have a big fight while shopping at Ikea and get transported to a world where they must find each other again.

Users can also put themselves into these shows, which surprised the team. Saatchi said, “People are interested in putting themselves and their friends into these stories. That was a surprise. We didn’t design it with that in mind. People want to be in fictional worlds and also want to tell stories about themselves.”

Showrunner uses Fable’s own AI model called SHOW-2. Last year, Fable released a research paper about their first model, SHOW-1, and shared nine AI-made episodes based on “South Park.” These episodes, created without permission, got over 80 million views. Saatchi said he talked with the “South Park” creators and they were reassured the AI content wasn’t being sold commercially.

Jacob Madden, Fable’s head of technology and co-creator of Showrunner, said, “It has been incredibly exciting to see how Showrunner ignites creativity in people. The platform allows showrunners to experiment with their stories in real-time, constantly iterating and refining their vision. Showrunner redefines what a TV show can be and I cannot wait to see what stories emerge next.”

Saatchi also pointed out that AI works best for short, episodic shows, like sitcoms or police dramas, rather than long, complex stories like “Breaking Bad” or “Game of Thrones.” “Today AI can’t sustain a story beyond one episode,” he said.

Fable’s AI includes “guardrails” to stop offensive or illegal content and protect copyrights. Saatchi noted, “Last month, Disney and NBCUniversal filed an AI copyright lawsuit. We take these issues seriously.” The system also checks if characters behave realistically within the story.

Showrunner focuses on animated content because it’s less demanding than making photorealistic live-action scenes. Saatchi said Fable doesn’t want to compete with giants like Google or Meta on making hyper-realistic AI content. “If you’re competing with Google, are you going to win?” he asked. “Our goal is to have the most creative models.”

All of this sounds good on paper but fans already don’t like the idea and they turned to social media to voice their disgust:

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